Brand new addition to this commissioned René range, the second one to my knowledge, after that blonde, correctly made but overspiced blonde one; steini bottle from the Prik & Tik in Zele. Irregularly 'papery' lacing, medium thick, creamy, pale grey-tinged beige head slowly showing gaps here and there over a black beer with hazy mahogany brown edges (when held under bright light). Aroma of old brownies, black coffee grounds, juniper berries, star aniseed, coriander, Norwegian spice cookies, dried blackcurrant, pear syrup, hard butterscotch candy, cloves, licorice candy and effective 'drop', dry clay, nutmeg, baker's yeast, banana, old 'jenever', vague hint of damp forest floor and eventually (i.e. with sediment) even 'fresh' manure in the background. Restrainedly sweetish onset, dried prunes and dried figs, some banana ester (isoamylacetate) with a sourish undercurrent of roasted barley, bringing some early bitterness as well; spritzy, minerally carbonation, a bit too much for a 7% ABV stout, coarsening an otherwise smooth, full but not very 'oily' mouthfeel. Toasted-nutty malt body with slight metallic edges, bittersweet with more emphasis on a soft, mellow bitterness than on actual sweetness, limited in residual sugariness but still maintaining a basic amount of (caramelly) sweetness till the end; meanwhile phenolic (clove- and licorice-like) spiciness builds and builds, eventually reinforced by actual ethereal, bit soapy, juniper berry- and coriander seed-like spiciness which fills the nose cavity retronasally, like an old school Belgian Christmas ale. Vaguely coffeeish roasted bitterness is present too, in a drying, slightly astringent way. The wry-and-sweet spiciness, along with toasty malt bitter(sweet)ness and (way too) strong phenolic effects, lingers over a warming, rum-like, rather wry finish with a dash of earthy, leafy hop bitterness to it as well, sticking to the root of the tongue a bit, in about equal force as the roasted bitterness. Well-intended like so many of these new generation Belgian stouts, but as is so often the case in this segment, losing itself too much in Belgian yeast effects, much too phenolic and earthy with a not very flattering damp earth-like 'mustiness' to it. Needs more boldness and oiliness - even if you insist to keep using a 'Belgian' degree of actual spiciness, which is way over the top and rather ill-placed here, as is the case in the blonde René. Don't get me wrong: spices can work out well in a heavy stout (see Perennial's Abraxas, to name one masterpiece of international standard), but I am really not convinced coriander is the right one to use - even if the label, sadly, refuses to mention the spices that actually went in here, mindful as it is of old Belgian family brewer traditions. Since this is not explicitly advertized as a spiced stout, I think the commissioner simply thought adding spicing was a good idea... All things considered: classic Belgian dubbel, too earthy and yeasty for its own good even if it were intended as a dubbel, but with 'blackness' added to be able to pretend it's a stout. Should have called it stout-ish then, like Arogante did with its second creation, but this will work fine on a regional level among consumers who never even came close to tasting a 'serious' Anglo-Saxon stout of high quality. Enjoyable as such, just do not get too excited. That said: the fact that the first rater here below seems very enthusiastic about this beer whilst having but one single rating, makes me suspect that he is in fact the commissioner; I do not have a habit of (indirectly) communicating with other raters in my beer ratings, but in this case this makes me all the more suspicious - and austere as a result. Moreover, it seems his two current beers are sufficient to acknowledge "René" as a brewery here - aber in der Beschränkung zeigt sich erst der Meister!

Bottle @ De Plaetse, Schellebelle. Hazy golden colour, white creamy foam. Fruity nose, some citrus hints. Light bitter, bit spicy. Nice beer.

@ Wieze Bierfestivql 2017. Pours rather clear blonde, OK white head. Smell is bit sweet, grainy. Taste is full, bit sweet, grainy. Surprisingly complex , balanced. Way better than expected;

Hobby brew commercialized through De Graal, bottle from Fontana. Thick and frothy, very moussy, snow white, stable head over a clear, pure ’old gold’ coloured beer with visible strings of fizz rising up from the bottom, sustaining the head. Aroma of banana, coriander seed, cloves (probably not just phenols but actual cloves), melting butter, stewed pear, canned pineapple, moist white pepper, straw, bubblegum, soap, juniper berries, pancake batter, old ginger and gingerbread, freshly cut red apples, gin, cooked turnip, limoncello, parsnip, jute, some faint DMS (cooked white cabbage). Fruity onset, crisp with a lot of banana ester (even bubblegummy) as well as apple (acetaldehyde, probably) and impressions of yellow plum and pineapple, soft sourish undertone but mostly sweet, also due to residual white candi sugar sweetness; spritzy carbonation, minerally, but not really over the top for this particular type of beer. Smooth, supple body, pale malt sweetishness with a slight bready edge, on which the white sugary sweetness and - most of all - the banana ester travel onwards to a finish coloured by an ethereal, soapy and somewhat medicinal spiciness, clearly not just coriander here, but probably cloves as well and possibly something else (juniper berries?); this spiciness overpowers a leafy, grassy hop bitter touch underneath, providing structural ’end drought’, but not the alcohol, which warms up the back of the mouth in a gin-like way, the flavor being accentuated by the spices. Banana ester lingers a bit as well as a gingerbread-like spicy sweetness, so ginger is another possible addition, I guess (and I hate having to guess this). I read that this beer was inspired by Omer (thus belonging to the ’edelbier’ category, as the OBP would have put it), but I think I would have been happier with an Omer clone as such (provided it has been carried out in a technically correct manner) than with this over-the-top spicy version of it. Spicing in beer is as old as beer itself and is an inherent feature of many Belgian ale styles, I know, but as I stated with that Luxuria I tasted before this one, they can bring a perfectly decent beer totally out of balance. This one is simply too spicy for me, and the strong banana ester presence and incompletely hidden alcohol do not really help in my appreciation of this, but admittedly I had worse in this segment (I still haven’t forgotten Palm’s Hop(e)less Ginny, for example).

Imported from my RateBeer account as Blonde René (by René):
Aroma: 6/10, Appearance: 4/5, Taste: 6/10, Palate: 3/5, Overall: 10/20, MyTotalScore: 2.9/5

26/III/16 - 33cl bottle from the brewers @ home - BB: VII/2017 (2016-288)

Clear blond beer, creamy white head, little stable, bit adhesive. Aroma: something very spicy, thinking of cloves and ginger, other spices, yeast, bit sourish. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: spicy start, lots of cloves, bit sourish, soft bitterness, soapy. Aftertaste: bit soapy (coriander?), spices, bitter, little chemical, and still cloves. Too spicy to my liking.