Struise Black Jack

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

At BLES Bierhappening 2008, Zottegem, Belgium
Deep, black body. Creamy, lightly brown head. Aroma of strong malts, coffee, fruits. Intense flavour: quite sweet, lightly bitter. Drinks easily.

Bottle from Den Bierzolder. Dark brown with a creamy beige head. Tart fruit and roasted aromas. Good sour and roasted flavours. Full-bodied and smooth. Enjoyable.

Sampled several times and also on cask. Pours very dark clear brown with a small fizzy head. Roasty aroma, touch of coffee, and hint of tartness. I may be in the minority here, but I really like the acidity in this beer over top of the roast. Some decadent dark fruits as well, dry finish. Medium bodied but lighter mouthful, very easy to drink, nice lively sparkling carbonation, not sticky at all. I could drink these all day.

Bottled 33cl. Courtesy of bierkoning. It pours a murky brown beer with a small head. Sour aroma. Huge amounts of coffee showing up. Vegetal and slightly medicinal. Hints of dark chocolate, molasses, raisins, mint, basil and candy sugar emerging. Quite aggressive and rather pronounced. Balance between sourness and sweetness in the taste. Medium bodied. Woody, medicinal. Low bitterness. A lot of coffee appearing. Hints of molasses, dark chocolate, apples, candy sugar, mint, toffee and licorice. Salty. Suddenly I appear an earwig in the head. What a surprise! Dry finish which is reminiscent of strong coffee. A bit dissapointing. Thanks a lot beerkoning! I am probalby the first to find a earwig in this beer ;-)

Bottle @ Kulminator, Antwerp.
Pours almost black with fine, brownish sides. A small, creamy, off-white head. Aroma is stuffed with dried fruits, plums, raisins and a touch of apples. All on top of a heavy dose of roasted malts. Medium carbonation fair mouthfeel. Sweet flavour, lightly roasted, some sweet milky chocolate and elegant tartness from plums and raisins. Quite elegant.

bottle at the Pre-ZBF pours dark brown with a thin dark tan head. Dark malt and a sour oaky aroma. Roasted malt body with a sour wood flavor that rides throught and ends lingering for a while. This was very enjoyable and I’m glad that I picked some up.

Bottle 33 cl. Courtesy of yespr. Pours a hazy and opaque dark brown with an orange hue and a small beige head. Sweet aroma of dried fruits and hard roasted malts. Full-bodied, sweetish hard roasted malt, dried fruit and a discreet bitterness. Has a strange underlying tartness that gives a bit of a tang. 090209

Bottle purchased at Alvinne bottle shop in Belgium. Beer tasted with friends at TJ’s on 29.12.08. The beer poured a very dark, brown head with a deep tan head and ring on the edge. The nose has strong coffee and cocoa aromas. The taste is a bit sweet up front but is complimented by the strong coffee character and some chocolate notes. There are also some dried fruit notes in the taste, a bit of funk as well. I had tried a small sample of this at the Struise brewery a few months back and was very happy to try this one in bottle.