Lucifer Black
Brouwerij Het Anker

Little bottle purchased four years ago at the Arndale indoor market Microbar
Pours a very dark brown body with nice enough light brown bubbles
Aroma is coffee cake
Flavour is toffee coffee

 

 

11.2oz bottle coded 18/08/16 (nearly 5 years old) poured into a tulip glass just above fridge temp 8.5% ABV. The beer pours opaque, dull medium brown with khaki colored head. The head recedes to a thin cap and leaves plenty of lacing. The aroma is mild with notes of leather, raisin, prune and sweetened bread. The taste is semisweet burnt sugar caramel with mild flavors of sweet and tart fruit. Pleasant bitterness for the style. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with average carbonation and a mostly dry finish. Overall, very good to excellent.

11.2oz brown bottle. Label is stamped '18/08/2016'. Info says this is refermented in the bottle.
Foam rises to the lip of bottle upon opening. See through, amber brown colored body. Three fingers of beige head upon pouring, which takes a few minutes to subside. Leaves some partial walls of lacing.
Aroma of dark roasted bread and dark fruits of dark cherry and prune. Also there is green apple, and a little pepper spice.
Taste is slightly sweet from the dark fruit experience; the fruits are in the green apple, plum and apricot territory. Some sweet chocolate flavors mix in, mid to late. Solid dark bread base, but it comes across as soaked with the sweet stone fruit. Late flavors go to the spice and banana. Aftertaste is quick to fade and finish is dry.
Thicker than medium mouth feel, with a smooth texture. Okay carbonation, even with the high foam content.
Each sip is a quick and done experience, but the taste profile is Belgian rewarding.

 

 

A dark brown nearly black pour with a decent head. Dark fruit nose with a tiny hint of chocolate...not enough to note up front but certainly within the flavors. Drinks very easily and not nearly as heavy as it looks. An easy but rich and flavorful 8.5 to drink.

Pours a root beer brown color with quickly dissipating foamy beige head leaving considerable lacing. Nose is mildly sweet with whiffs of yeast,spice and dark fruits. Taste is similar , very restrained and pleasant. Smooth with a slight dryness on the finish. Not nearly as black and strong as expected. Quite good.

 

It pours a very dark and opaque brown. About a finger of head. The aroma is very restrained and features some figs, spices and definitely some alcohol. The taste is sweet, with black licorice, more spices and a bit of a nail varnish. The mouthfeel is surprisingly light for this ABV and type of beer.

 

 

Brouwerij Het Anker "Black Lucifer"
11.2 fl. oz brown glass bottle, "Lotn˚ 18/08/2016 16099 09:40" sampled on 11 February 2017
$5.99 @ Total Wine & More, Cherry Hill, NJ

Notes via stream of consciousness: Expensive beer. Is it worth it? Let's see. Nice appearance with a clear deep mahogany brown body that glimmers with ruby highlights beneath a frothy head of khaki that holds well and leaves some fairly nice lace. Personally I think the lacing could be better, but it's OK, it leaves a short, solid "mountain" of lace that rises up over the surface of the beer - which has also kept an almost completely solid surface covering, so there's points in that. The aroma is sweetish with a some spice (I'm thinking mainly green cardamom, but others as well) and some "dark malt". It's a little cola-like, which is common for the style, and there's a little bit of dark and red fruit to it as well. It's not particularly bright, but it's clean and welcoming. The flavor brings a good amount of caramel to the table, some golden and some medium, which lends it a toffee-ish note. It's not as "black" as I thought it'd be. The spice blends remarkably well with the malt. It's soft, and not particularly distinct, but it livens it and brings a little nuttiness out of the malt until the finish where it rallies quickly with a little swirl that's wrapped in fruit. It's not sweet, but it lingers gently as the malt fades. What bitterness is there in the finish is like what you'll sometimes find associated with dried dark-skinned fruits - it's minor. So far I haven't noticed the alcohol at all. What is it? Hmmm... just 8.5%, I wouldn't really expect to find it then anyway. Another sip bring me what I think of as chocolate, or cocoa powder. It's mild, but it's there along with the spice and the caramel and soft nuttiness. It feels good in the mouth. It's supple and smooth with just a delicate caress from a very fine-bubbled moderate carbonation. It doesn't compel me to continually go back to it immediately after each sip, and so I'm able to savor it, knowing that it's there at arms reach - but I don't want to ignore it for too long either, which I would consider as "very good drinkability". Satisfying. Body? Light-medium, maybe medium-light. I'm really liking the spicing. There's just enough there that you're well aware of it, but not so much that it becomes separate from the whole. I've been won over. I was expecting something different, something more aggressive given the name and label, and even the cost, but it's not. Is that good or bad? I don't know, it doesn't matter, it just is what it is. As a strong dark Belgian ale it scores well.

On tap at the Pour Taproom in Greenville, SC.

Nearly living up to the name this dark brown ale is almost black in the glass. Excellent tan head with plentiful lacing.

Flavor: this is a fairly rich and flavorful ale with good complexity and excellent balance. Very lightly sweet with plenty of dark fruit notes, including dates and figs. Hints of chocolate and faint coffee.

Feel: medium-light body is a bit thin but smooth with appropriate, soft carbonation.

Overall: excellent.

 

Served in a wide mouth flute glass.

Appearance: Hazy Amber color with medium bubbles on the body rising to maybe quarter of an inch off the body. Head is off-white and drops quick after one sip almost to nada.

Smell: light smell of yeast and super light hops.

Taste: Best high point of the brew, nice sweet honey and malts with notes of salt and candy.

Mouth: Stickiness is average at best with medium bubbles at best.

Overall: descent brew, took me by surprise on how well it finishes a meal. Would pick up again if I find it in the United States. Salud!