Black & Heady

Because we were curious as to how the Zwarte Madam was coming along, and because any excuse is good enough to share a beer or two, BeerBert and Yours Truly sat down at the table the other night to do some science.

Curiosity cannot be trusted around cats.

Because I had just acquired a can of Heady Topper (thanks, Denno!), we dug into that first. It needs to be drunk fresh after all, so it made no sense to keep it around. 

Drink from the can, it says, but since we're proper scientists, we did in fact use a glass. 

Blasphemy!
Pic not mine, sorry.

Pale and cloudy, with a minimal head, this is a splendid IPA, chock-full of hops, with some extra hops ladled on top. The beer checks all the proper boxes, and sort of sets the rules regarding IPAs. 

From the nose, across the tongue, bouncing across the hard and soft palate, all the way down into the throat, the Heady Topper is smooth and fresh hops all the way. You get just about the whole gammut of hoppy impressions, from grassy to piney, from fruity to flowery. Juicy almost. Almost as if it's not actually beer, but a beer-flavoured hops tea. Delicious. Although extremely hopped, it never becomes extreme. Except perhaps extremely drinkable, even at 8% abv.

But science beckoned, and the Zwarte Madam needed tasting too.

Pic by Dennoman, who wasn't even there.
FLTR: Zwarte Madam basic, caraway and water cress seed.

The basic version, now with about six weeks of bottle conditioning under the cap, still pours a sluggish black. Low carbonation and a slackish tan head. Nose is chocolate and just a faint whiff off greenish hops. With a thick pour like that, the nose is a bit underwhelming, actually, and could use a bit more chutzpah.

1 image > 1000 words in this case.

In the mouth, the Zwarte Madam doesn't surprise, and remains somewhat modest, with chocolatey, smooth dark malts tones. Onset is smooth, if a bit light, then peters out in the middle part, but luckily returns with a malty sweet aftertaste. Slightly too much body, or too narrow a taste to stand up against it.

In all, the basic version is okay, although unfinished. I need to adjust the malt bill to achieve a broader, more rewarding flavour to warrant the relatively heavy body. Perhaps a smidge more hops too. Carbonation should be increased as well. BeerBert seemed to be agreement: this beer is quite alright but in its current incarnation perhaps not interesting enough to have another one. Denno detected hints of oats in an independent tasting, and I'm tempted to add some toasted oats in future incarnations to spruce up the body.

But hark! I opened up two dry-spiced versions to compare and -gasp- blend! 

The caraway version is already decidedly overdosed, with the caraway so firmly in the picture that the delicate chocolate notes of the base beer can hardly stand up against it. I happen to like the particular flavour imparted by the caraway, but BeerBert was quite put off by it. Granted: too much is too much, especially since the base beer isn't really robust enough to withstand more than a pinch. A blend of perhaps 1/6 caraway and 5/6 base made a better impression on me, although Bert's palate got thoroughly wasted from the very first sip of pure caraway. In future incarnations, I may consider boiling the caraway instead of dry-spicing, to better incorporate the flavour into the beer. Mixed messages here, as some seem to like it (quite a lot actually), while some find it unpleasantly overspiced.

The watercress-seed version...well, what can I say other than that it was a bit of a nut-job? The beer really pongs. An overwhelming scent of watercress, poppy seeds and something vegetable which really kicks the shit out of the poor base beer. Even minimally blended (a tiny splash in the aforementioned 1/6 caraway blend) still violently annexed the beer. I can see how the flavour imparted by the cress seeds itself could be an asset to dark beers like this, but I really need to go Uncle Scrooge on it, lest it become an undrinkable mess. Also: for some odd reason, the cress seed seems to amplify the beer's sweetness, turning into a syrupy mess.

Conclusion: Zwarte Madam is a good idea, but needs quite a bit more work. The base beer as it is will serve as a good basis for a more rounded incarnation, possibly including a drastically lowered dose of caraway, and mayby some oats. On the cress seed, I'll refrain from make a decision just yet, but it's not a plausible ingredient at all.

BeerBert always brings stouts when he comes to visit and I'm not one to complain. Especially not if by "stout" you mean this:

Which I do.
Pic again not mine.

Murder & Larceny, and another ampersand pun from the Molen guys. "Screaming bloody murder" is the anglophonic counterpart, and yes, the beer is good enough to apply the proverb. 

All the usual Molen-boxes are ticked: a big, fat body, with a rich tan head. Sublime nose, with hints of smoke, vanilla and bourbon. There's a hint of playful, saturnine mischief lurking in the darkness, which I put down to the rye malts. While it's a big nose, it's not a big fat booze bomb at all: you can sniff the glass all evening and never get bored, nor overwhelmed, but ultimately, you're tempted to take a sip.

In the mouth, this beer simply oozes flavour. There's a nicely balanced smokiness in the undercurrent, beyond noticable but well within limits. Rye and oat malts complement this smokiness splendidly, and the bourbon sits just at the detetection threshold. It's truly amazing how well each individual ingredient of this beer pairs off with the others: the smoked malt elevates the roast and prevents it from becoming ash-like. The chocolate is tempered by the roasted, oat and rye malts, which prevent it from turning the beer into a more familiar (and I daresay less interesting in this case) chocolate-and-coffee stout. The bourbon barrel ageing adds a slightly boozy sweetness, but is quite delicate when compared to recent-day bourbon stouts.

Although they're completely unrelated style-wise, I'd like to take the opportunity to refer to Emelisse's Smoked Rye IPA. Both beers have an aluring undercurrent and an intriguingly delicate smokiness which make them an utter delight to drink.

Truly a marvellous beer, exceptionally well balanced and rewarding. Thanks, BeerBert!

Drunk separately the next day, each from within the confines of our own comfy chairs, we tasted the Emelisse Black & Tan. While I had half an idea what to expect, I daresay I was totally unprepared for this one. 

Okay I forgot to take pics alright?
Stop rubbing it in already!

Black-and-tan (sometimes called Half-and-Half) , for those of you interested in beer history, is something like a beer cocktail. It's a blend of two beer styles, which the landlord would blend on site according to the customer's taste. Typically, a pale ale and a dark beer would be combined in one glass, sometimes presented in two individual layers.

Beer for the pathologically indecisive.

In this case, the blend is between Emelisse's own TIPA (a splendid triple IPA) and their IRS (a solid imperial stout, well suited for all kinds of shenanigans). What's not on the label is the fact that it's also been aged on Islay whisky barrels. 

Peat lovers, start your drooling.

The beer pours a very dark brown, almost black, with cola touches near the edges and a light tan head. Nose is medicinal with peat and smoke at the forefront. While the intensity is quite moderate, the peat amplifies the experience, making this come across as a bit of a wrecking ball.

In the mouth, the first impression is a full gale blast of peat and smoke. Seriously, if you can't stand smoked malt, and if you're not already a dyed-in-the-wool fan of Islay's signature up-front peatiness, then you might as well turn back now. Very little of the constituent beers remains upright under the onslaught of Islay barrel goodness, and you're left with something which most resembles a firm-bodied stout. Not exactly an imperial, but by no means a dry stout either. The DIPA is normally quite (*) hoppy and chewy, and although the chewiness remains in the blend, the hops are entirely washed out by the peat.

*) by quite I mean very but not ridiculously. Adjectives become somewhat meaningless when discussing the hoppiness of double-and-above IPAs

That initial blast of peat mellows down slightly, after which the beer becomes intesely phenolic, in an absolutely unique way. Yes, there is a hint of medicine in there, which is precisely what makes Islay-fans seek out these iodine-and-sea-brine flavours. But the medicinality is really just an undercurrent: the impression which really carries the beer all the way home is one which is decidedly unique, and which took me until the last sip ere I could finally put the finger on it. This beer, ladies and gentlemen, tastes like vetiver smells.

Not that many people know what vetiver  smells like but still.

Truly a unique beer, this Black & Tan, but subject to polarisation. Some people will love it, but most people I know will consider it to be at least too much.

I am one of the latter: it's a beautiful beast of a beer, and it coated my tongue for the rest of the evening. Marvelous job again from Kees&co!

Greetz

Jo