Belgian Midnight Paddler
5 Paddles Brewing Company

 

It appears our Midnight Paddler has now wound up in the canals of Brugge, a classically medieval Belgian town. The corresponding beer is suitably dark and gothic, with a head nearly as tall as the village's historic belfry. Liquid this black and foam this brown generally indicate a very flavourful, substantial beer and that's exactly what I'm expecting from this one.

I've listed this as a Belgian Strong Dark Ale owing to the fact it's fermented with Belgian yeast, but the base recipe was conceived as an Imperial Stout/Black IPA hybrid. Funny enough this is more apparent in the Belgian variation than it is the original; the malt is roasty and rich with chocolate fudge flavour and dank, pine-y hops come across the nose loud and clear.

Typically 'Belgian' elements like bruised plum and anise do show up the palate, but they're still competing with semi-dark chocolate maltiness and resinous, earthy bitterness. Espresso starts to factor in big time and combines with a lingering pumpkin-pie spicing to give this a distinctively Fall-time feel. The aftertaste circles through all these diverse flavours and winds down gradually like a carousel at the end a ride.

At 10% alcohol this is certainly something worthy of sipping - Midnight Paddler will have your head swimming if you're not careful. But it's also got a coffee- and cocoa-crusted, thick-as-brick maltiness that one can chew on like an old cow. The spices aren't aggressive but rather off in the distance like retreating thunder. And the bitterness doesn't last; the milky qualities pull the plug on it quickly.

Oddly enough, I found the original Midnight Paddler to have more Belgian-y qualities than the actual Belgian rendition, which ironically has the rich stout-like elements I felt lacked in the original. I'm surely wrong about this but, having tried both on numerous occasions, I wonder if they didn't confuse the batches. Regardless, between the two, this one is definitely my preference. It's great stuff.