Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Draught at the brewery beer hall. Served too cold, in the appropriate stylish glass. The beer has a beautiful amber colour, served with a moderate head. Fruity aroma with hints of caramel. Some caramel in the flavour too, but not really sweet. Nutty. Tolerably well hopped.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 10 | Mouthfeel: 10 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

33 cl bottle (as Kasteel Bier Bruin), at Les Moules Belgian restaurant in Prague. Served too cold. Beautiful deep brown to ruby colour. Large head which disappears rapidly. Aroma of dark malts, oak, old sherry, spices and leather. Flavour is very malty and sweet with a warming mouthfeel, elements of Christmas spices and old sherry. Very good. Yummy!

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 6

440 ml nitro widget can, bought in Prague. Deep golden/amber colour, moderate creamy head. Pleasant but moderate fruity aroma with some malts and hops. Smooth and easy drinking, just enough hops and malts to make it a little better than "flavourless". Unpleasant metallic bitterness in the aftertaste.

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

Website: www.kelt.cz . 500 ml bottle, bought in Prague. Irish style dry stout. Black (=very dark brown to ruby) colour. Moderate creamy tan head. Moderate roasty aroma, notes of coffee, faint hints of leather. Smooth drinking, but there’s a pronounced bitter roastiness. Strong coffee notes. Little complexity besides the roastiness, but not nearly as bad as some other ratings made me expect.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 8

(500 ml bottle). Okay, I've figured out that the % in the name of Czech and Slovakian beers is NOT the ABV, but has something to do with the malt content. Well, 5.6% alcohol seems just right for this beer. A golden beer with a faint haziness and moderate head, and a grassy, yeasty and malty aroma and flavour that makes me wonder for a second if the beer is bottom or top fermented. Bottom fermented it is, but the Czechs would hardly call this "Special" a pilsener (it's brewed in Praha, too). But who cares? Great hops bitterness in flavour and aftertaste. I always like beers where the elements yeast (not too much), malts and hops are all clearly detectable. In other words, I like this beer a lot!

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 10 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

Draught at U Fleku. Served too cold. Very dark brown, nearly black colour - impenetrable for light. Moderate creamy tan head. Lovely aroma of leather and oak, dark chocolate and liquorice. Flavour is malty and moderately roasty, notes of dark chocolate and coffee. Never mind the inflated prices (by Czech standards), this beer is a must (at least once). And the liqueur we were forced to buy (which I drank AFTER the beer) actually tasted not-too-bad.

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 8

Draught in Prague, called Krusovice Vycepni Tmavé on the menu, but must be the same beer. Black (= very dark brown) colour, large head. Lovely malty aroma with strong elements of leather and cigarbox. Pleasant flavour of roasted malts, some caramel but not too sweet, very well balanced with the hops. For the style freaks: This is a Schwarzbier IMO, not a dunkel - but who cares, as long as the beer tastes good? I’d think the ABV was stronger than it actually is - another evidence that flavour and strength are not necessarily the same thing. Great with food or on its own. A truly enjoyable beer. Rerate bottle: I just realised I had written separate notes of the BOTTLED beer named Krusovice Cerne - I could SWEAR it was a different beer from the draught Vycepni Tmave. Notes bottle: Deep reddish brown colour. Large tan head, moderate carbonation. Moderate malty aroma. Typical dunkel flavour with low bitterness. Relatively light bodied, refreshing. Overall 13/20.

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

500 ml can, bought in Prague. Golden colour, large thick head. Hoppy and fruity aroma, some flowers there too. Flavour is pleasantly balanced between the malts and hops - both elements are present and plentiful to a much greater degree than many other so called "pilseners". Nice.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

(Bottle conditioned, 700 ml). Cloudy orange colour, good to moderate head. Moderate aroma of yeast (I poured it all in), malts and toffee. Moderate flavour of yeast and malts, hints of caramel. Could have used some more hops. Pleasant enough to drink, but nothing remarkable here.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

(700 ml bottle). Deep brown colour, but far from black. Probably the palest "stout" I’ve seen. But if you disregard the chosen style name, this is a drinkable and refreshing beer. Good head which leaves a nice lacing. Moderate malty aroma with a light roastiness, plenty of caramel but not really sweetish. Flavour is malts and caramel fairly well balanced with the hops, but the mouthfeel is a bit thin and watery. Reasonably hoppy aftertaste. OKish.