Struise Black Jack

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

courtesy of Greg Gaughan - very dark brown colour with an elusive beige foam; roasted malty nose, aroma of black chocolate, pralines and ashes; moderate carbonation; quite oily and with a medium malt body; aftertaste of licorice and marzipan with hints of black chocolate

Bottle. A:Black, creamy beige head. S: Chocolate, coffee, small vinous vanilla thing going on in the background. T: Lots of coffee. Dark chocolate. Milky. O: Mild. Not very imperial at all. Dissapointment.

Rating 6000 (I promised myself that I would stop at 3k, oh well). And what better way to celebrate that landmark than with a Struise beer? My favourite brewery. Somewhere I would never have discovered without this site. I bought this 75cl bottle at the Alvinne beer shop at their brewery back in December 2008 and have been saving it for this moment. I’ve tasted this beer in 33cl bottles and so was interested to see how it would be in a 75 since the Pannepot Gran Reserva was so much better in the 75cl bottle. I was at the Struise farm when Urbain opened the package with the beer bottle labels for this beer, so I feel a bit of history with it. When he said that it was brewed for guys in Sweden, I never expected to get any, but then again I have been wrong before. As for the beer, well it is black with a thin tan head. Intense dark Belgian chocolate dominates the aroma, with some fig, tar, worn leather jackets and tobacco at the edges. Some woody notes as it opens up. In the mouth it is incredibly smooth. The carbonation is very soft indeed. Stupidly drinkable. It’s a bit like liquid Belgian chocolate but far less sweet. Bit of dryness on finish and the lasting taste of dark cherries. I suppose some coffee is present, but not overly dominant. The finish of dark cherries is quite superb. Alcohol isn’t present at all. I had to slow myself down from guzzling the whole bottle in 5 minutes. Just so drinkable, I suppose the low carbonation helps that. Would happily drink this every day. Congratulations to all at Struise and Monks Cafe for producing such a good beer. This rating is dedicated to this site and all the users, brewers and other beer related people, who have helped me through this crazy and wonderful world of beer. Cheers to you all.

330ml bottle thanks to xnoxhatex for sharing this. Pours a dark brown with a light brown head. Coffee, roast, malt, chocolate aromas with red fruit and cherries coming through. The cherries and red fruit flavors overpower the chocolate roast. Really fruity slightly sour but still a decent beer.

330cl bottle shared by devon. thanks!.... cola brown pour with a thin film of light brown head... aroma of roasted malt and sligthly sour chocolate... sour roasty chocolate flavors with lively carbonation. didn’t take well to it at first but got better as i had more. sour stouts and porters are definetely interesting but hard to do well.

33cl, new exclusive brew Anno 2008, from Den Bierzolder Heule, complex, yet easy to drink Porter, balanced, cloudy, good head, very good brew

bottle, thanks to xnoxhatex for sharing. pours black with tan head. nose is roasty, rubber, cherry, lactic. flavors of sour chocolate, lactic and pedio infection here, gross at first but kind of starts getting good although i’m sure this wasn’t intended.

Bottle courtesy of Bonfunck. Placeholder rating. Raspberry, blueberry aroma’s in a mild coffee like porter. Lacks bitterness. more sweet/sour.