Medium, irregular off-white head, stable, over well-carbonated cold hazed light-copper beer. Rainwater, nearly wet dog, ferns, moss. White candi sugar, far-far-faraway honey. Rainwater, human sweat, vegetable. Again white candi sugar. Bitter & sweet almonds. Something mineral, DMS. Medium to well bodied, very slick & oily, pappy. A bit disappointing. Txs to Stef!

Small cream rim over cola-coloured beer. Sweet coffee, speculaas, speculaasherbs, mocha, coffee milk. Sweet coffee again, but with a surprising, almost lemony acidity. Lactic acid, coffeebeans. Mocha with sour cream and speculaasherbs. Not very big-bodied for such a high ABV. Not very carbonated. A very, very unusual stout. Can't quite grasp what happened here. Txs to Stef!

Extra strong stout (though the brewery apparently avoids the moniker 'imperial' in this case) flavoured with 'speculaas' spices, which usually include cinnamon, clove and nutmeg; brewed by microbrewery De Rechter in Hasselt, which is also open to contract brewing by client brewers - but this is apparently the first one on this site brewed by and for themselves. Gusher, so be warned - I could not avoid losing a portion (about 1/6) to the sink... Thick and foamy, plaster-lacing, pale yellow-beige, bubbly but dense, stable and firm head, very dark chocolate brown robe - as good as black, with burgundy, hazy edges and some dark bits of, I suppose, 'speculaaskruiden' at the bottom. Aroma of burnt toast, wet charcoal, cigar ashes, lots of coffee grounds, wet leather, stale sour sweat (linking this with the gushing, I suspect a light infection coming from bacteria on the spices), salmiak, damp earth, strong clove but phenolic (4-vinyl-guaiacol) in the first place, indeed a whiff of 'speculaas' after all that, 'Hasseltse jenever', hints of bayleaf, dried thyme, Worcestershire sauce, band aid, wet paper. Estery, prickly onset, sharpish carbonation (linked to the gushing) adding sourness to an already sourish undertone from what seems to be onsetting bacterial infection, mingled with impressions of blackberry, medlar, plum and blackcurrant, quite restrained in sweetness; full body, but lacking in the oiliness I tend to expect from this kind of beers. Underlying wheat sourishness buried beneath heavy loads of toasted brown bread, roasted chicory and blackened walnuts, with an 'ashiness' sprinkled all over; the sourish 'infected' element travels underneath to a warming, spicy, 'full' finish, where the roasted part becomes increasingly stronger and increasingly supported by a leafy, earthy hop bitterness as well as 'jenever'-like alcohol, though the latter behaves rather well and does not overpower anything else. Spiciness is evident: there is a lot of phenolic activity going on here, clove-like but also tending towards worse (band aid), but obviously the added 'speculaaskruiden' contribute as well, with clove and nutmeg being recognizable - but difficult to distinguish from the phenols. Cinnamon, sadly, remains all but absent so in the end, the added spices, obvious as they are, remain crude, unsophisticated and, frankly, redundant. Mouth-filling roasted bitterness, coffee grounds-like, lasts for a long time, but so does the 'ashy' aspect linked to it. In the earlier days of global craft beer influences penetrating Belgium, I would have called this a typical 'Belgian style imperial stout' and it basically still belongs to that virtual category, but there is no denying that in spite of good intentions, something also went a bit awry here - I can only guess, but it seems the added spices also added bacterial activity which I assume can only get worse with time. Too bad, I really had faith in this brewery, but all beginnings are difficult, as they say in Dutch; I would recommend this brewer, who allegedly spared no effort in setting up his brewery in a city that was in dire need of such initiatives (and instead of simply chosing the path of client brewing), to simply omit the added spices in a first stage and come up with a solid strong stout without any additives, if only to have a trustworthy and stable starting point for further variations on the theme. In all: drinkable, very Belgian and very phenolic, a bit 'dirty' and not letting either the malt bill or the spices talk the way they should - a missed opportunity to make an impression with educated consumers getting to know this new brewery. Hopefully his other brews are better, because I am not ready yet to give up on this one.