7 March 2019. At Brouwbar, Ghent. Shared with the lovely Anke! Pours hazy dark brown with a very thin, frothy, tan head. Aroma of oatmeal cookies, walnut, (salted) pistachio, wet earth, fondant, toast, basket of red fruits, jam. Taste is light malty sweet, notes of cookie, nuts & toast quickly overruled by a medium fruity sourness in the form of blackcurrant & brambleberries, lactic & almost lemony but not quite there; bitter tones of earth & fondant, even faint grapefruit, and a chocolatey powdery effect offer balance. Dryish, tart, bit earthy hoppy finish, lingering red fruits, jam, chocolate, nuts, almost equally sweet & sour. Medium body, slick-oily texture, soft carbonation. Thoroughly enjoyed it, nice to see that Brouwbar keeps on experimenting like this.

7 March 2019. At Brouwbar, Ghent. Shared with the lovely Anke! Pours clear pale golden with a lasting, small, frothy, off-white head. Aroma of apple sauce (also apparent in the first Blonde), apricot, flowers, soap, pineapple slice, banana peel, jenever, weirdly some green cabbage (but not in an off-putting DMS kind of way). Taste is light to medium fruity sweet, apple, pear & apricot resting on a bready malty base; medium spicy bitter middle offers clove & pepper, 'bitter' white grape, some yeast, a sourish accent of wheat & lemon, even a bit flowery. Dryish, floral & slightly peppery hoppy finish, lingering yeast, bread, ripe yellow fruits, nice dash of warming alcohol (white wine-like to me). Medium body, creamy texture, fizzy carbonation. Well-made and quite complex, I prefer it over the B03.

The zealous Brouwbar in Ghent’s Patershol quarter has been quietly reinventing most of their original recipes – and even the recent ones, like KS15, are now being tinkered with and re-released under new numbers. Like KS15, their first attempt at imperial stout, now being replaced by this KS24 version, which is a little bit stronger. Tasted from tap at Brouwbar (obviously). Mousy, pale greyish beige, quickly opening head lacing in shreds over a jet black beer with only a very thin, warm burgundy-ruddy edge. Aroma of toffee, treacle, ‘koetjesreep’ and diluted chocolate milk, blackberry jam, diluted coffee grounds but subtly so, pear syrup, fig, caramel sauce, earth, walnuts and quite a lot of buttermilk – in other words, strong diacetyl. Sweet onset, fig compote, candied dates, blackberry jam, light sourish undertone, softish carb, creamy, slick mouthfeel (feeling lighter than its ABV would suggest, but still filling the mouth). The diacetyl effect indeed runs through it all, adding a certain, light tartness and ‘butteriness’; ends sweet, malty, toffeeish, a bit sticky even, with only very light roasty bitterness and a herbal hop touch. Alcohol warms a bit in the end, but generally remains very well masked. I thought most of the new versions of Brouwbar’s beers are an improvement compared with their predecessors but in this case, the differences with K15 remain very subtle; this one is still not roasted enough to qualify as a true stout so like K15, I would rather classify this as an imperial porter. Still a full, malty, accessibly sweet and highly drinkable beer, though, just make it more roasted and hop bitter and get rid of the diacetyl - I am confident a truly beautiful stout can come out of this with some more finetuning.

Imported from my RateBeer account as Brouwbar KS24 Imperial Stout (by Brouwbar):
Aroma: 8/10, Appearance: 2/5, Taste: 9/10, Palate: 4/5, Overall: 17/20, MyTotalScore: 4/5

8/III/19 - on tap @ Brouwbar (Gent), BB: n/a - (2019-348) Apparently my entry didn't get through the first time when I was copy pasting my ratings... Thanks RB! :-(

Little cloudy dark brown beer, practically no head. Aroma: lots of dark chocolate, bit sweetish, caramel notes, malty touch. MF: soft carbon, medium body. Taste: sweet start, caramel, vanilla, lots of chocolate, sweet malts, grains, soft acidity. Aftertaste: little bitter, hoppy touch, sweet malts, alcohol, caramel, more roast, chocolate, some mocha, lovely stuff.

Imported from my RateBeer account as Brouwbar SP19 Sour Porter (by Brouwbar):
Aroma: 8/10, Appearance: 2/5, Taste: 8/10, Palate: 3/5, Overall: 16/20, MyTotalScore: 3.7/5

8/III/19 - on tap @ Brouwbar (Gent), BB: n/a - (2019-347)
Clear brown beer, practically no head, non adhesive. Aroma: pretty roasted, little funky, acidic impression, chocolate, coffee. MF: ok carbon, medium to light body. Taste: pretty sour, fruity, sour cherries, somewhat bitter, dry, roasted. Aftertaste: more acidic, fruity, dry, bit lemony, soft roast. Nice one!

Imported from my RateBeer account as Brouwbar SI23 Session IPA (by Brouwbar):
Aroma: 8/10, Appearance: 4/5, Taste: 7/10, Palate: 3/5, Overall: 15/20, MyTotalScore: 3.7/5

8/III/19 - on tap @ Brouwbar (Gent), BB: n/a - (2019-346)
Clear blond beer, small creamy off-white head, little stable, adhesive, leaving a nice lacing in the glass. Aroma: bit fruity, sweetish impression, peaches, some melons. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: little malty up front, some citrus notes, not really bitter, a bit fruity. Aftertaste: little bitter, malty, some citrus, fruity notes, some grapefruit.

Dull dark blond colour with lasting head. Aroma and flavour are quite sweet and spicy. There's a refreshing zestiness in the finish.

Cloudy blond appearance with lasting head. Aroma and flavour have muted tropical fruits. Plenty of malt body. Good balance.

The newest Brouwbar beer to date, a reprisal of SA12 but hoppier and therefore dubbed “IPA” (SA12 was sold simply as “session ale”). Draught at Brouwbar. Creamy, dense, tightly paper-lacing, egg-white head, hazy pure and deep golden blonde robe with pale orangey tinge. Aroma of green kiwi, lychee, sweet onions sweating in arachis oil, white bread slices, touch of guava, lime juice, wet hay. Cleanly fruity onset – the cleanness and streamlined profile that typifies Brouwbar, I’m inclined to add – with notes of green banana, lychee and apple, slick and supple body, medium carb, with a ‘white-bready’ and cereally, smooth maltiness and pleasant mineral (soda-like) notes at the sides. Elegantly aromatic hoppiness in the finish, again lychee and guava, yet remaining fairly subtle; so does the bitterness, which lingers a bit in the distance with a faint spiciness, but remains a bit understated for an IPA, so that the finish as a whole remains a bit thin. Still, like all the new versions of earlier recipes, this one too is clearly an improvement compared with the original SA12, showing more expressive aromatic qualities. I could drink this by the gallon.

Brown porter made sour with lactic acid, one of Brouwbar's newest to date and quite an unusual one especially in a Belgian context. Bottle at Brouwbar. Slow gusher, but nothing dramatic. Mousy, pale beige, bubbly, opening head over a hazy deep bronze-ish brown beer with ruddy hue. Aroma of dried blueberries, toffee, stewed plum, fresh fig, raspberry yoghurt, cooked apple, raisin, Syrah wine, brown bread, cookies, caramel candy and a light hint of orange zest - interesting and inviting, in all, but not truly porter-like, more an oud bruin of sorts, as is to be expected when a dark beer turns out sour. Sweet fig and red apple in the onset, with indeed a lactic acidic edge, if relatively mildly so, reminiscent of redcurrant and sour blackberries; softly prickling carb, smooth-edged mouthfeel. Caramelly malt body, only gently dried by sourness, with a powdery earthy note in the end and a lightly spicy hop bitter presence as well as a soft toasty bitterishness. The sourness remains, but it is no match for the inherently sweet, caramelly and red fruit-like basic flavour profile. Oud bruin-like, as said, but in a somewhat more 'superficial' way, as if the sourness is added on top of a sweet brown beer rather than deeply penetrating it; from what Benjamin told me, he had a lot of doubts whether to sell this to his public or not, but I am glad he did, this is an interesting and refreshing creation.