Orléans Jean dit laforge (Bière Forte chocolat et vanille)

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

500ml bottle the first rating of my stash brought back from Mondial. Pours a clouded pitch black with a decent cola colored cap. Modest carbonation. The aroma on this is mink deluxe – rich cocoa, coffee roastiness, burnt treacle sweetness, leafy hops. Sturdy body silken mouth feel. Chewy thick malting in front gives cereal roastiness balanced by resinous hopping but the middle gets rich luxurious with lots of complexity – fruits, cherry skins, walnuts, pipe tobacco, burnt treacle – goes to a long wet finish with increasing bittering matching roasty astringence. A world class stout from a world class crafter.

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

Bottle: Poured a dark black color stout with a nice dark brown foamy head with good retention and some pretty good lacing. Aroma of vanilla and chocolate with some light roasted malt notes also discernible. Taste is a very nice mix between some sweet black chocolate with light dry coffee notes from the roasted malt and a lightly sweet vanilla finish. Body is slightly thin for style but carbonation is perfect and alcohol is very well hidden. Very well made and good balance between flavor thought additional body would have benefited this beer.