BFM La Mandragore

33cl bottle. Pours blackish/brown with beige head. Aroma is roasted malt, floral and spicy. Taste roasted with caramel notes, also noticed some oaky character light coffee/chocolat malts, light floral notes and dark fruits. Somehow the bottle indicated it was a biere de garde.

Winter 2006/2007 bottling. Poured medium brown with a creamy cap of tan head.. settled down rather quickly. The aroma picked up sour dark fruit skins (plum and black cherries led) with licorice and lesser coffee beneath along with some unidentifiable sweetness (I’d guess sorghum, but it’s probably the spelt). The flavor was sour and unpleasant with metallic notes, old coffee, and dark fruit skins.. the same weird grainage stuck on the finish with light roast to it and metallic alcohol. Medium-bodied and all over the map on the palate, but it never flowed or felt good.. this was greatly dissapointing.

Courtesy of Bov. Mild tartness is the first thing I notice in the aroma. This is followed by stale coffee and dry dark fruit notes. The body is a brown hued black and holds a smallish tight tan head. Tang, tartness, aspirin chemical bitterness, coffee notes. Very Belgian-stoutesque. Not my cup of tea, or beer either.

Big thanks to Degarth for opening this rare treat. Pours deep dark brown with brown head. The aroma is dark roasty malts, sweetness and some burnt malts. Way in the background is a murmur of grainy Munich-like malts. The taste is mildly roasty malts and mild burnt malts. The malty flavors grow to midway and become mildly sweeter and seem to carry with them faint dark fruity esters onward to the finish.

Bottle. Pours a very dark brown with a small light tan head. Aroma of dark fruit and roasted malt. Taste is the same as aroma. Medium thin mouthfeel with a mild amount of bitterness and slightly tart finish. Not very complex but enjoyable.