De Molen Pek & Veren

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 8

Pours an opaque chocolaty brown with a decent pale beige head. Aroma is strong and smoky with a firm overtone of sweet chocolate. Rich and somewhat sweet flavor is smoky and chocolaty, and has hints of toffee and caramel. Texture is very smooth and pleasantly tingly. A good one!

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 7

Balderdash! Why, I once watched "Gentleman" Jim Corbett fight an Eskimo fellow bare-knuckled for a hundred and thirteen rounds! Of course, back then, if a fight lasted less than fifty rounds, we demanded our nickel back!

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

2007 Cork Date; Sampled September 2008
A soft pour into my 25cl tulip glass still produces a three finger thick, dark beige / tan colored head that is pretty creamy in consistency. The beer is an almost black color, but shows a brilliantly clear, ruby color when held up to the light. The aroma is full of roast coffee notes that take on a sharp, burnt note towards the finish. Dark chocolate notes are noticeable at times, almost more when you are far away from the glass as the burnt / roast grain notes really seem to dominate the aroma. As my nose gets used to it, the aroma begins to take on a significant, though somehow thin, note of roasted prune juice. There is a touch of earthy saltiness & a hint of peat smoke that only becomes noticeable if you really dig for it. An interesting aroma, that has some real potential if the up front roast character was not so dominant this would have a really complex nose. Though as the beer warms up the roast character in the aroma becomes considerably more balanced and tame.

Soft and creamy feeling with a light, prickly carbonation. This definitely has a salty, peat-smoke flavor to it that sort of creeps up on you through the sip and really becomes noticeable in the finish as it lingers lightly on the palate. This has a fruitiness to it in the flavor as well with notes of prunes and even some caramelized, dried fig being lightly noticeable in the background. Up front there is a fair amount of roast character that provides flavors of a city roast coffee, blackened fruit notes, some burnt acrid / acid notes (that don't become too pronounced) and some dusty dark cocoa flavors. as the beer warms up the fruitiness becomes more apparent as does a subtle, but significant chocolate character.

I really like the peat-smoke dimension that this beer has, it really helps to tame the roast character in the flavor and makes for an all around, much more balanced beer. Plus the peat-smoke is kept at a reasonable level, so that it is just a supporting component rather than overwhelming / dominating this Stout. This is definitely enjoyable and I am having no problems finishing this 750ml bottle, though it did take me almost two and a half hours.

Purchased: Liquor Max, Loveland CO