Frack & Frick
Brouwerij De Molen

 

De Zombier. En copa Teku. Viendo You 2x07-08. Ahumado muy bien dimensionado, notorio pero sin excesos. Cuerpo robusto. Alcohol bien oculto, incitando a beberla rapido a pesar de su abv

33 cl bottle @ home. Pours a black colour. Head is beige with short retention. Aroma's of smoke, leather/rubber, with some chocolatey sweetness and light roast. Retronasal there's light (red) fruit additionally. Flavour is above moderate sweet, smoky, with light roasty bitterness. Medium to full bodied. Finishes with roasted malts and moderate bitterness. Still pretty good!

From a 0.33l bottle (€7.50) at Café Frape on 21SEP17.

Poured jet black and oily, with no real head at all. Most of what little foam present was at the edges, and lacing was minimal. Enjoyed the nose, which was smoky and roasty, with choco and coffee present. Body was medium-plus, and there was little prickle to speak of.

Tasted roasty choco notes, with some semi-sweetness. Also had some coffee and a touch of dark fruit. Also noted were caramel, licorice and molasses, and some dryish cocoa powder. The finish had a bit of floral hopping, though mild. A very nice bier! Prosit!

4.24/5 rDev +8.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

1954

330ml bottle - a smoked Imperial stout (-ish, of course), made in collaboration with Brouwerij Kees, but brewed at de Molen, for those of you who can't seem to read the fine print.

This beer pours a solid black, with spare amber basal edges, and two fingers of puffy, finely foamy, and somewhat bubbly brown head, which leaves some dissolving ice floe lace around the glass as things slowly sink away.

It smells of roasted wild game, grainy and bready caramel malt, a hint of burnt rubber, singed orange and grapefruit rind, bittersweet cocoa powder, and some mild leafy, weedy, and herbal green hop bitters. The taste is gritty and grainy caramel malt, a free-range wafting damp smokiness, juicy orange peel, baked ham, semi-sweet chocolate, plump raisins, anise root, and more understated earthy, musky, and gently soused floral verdant hoppiness.

The carbonation is fairly tame in its deadbeat-dad frothiness, the body a solid medium-heavy weight, and generally smooth, maybe some of that robust smoke getting all up in my palate at times. It finishes off-dry, the toasty caramel malt complexity and ashes in my mouth carrying the lingering day.

Overall - this is a pretty well-made smoked stout, with the north of 10 points of wowee sauce essentially integrated into the whole, never really showing its hand. And kudos for the name, a reworking of 'Frick & Frack', which implies two entities who are 'joined at the hip', to use another folksy saying.