Black & Tan
Brouwerij Emelisse

October 2018: Shared 330 ml bottle. Black colour, beige head. Aroma of tar and roast malts, hints of peat. Flavour of peat smoke, tar, roast malts and bittering hops.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poured from 330mL bottle into a pint glass. Best before 12/2015.

Appearance: very dark brown hue with plenty of murk. Head is a thick finger of creamy dark-tan foam with good retention. Quite attractive!

Smell: big, citrusy and dank hop aroma atop a sweet malt base. There's a hint of roastiness and coffee here, but for the most part the imperial stout elements are smothered by the IPA elements. Reminds me a lot of an American black ale.

Taste: dank, earthy and citrusy hops abound. In the middle I got a nice dose of sweet and chocolatey imperial stout, but the hops took over all around. Bitterness is high and rather raspy. This is an interesting experiment, but I would not say a completely successful one from my standpoint.

Mouthfeel: medium-rich body with a good carbonation and a very nice creaminess. Quite good indeed.

Overall: the prickliness of the hops do not seem to mesh well with the sweet stout in this recipe. It's certainly got its high points, but in general these two beers do not seem to blend too wonderfully.

 

A: Poured from a bottle to a pint glass. Had a dark brown color and a thick consistency. There was an inch and a half of off white, foamy, long-lasting head. Excellent lacing.

S: A somewhat subdued, but still good aroma of hops, chocolate, and malt.

T: Tasted of hops (a large amount), some malt, chocolate, coffee, and possibly some light fruit. It's always a gamble with black & tans, but the flavor here seems to come off pretty well. You get a big shot of hops up front (the IPA half), then you get the chocolate and coffee (the stout). It balances out quite well.

M: A well carbonated beer with a smooth finish. Medium- to full-bodied.

O: Definitely an unusual combination for the style, but it somehow works. A pretty tasty beer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

330 ml bottle into snifter, best before 12/2015. Pours fairly pitch black color with a 1 finger dense tan head with good retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Nice soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Aromas of chocolate, cocoa, roasted malt, coffee, toast, oak, light peat smoke, light whiskey, grapefruit, orange peel, pine, and floral/roasted earthiness. Very nice aromas with good balance and complexity of dark/roasted malt, barrel, and hop notes; with good strength. Taste of dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, roasted malt, toast, oak, light whiskey, light peat smoke, grapefruit, orange zest, pine, and floral/roasted earthiness. Good amount of pine/roasted bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, roast, toast, oak, light whiskey, light peat smoke, grapefruit, orange peel, pine, and floral/roasted earthiness on the finish for a while. Very nice complexity and balance of dark/roasted malt, barrel, and hop notes; with a nice malt/bitterness balance and no cloying flavors after the finish. Medium carbonation and medium-full bodied; with a moderately creamy and fairly sticky/chalky mouthfeel that is nice. Alcohol is well hidden with only a small warming present after the finish. Overall this is a damn nice barrel aged black and tan. All around good complexity and balance of dark/roasted malt, barrel, and hop flavors; and very smooth to sip on for the ABV. A very enjoyable offering.

Poured into a Fremont pint glass. Pours pitch black with one finger fine brown head great retention and lacing. Great aroma of dark toasted malt with light smokiness, chocolate and coffee, hints of whiskey. Flavor is semi-sweet toasted malt, chocolate, peat smoke, hints of whiskey with hints of lighter malt and light piney hops. Great creamy medium body. This does seem to be more black than tan, with the stout elements dominating the flavor until the end when some lighter malt and hop flavors pop out, although they are still peripheral. Nevertheless, the stout component is a quite nice one, and the IPA element, although light fits in quite nicely, giving this a bit a lighter flavor in the finish, which is interesting after a strong stout. Like the other ales I've had from Emelisse, this was well made and quite enjoyable. I'm fond of this brewery and would like to see more from them.