Kasteel Nitro Noir
Brouwerij Van Honsebrouck N.V.

Copenhagen 3/3 2022. 33 cl can from Beerdealer web-shop. Brown at the top of the can fading into black.

Pours opaque dark brown with a small light beige head. A bit bubbly. Settles as thin, patchy layer of foam unable of covering the surface of the beer. Almost no lacing.

Aroma is medium intense with a sweet malty odor mingling with coffee and cream. Caramel, toffee and a bit of sugar.

Light carbonation. Slightly thick, oily, almost flat texture.

Flavor is medium intense with a strong sweetness followed by a moderately strong bitterness. Aftertaste is sweet and laced with caramel. Lingers for a bit. Finish is sweet and flat.

A bit on the flat side and quite sweet. Maybe they should leave it to the Irish.

The pour is jet black with a tan head of frothy foam. The taste is dark chocolate, espresso, caramel, & raisin. Cheers! B

Off to Belgium again, this time for the Kasteel Nitro Noir porter. Had four cans on sale at 50% off sent to me by my friends at BELGIANSTYLEALES.com out of Cleveland Ohio. They were canned recently back in October. First time having this one so excited to get started here.

From the can at around 50 degrees F, gave it three easy shakes, cracked her open and straight and strong into a beautiful Kasteel chalice glass, resulted in a gorgeous 4-finger very creamy medium tan head on top of a jet black ale. This is one of the most beautiful poured beers I've seen. Just gorgeously inviting. The aroma is terrific...sweet, bready malt up front complimented with milk chocolate, medium-roast coffee, caramel, raisin, licorice, touch of vanilla and spice. Roasty and toasty. A complex nose.

On the taste, the first thing that hits me is how light and thin this is on the palate. The appearance suggested something much heavier. On the frontend, the sweet chocolate comes through as the backbone of this for me and then after the swallow there's coffee with cream and sugar on the aftertaste. Just a very mild bitterness that doesn't last very long at all. This is a very light, easy drinking, chocolatey sweet porter with a kick of sweetened coffee on the finish. There's a slight trace of a coriander spice in the aftertaste if you look for it. I bet this would make a terrific hot cocoa if I threw it in the microwave for a minute or so. This is one of the thinest porters I've ever had. It does have a smooth, soft mouthfeel but the flavors are light and gone rather quickly after the swallow. At almost 6% ABV, I suppose you could get yourself in trouble with it because it goes down so easy and is thin but tasty enough to slam quite a few. I paid under $10 for four cans of this, on sale. Not sure I'd pay full price now that I've had it. If you like light, mild, sweet milk chocolatey porters I would recommend this.

 

I can't really fault this beer too much since best by date was November 2022 but it still full of carbonation and quite tasty. Like a less sweet milk stout if that makes sense notes of coffee cocoa powder and dairy creamer are evident. Body is slick and silky. Paid only a couple of bucks for the can but not bad overall.

 

Kasteel Nitro Noir has a medium, creamy, beige head, a dark brown appearance, and some lacing. The aroma is of dark bread crust and chocolate. It has a similar flavor, with cream. The sweetness and bitterness are restrained. Kasteel Nitro Noir has a thin body and a semi-sweet finish.

RJT

From the can, Despite me not following the instructions thereon, it pours a dark brown with some reddish highlights with a nice thick nitrogen enriched light brown head that slowly reduces. The nose gets some coffee notes and roasted malts. The mouth revels in the smooth brew, with notes of roasted malts with a light bitterness.

 

 

10.14oz (300mL) can ENJOY BY 11-2022 poured into a perfect pint glass at just above fridge temp 5.7% ABV. The beer pours light brown with chestnut highlights and typical sticky, tan colored, nitro head. The head recedes to a one inch cap and sticks. The aroma is mild with sweet roasted malt. The taste is semisweet barely roasted + toasted malt with a hint of coffee before a quick, barely bitter finish. The mouthfeel is thin to medium bodied with typical nitro feel and a semi dry finish. Overall, good, not great. No flaws, just simple and a bit muted by the nitro.

 

A- 4 finger nitro head smooth and clean head. dark black

S- coffee beans and robust malts

F- roast chocolate with coffee hints.

M- smooth and creamy chocolate comes through

O- not a bad beer . recommend it

Belgian company, English-style porter. Nice tan head above the dark brown pour. Roasted malts deliver caramel notes, and there's an underlying bitterness to balance the sweet malt flavor. The Nitro can novelty adds to the smoothness, head longevity, and velvety mouthfeel. Not a bad fireplace beer at all.

30cl can. Appearance, like a Guinness and head is lasting. Nose is above average, boderline great with belgian yeast and deep smokey, roasted malt. Taste falls a bit flat. Nice frontend of heavy roasted malt ,some smoke and belgian yeast, but falls off tounge. Decent aftertaste, but not memorable. Mouthfeel is thin.

 

Brouwerij Van Honsebrouck N.V. "Kasteel Nitro Noir"
10.14 fl. oz. can, coded "ENJOY BY11-2022 KNNO1126A 09:33". Sampled on 11 September 2021.
$4.29 @ Total Wine & More, Cherry Hill, NJ

Notes via stream of consciousness: Nitro Porter? OK. The nitro lends it a full head of foamy tan atop a black body. The aroma offers golden caramel, mild milk chocolate, and just a cusp of roastiness. On to the taste... not unexpectedly like the aroma. In fact, apart from some added fruitiness that's like apple and some sweet red berries there's not a whole lot different. Now, to call this a porter is a bit of a stretch as it's too sweet, not bitter, and not at all hoppy. I mean, there are some hops in there (leafy and a touch grassy) but they're all background; and there is some bitterness but it leans far more towards the sweet side. This is more like a dessert porter. The blend of sweet malt, fruitiness, caramel, chocolate, roastiness, and bitter leafy hops is quite nice; it's very well rounded, if not exactly balanced. In the mouth it's medium to medium-light in body but also dextrinous - are they using lactose? It seems like it. The head has held up magnificently and the lacing has left a solid wall around most of the glass. If you take it for what it is and don't think of it as a porter it's quite nice.
Review #7,368