7.1

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6.5

Imperial stout from a new microbrewery in Arlon, in the southernmost part of Belgium. Yellowish pale beige, moussy, medium thick head on a very dark, hazy chocolate brown beer – not quite a black as “imperial stout” normally suggests, though. Aroma of roasted chicory, coffee grounds, wormwood, ‘fondant’ chocolate, hard caramel, tea, whisky, bitterroot. Sweet and fruity onset with some pear, date and fig notes, softish carb, fluffy and full mouthfeel, toasted nuts, some caramel and bitter chocolate, quickly turning very roasted bitter (black coffee), evolving into very strong, bitterrooty and wormwoody hop bitterness as well, strongly reinforcing the roasted bitterness. Strange case: in a world where strong stouts have become increasingly sweet in the past fifteen years or so, a trend culminating in the pastry stout concept, I am always glad to encounter one that still has this full bitterness originally which typified the genre. This one is certainly bitter enough, but even more from hops than from roasted malts or grains: in fact, it has a dark brown hue rather than black, and visually resembles a Belgian strong dark ale more than an Anglo-Saxon imperial stout. In that respect, I regret to say that this is not a very successful beer for me, in spite of its silver medal…