De Molen / Struise Brouwers Black Damnation

Brewed by Brouwerij de Molen
Style: Imperial Stout
Bodegraven, Netherlands

330ml bottle (Pikkulintu, Helsinki)
Black, large tan head. Rich roasty aroma, not too bold. Lovely rich palate, but carbonation quite lively. Roast is huge, and a touch ashy. Good balance. Decent fruity hoppy notes. Brilliant finish with both the roasty malts and the hops. Rich. Yum!

33cl bottle. The pour is as dark as the blackest night, almost impenetrable by light. A thick, everlasting head is the shade of coffee ice cream, incredibly smooth, leaving clumpy sheets and flares of lacing all over the glass. It simply looks the part of a hefty, menacing imperial stout. The nose is intensely rich and complex, beginning with notes of nearly black, bittersweet chocolate, burnt sugar, black strap molasses, and stewed figs. Hints of vanilla creme and worn leather provide interesting contrasts. There’s a woody, oaky overtone, along with hints of maple and raisins. In short, the dark fruitiness of the Black Albert melds just about perfectly with the roasty, oaky, Hel & Damnation to create one mighty fine smelling brew. The flavor is very similar, though the roast tends to push forward a bit more, drowning out some of the fruity depth. Coffee and bitter chocolate seem more prominent, sweetened by sugar, while the oak shows considerably more char and smoke than the nose foreshadows. Striking, earthy hops finish this one off in quite the bitter way. This is still damn tasty, though I’d enjoy some of the figgy, raisiny balance that you get in the aroma. The palate is a peculiar one, big and nearly full, but showing a bit more lively carbonation than an imperial stout should. The finish is warming, but not overly alcoholic. To sum it all up, it’s a brooding, dark collaboration that works quite nicely. Excellent beer.

(Bottle at Pikkulintu, Helsinki, on 2009-07-31) Black. Quite large and tan coloured head. Liquorice and ash in aroma. Full bodied and dry palate with quite a lot of carbonation. Roastedness, chocolate, liquorice, ash, coffee and bitterness in taste. Roasty aftertaste. Good one but I’d rather have Hel & Verdoemenis and Black Albert as they are and not mixed together.

Bottle. Ap: Black with a big, creamy and short lasting brown head. Ar: Creamy chocolate. Roastiness. Licorice. Fla: Chocolate liquor, some port wine maybe, tiny sourness, vinous, dried fruits, vanilla. Moderate bitterness. Slight smokeiness in the aftertaste. Quite warming. Ov: Extremely thick and smooth. Creamy really! Well made in all aspects (especially the feel of it/the body).

(33cl bottle) Pours a brown body with a small creamy tan head. Aroma of roastiness, raisins, chocolate, lactose, and Belgian yeast. Flavor of roasted malt, raisins, yeast, chocolate, coffee, vinous, and light vanilla with a dry finish.

(bottled@pikkulintu) black with high brown head. much carbon. on nose coffee. this is almost like my homebrews, i make only better. very disappoitment this beer..

Bottle from Alvinne. This black beer poured with a huge fluffy tan head and a strong coffee aroma. The flavor is all chocolate and coffee. This is a great beer. The flavor is very intense.

Bottle thanks to bu11zeye. Pours with a huge brown head over a black body. Aroma of oak, peanut shells, chocolate, metallic, brown sugar and coffee. Taste is coffee, nutshells and Belgian yeast. Syrupy mouthfeel.