De Ranke Noir De Dottignies

Brewed by Brouwerij De Ranke
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Dottignies/Dottenijs, Belgium

Medium yellow-beige head, dense, over red-brown beer. Very chocolatey nose, bit of solvent, light lactic acid, dry pine needles. Roasted-burnt character, burnt grains, overlying lactic-chocolatey underbuild. Persistent point of acidity. Chocolate, burnt, remaining on the palate. Rather well-bodied, alcohol discreet; slick. Problem I have with this not undeserving beer, is that it tries to pull into two directions at once. Lactic Oud Bruin notes are clashing with the burnt dark malts specs. Or, another failed attempt at reconciling Walloon & Flemish...

Bottle, 9%. Roasted and yeasty aroma. Cloudy very dark amber colour. Big stable light brown head. The flavour is quite yeasty, but also nicely malty and with a nice roasted finish. A lot of yeast, but well-balanced and nice.

Muddy brown with a lacing thick creamy beige head. Aroma of dark candy, some yeasty spiciness. Very balanced and mellow, starts with a caramel nutty flavour, developing gently in an assertive bitter end. No traces of 9%. Very good.

33cl, new brew Anno 2008, from De Hopduvel Gent, complex brew, balanced, cloudy, good head, good brew

Hazy brown color; huge and thick head. It has a fairly good aroma of malt and Belgian yeast. It has a good body structure, quite bold, and an interesting flavor, of caramel and chocolate over all, very strong and dark chocolate, and a strong bitterness, almost a crossover between a Belgian Ale (the chocolate malt) and a Bitter (the strong bitterness). And in the powerful final, the chocolate and hop notes are joined by some Belgian yeast. Quite original, good.

Pours very muddy brown - can’t see anything throug it. Off white big creamy head. Aroma is sour with some ryebread. Flavour of prunes, malt, vinious and ends up on hops notes. It has a lovely thick malty feel to it.

(Bottle 33 cl) Hazy orangey brown with a small off-white head. Lightly tart and fruity aroma. Medium body with some roasted malt, burned malt accents and a fairly bitter finish. Atypical Belgian but very good. 140908

Draught. Cloudy deep dark brown colour with a nice bit light brown creamy head leaving a good long lasting sticky lacing. Good caramel roasty malty dark fruity hoppy aroma with some alcohol. Great mouthfeel. The flavour is bitter with a pleasant roasty maltiness along with bitter hops, good swweetness, some metal and ending off with a bit of chocolate and spice.. Dry bitter roasty sweet finish. Pleasant sweet nighty night brew. The bottled version I drank earlier the same day was a bit infected (exploded out of the bottle and had some sourness) good and not at all as good as the draught version. .