De Molen Eiken Hel & Verdoemenis

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

Green wax dipped bottle, #623 of 816 from April 2009. Pours an extremely dark mahogany color, almost black, with a thin, dark brown film at the head. Some dense sheeting shows on the glass, but no lace remains. The aroma shows big anise, dark chocolate, burnt caramel, and heaps of barley roast. Vanilla laden oak imparts a woody, boozy bourbon element that suits the massive base beer beautifully. Flavors again start out massively chocolaty, with smooth caramel, licorice, and woody vanilla. The oaky bourbon comes across softer, serving to enhance the underlying, roasty-sweet malts. Big bodied, slick, and low to moderately carbonated, the palate suits this slow sipper well. Delicious stuff. One of the better RIS in recent memory.

DØE Valby 09. Pours black with no head. Aroma is black roasted malt, oak and vanilla. Flavour is sweet roasted malt, coffee, liquorish and lots of chocolate.

Flaske: Åbner uden anelsen af kulsyre. Kulsort uden skumhoved. Absolut ingen karbonering men dejlig duft og dejlig smag af eg, sort malt og en smule lakrids.

Bottle at home. Pours a clear dark brown with a beige head. Smells a bit of alcohol. Sweet with aromas of caramal and toasted malts. Also aromas of dates, oak, and brown sugar. Hides alcohol well. Medium to full bodied with a slightly sticky mouthfeel. Medium carbonation. Some residual sugars towarsd the end. Long toasted finish.

Sampled at DØE Beerfestival 2009, Valby. Pours a very dark/black beer without a head. The aroma is coffee and chocolate. The flavor is coffee and vanilla. The palate has no carbonation. Overall this is a really great beer.

The color is black and the head is creamy. The aroma has notes of chocolate, oak and licorice. The flavour has a light sweetness and notes of roasted malt, chocolate, licorice, light tannic acid form the oak, vanilla and light plum. It is extremely harmonic and truly wonderful!

Bottled at Monks Café. Wallingatan, Stockholm. Pours out in an opque black colour with a small bubbly pale brown head. Strong rock-solid yet really well-rounded aroma of dark chocolate, oak, brown sugar, tobacco, vanilla and sweet licorice. Full-bodied with comact notes of oak, luxury dark chocolate, almonds, sweet licorice and fudge. Low carbonation with a thick mouthfeel. Long warming finish of dark chocolate, espresso, brown sugar, vanilla and oak.

33cl Bottle from De Bierkoning. Pitch black, no head. Aroma of sweet chocolate, alcohol, dark fruits, whiskey. Flavour is rather sweet, chocolate, roasted malts, bit of coffee, some dark fruits, alcohol, bit of plastic. Light bitterness. Very thick, syrupy mouthfeel, but the absence of carbonation makes this beer tough to finish. I prefer the regular H&V, still this is very nice.