Vlees & Bloed
Brouwerij De Molen

Got this at the De Molen beer shop in Bodegraven.

From a 33cl bottle into a snifter
Bottled 22-09-2014
Best before 22-09-2015
24.4*P
EBC: 369
EBU: 91
Imperial stout with salt, honey and cedar wood chips

APPEARANCE: A clear brown pour yields a smaller, medium looking, tan head with decent retention. Clear black body with no real carbonation evident. Head fades to a faint film and bubbly ring. A slight ring remains until the end leaving only some small falling dots of lacing down the glass.

SMELL: Roasted notes, cacao powder, wood and vanilla with notes of sweet cream. Definite honey in there with caramel notes as well. Bold and really, really nice.

TASTE: Roasted flavors with cacao powder and pure honey up front. Some wood at the swallow, then a bold and lingering finish of pure sweet honey, caramel, sweet wood and vanilla, cacao, roasted and burnt malts with some bitter, burnt coffee as well. Really nice. Well balanced and luckily the salt doesn't really play a role. Stellar and very complex.

PALATE: Medium body and medium-lower levels of carbonation. Creamy enough, goes down smooth and finishes a bit sticky. Some heat lingers.

OVERALL: Very good stuff and well balanced for sure. A thicker body and darker look would help put it over the top, but it's stellar as it anyways. Nothing really dominates but it's all there, and the base beer seems to be hefty enough to hold its own. A good example of how well De Molen can brew stout beer when they're on their game. Pick it up if you get the chance. Recommended.