Belgian Rare Beer Series - TASTING NOTES - Black Albert

Black Albert, De Struise - 13% - Imperial Stout

De Struise has come a long way since its commercial inception back in 2003. The Oostvleteren based brewery has been forcing the barriers and boundaries of a rather pedestrian, albeit superb and timely, brewing industry in Belgium. The traditional tripels, quads, dark and pale ales are being superseded by a flair and adventure displayed by the revolt and uprising of the craft brewing scene in the US over the last number of years.

Black Albert is the father, the base, the root notes of the brewery's imperial stout line. The Belgian's in recent years seem to have joined the big stout bandwagon with De Dolle Export (a superbly balanced and flavourful 9% beast) and other smaller brewers such as

Smisje's Catherine (a bit of an over-carbonated and thin let down if truth be told)

This was one of the very first beers added to my Bruges want list on a recent trip to enjoy brews and of course the annual beer festival. I managed to find a handful of bottles at The Bottle Shop, one of the city's biggest stores with a superb selection (even if prices were very much on the high side)

Black Albert follows a range of big imperial stouts, along with similar brews aged in different ways such as Cuvve Delphine which I sampled in the cosy and eminently gracious and friendly, t' Brugs Beertje. At €7 a bottle some may pout at my exuberance but the dark, rich, oaked stout aged in bourbon barrels was fantastic.

The rich sticky stout pours with a slightly viscous, oily body with a da

rk mahogany brown bo

dy with no visible light penetration. A little whisp of a light cocoa head with little bubbles of snake like lacing up and down the edges of the balloon wine glass it calls home this evening.

Despite my rather sniffly demeanour this 13% whopper doesn't lead with subtleties in any respect. The initial waft of alcohol laden tobacco tinged chocolate and espresso soon subsides with a sweet tinge of vanilla, lavender and Turkish delight.

Buttered slightly burnt toast on the palette, huge amount of charring, smoke and cigarillos (it sounds anal but certainly not the depth of a Cohiba or Montecristo) Surprisingly thin mouthfeel for a stout of this size, not comparable to the rich creaminess of something like Stone 12th Anniversary Oatmeal or Victory's sublime Storm King. Low on carbonation with a deceiving drink-ability, the finish is full of the usual plethora of bitter chocolate, espresso and of course the obligatory roasted malt.

This is stout number two from the young brothers and based on comparison with the bourbon aged Cuvee Delphine I do prefer the whiskey aged monster. It might have been the traditional Flemish surroundings or the four or five beers that I had before it but the Cuvee takes pride of place as the best Flanders stout I've had thus far.

Next on the agenda? Perhaps the rarest of all, Black Damnation. Coming soon at a blog near you...