Monday, January 16, 2012

Belgian Black (Lighthouse)


This will be a tough week for me; so many new beers to try. The line up this week is the Belgian Black by Lighthouse, the first two beers from Hoyne, and a frozen barley wine from Phillips. I choose the Lighthouse first.

Belgian Black (Lighthouse) = 9/10

Most beer geeks in Victoria will be familiar with the nose; it smells like a ramped up Keepers. There is nothing wrong with this. I love Keepers stout. The air just oozes aromas of berries and roasted bitter chocolate. Each sip is just as your would expect: low carbonation, full mouthfeel, thick, chewy and warming. Heaps and heaps of flavours emerge. Some are expected; namely the bittersweet dark chocolate, coffee, berries and dark fruit. Not expected was the faint spiciness (allspice) and rum cake. The spiciness is most likely due to the Belgian Ardennes yeast strain used. The astringency from the bittersweet carried a long linger of warming alcohol and spice. Very tasty and well worth trying, maybe more than once.

Taste +4
Aftertaste +2
Alcohol Content +1 9%
Value +1
Appearance +1 Get bottle and art by Michelle Landry

3 comments:

Adrian (@anyland) said...

I picked this up on Monday as well. Love the sandblasted bottle. Can't wait to crack this one after such a glowing review. Thanks Ian!

meterman said...

This - is - so - good.

meterman said...

Just cracked it tonight. Very good!