Struise Black Jack

Brewed by De Struise Brouwers
Style: Imperial/Strong Porter
Oostvleteren, Belgium

Bottled. Quite dark amber colour, medium beige head. Aroma is quite alcoholic, some liquorice, some quite sweetish syupry stuff. Flavour is liquorice, alcoohol, sugar and some mild fruity and sweet wooden notes.

Courtesy mcbackus. Pours a dark and murky chocolate mahogany color with a thin, swirly, tan head. Minimal, spotty lacing is scattered about the glass. The aroma is quite nice, showing rich choco-nougat sweetness, robust coffee roast, vanilla, and a mild, dry, oaky tartness. Flavors are considerably different, with buggy, soured oak asserting more of that tart tanginess that seems out of place amongst the cocoa and coffee richness. Likewise, the body falls short of expectations, feeling a bit too thin for the style, though it is silky and smooth. In short, this one looks and smells great, but disappoints otherwise.

Nice smokey porter with a slight bit of tartness in both the aroma and flavor. Very good.

330mL bottle courtesy of fonefan poured into a tulip. Pours dark, dark brown with mahogany hints around the edges and a small bubbly tan head that dissipates almost immediately to a thin ring and leaves no lacing at all. The aroma strikes me as very sweet but with coffee and chocolate notes. It’s almost like an iced mocha with some sweet dark malts thrown in. There is some smoky tobacco hints as well as some semi-sour fruits. The taste starts with the vanilla and chocolate sweetness but fades into a fairly nondescript malty backbone and the finish is slightly sour and bitter with used coffee grinds and spoiled fruit. Honestly, it let me down a bit. The mouthfeel is very viscous with little carbonation and dry, almost ashy, in the finish. This is a fair attempt at a porter/imperial porter but not one that I would go back to. Definitely not up to the high standard I would expect from Struise, with an interesting mishmash of sour fruit, coffee and dark malts that doesn’t seem to come together very well and, literally, leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Bottle. Deep deep dark brown - if not light black - with a small light brown head. Aromas of coffee, chocolate and roasted malt. Flavour of coffee, sour fruit and ashtray.

Dark brown with a small, tan head. Aroma instantly hits me as cold coffee and I don’t like that in a beer. Lots of cocoa too, and a vegetable note. Cold coffee and ashtray flavour with sweet caramel in the background.

33cl bottle @ De Molen Shop. Pours dark brown with a small creamy off white head. Nose is coffee roast and cocoa powder. Smooth palate. Taste is roast, chocolate, coffee and a sour hint of dark fruits. Low carbonation. Medium bodied. Lots of cold coffee - a bit ashy.

Very big thanks to HogTownHarry for sharing this with me. Appearance: Quite a thin pour, deep black, small tiny off white head. Aroma: Turf, peat, vanilla, orange, chocolate, leather, slight smoke. Delicious. Flavour:Thin body, smoke, peat, bitter, lemon, apples, chocolate and a long bitter finish.