To Øl / Omnipollo Brewmance | De Proefbrouwerij (bvba Andelot)

2.65/5  rDev -35%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 1.75 | feel: 1 | overall: 3

L - pitch black with less than a finger of tan head

S - Charred oak, bourbon, smoke, tobacco

T - A turn for the worse I'm afraid. Everything is subdued and bitter. Bitter dark chocolate, small oak, an unpleasant black licorice, almost no bourbon

F - Watered down and tepid. This is an 11.20% stout? Has the feel of a bad porter at best.

O - Disappointing. An unpleasant array of diluted flavors and a thin mouthfeel.

★ 420 characters

4.61/5  rDev +13%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5

No date but purchased All Star Week 2015 from Kung Food Chu Amerasia. Poured July 28, 2015 in to a Mad ElF tulip/snifter.

Look - Dark brown to black. Finger of tan head with 90 degree pour from beginning. Lacing and head are similar in that they are there but dissipate in a minute or two.

Smell - Boozy. Vanilla. Dark fruit. Hops and honey come forward when swirled. Honey doesn't come through as expected.

Taste - Marshmallow. Coffee. Char. Chocolate. Bourbon. Black cherry.

Feel - Very smooth feeling despite ABV and barrel. No carbonation bomb but not flat. Burn on tongue from hops or alcohol minimal.

Overall - I have a feeling this was aged a little longer than expected. Very mellow. Very good barrel aged stout. It is hard to mess up but good nonetheless.

★ 774 characters

3.83/5  rDev -6.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

Pours a dark brown colour, black when not up to the light. Head is beige, visible bubbles just crowding around the edges. Speckly lace. Looks alright.

Smells strong and pungent. Big kind of cognac character blending with coffee, raising toast that's slightly charred and a touch of aloe vera. Not sure what to make of it, but it's quite impressive.

Taste is rich; chocolatey and sweet. Lots of complex sugars giving raisin, sherry and brown sugar with a thick chocolate fondant richness but without the sweetness, and a distinctive Courvoisier strength. Refined, but pungent as fuck. It's sweet, but intelligent; a thinking man's beer, good for destroying a few of those thinking cells.

Little drying on the back. Full, smooth on the front. Booze is a drying agent rather than a big, hot pungency.

Strong, mighty beer. One might almost call it 'heroic' if one were a complete tool.

★ 885 characters

4.25/5  rDev +4.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

375ml green caged and corked bottle purchased from Berkeley Bowl West in Berkeley, CA. Shared with Sam in Sydney on a brew day.

Pours a deep black, silky in the glass and with some weight behind it. Head is a mesh of beige that stays pretty persistently. Nice fine spots of lacing. Carbonation is very fine. If the head were a little thicker, it would be the business. As it is, it's still a fairly solid corporation.

Nose is quite vinous, but with some classic, flavoursome stout characters behind it. Slight peppery characters come through as well, perhaps a touch of chilli aromatics. Above the oak and vanilla sits a fruitiness that's still dark but rather fragrant. It detracts somewhat from the sheer weight of the stout, but it's certainly pleasant.

Taste is very nice. Smooth and silky throughout, with some tannic bite on the front, mellowing out to creaminess by the time it hits the mid-palate. Roastiness around the edges provides some balance, while the booze is really quite well hidden. The back is what makes this beer for me: after all of the vinous notes, the oak and the tannins, we get a creamy sweetness almost like raw milk. It's an unexpected turn for the beer, but really very pleasant.

Feel is light, but the silkiness helps it along its path.

Overall, this is a very special beer. Smooth, silky and laced with interesting twists of tannins and red-wine. I enjoyed it a very great deal.

★ 1,416 characters

4.28/5  rDev +4.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

375mL bottle

I never mention bitterness in my reviews, my bitterness taste buds are ridiculously under-
sensitive.

APPEARANCE : Pitch black on pour with dark brown hue. Head is mocha, more than medium sized on pour, goes back down at a leisurely pace leaving some tough looking lacing.

SMELL : First nose is coffee, chocolate and some smoke with a herbal hop side. Second nose pushes the hop profile aside and really amplifies on the mocha chocolate side. Some honey starts to come out. Third nose is all about the honey : black roasted honey. Very nice twist on the too often same-as-usual approach on the stout style.

TASTE : This stuff shines on the palate. The flavours are full and well layered : most of the roasted-malt-related tastes are toned down, giving much of the room to the wild honey and the bourbon barrel. Very well done.

MOUTHFEEL : Thick but not overpowering. Definitely what I want in this kind of stout. The carbonation makes everything easier to handle. I'm a big fan of this almost-syrupy texture in stouts and this brew nails it hands down.

OVERALL : Another very fine product from To Øl. Kudos as well to Omnipollo. I've got a case of 12 of these bad boys and damn am I glad I do. This is seriously good stuff. I don't understand the 86% rating this brew got. Since it's only stated in Danish on the bottle, maybe not everyone was aware that this was brewed with wild honey and aged in bourbon barrels? The honey side is definitely an interesting side of this brew. I'm really digging this.

★ 1,523 characters

4.46/5  rDev +9.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

A: Black with a mocha head.

S: Vanilla, coffee, chocolate, oak, plum, dark fruit in the nose.

T: Dark and slightly tart fruits come out first, followed by oak, vanilla, chocolate and coffee.

M: Full bodied and smooth.

O: Delicious! The tartness, though faint, is probably this beer's biggest flaw, but it's excellent better.

★ 328 characters

4.06/5  rDev -0.5%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

The beer comes in a dark black color with just an absolutely brilliantly beautiful coffee tiny bubbled head. It looked super creamy like a cappuccino, though it quickly dissipated.

The aroma immediately hits you with that sweet floral honey note along with bittersweet chocolate, dark fruit, with a hint of oak.

The flavor has dark extremely bitter chocolate in the front along with coffee, a bit of oak. The honey on the flavor lingers slightly throughout, but it's more flavor, and not the flavor as the bitterness hits the general themed here. The finish hits with some woody and earthy, burnt bitterness.

The body is medium, though still quite creamy. Falls off a bit quickly at the end of the palate.

A good bourbon barrel aged stout.

★ 744 characters

4.08/5  rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pours a two finger tan head that fades slowly leaving some lace. Black color, no highlights. Good carbonation and heavy bodied. Caramel nose and flavor is caramel, roasted coffee, hints of bourbon. Seriously expensive at $13.99 for a caged and corked 375ml bottle from Julio's Liquors Marlboro, MA.

★ 298 characters

4.1/5  rDev +0.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

Poured into a Dogfish Spiegelau glass. No freshness date.

A- Pours a totally opaque black color with a 3/4 inch bubbly light brown head that retains a good long while before eventually meandering down to an 1/8 inch head. Resilient lacing leaves a thick sheet of foam behind.

S- Has all the sweetness and oakiness that a barrel-aged stout should with plenty of dark roasted malt. Notes of vanilla, bourbon and chocolate.

T- Initial rush of charry malt, sweet vanilla and oak is followed by an onset of booze but then turns to a pleasant caramel aftertaste. Obviously, it's pretty complex but has just a bit more heat than I was hoping. Still, for over 11%, it's damn drinkable.

M- Slightly creamy and very viscous with medium-low carbonation and a full body.

O- Not among the best BA stouts I've had, but it has most of the qualities I look for in the style.

★ 863 characters

4.1/5  rDev +0.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Jet Black is gave a tar like appearance, though the feel was far from that. Thick light brown or khaki colored head held itself high above the rim.

The scent reminds me of a barrel aged stout, with notes of vanilla, coconut, espresso and and toffee.

The taste is so nice with huge vanilla at the front. Coconut and espresso sweetness support the chocolate and caramel malt end. It all melds well in very satisfying flavor throughout the sip.

I really liked this and found it to be very barrel aged like. Can't imagine how good this would be if they did just that.

★ 566 characters

4.31/5  rDev +5.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

A: Pitch-black pour with a dense, very dark brown head. Nice legs. Head fades at a moderate pace. Lots of sticky thin streaks of lacing left behind. Great head retention.

S: Lots of big bourbon notes. Caramel, burnt marshmallows, toffee and charred wood. Quite sweet, lots of honey when swirled.

T: Bourbon up front with toffee, sweet caramel and oaky vanilla. Lots of honey too, specially initially. Wonderful chocolate and mild char notes. Bitter chocolate, a little char and even a little coffee and anise in the finish. Lots of drying charred oak in the lingering aftertaste. Long lingering ashy char for sure.

M: Pretty big and heavy. Nice and smooth.

O: Nice, better than I was expecting. Big bourbon barrel stout with honey, how can you go wrong? Bourbon isn't super strong like a BCBS but it's not completely muted either. Adds nice layers of flavors I think; complimentary. Definitely on the ashy side of a stout, something to watch out for if you dislike that style.

★ 982 characters

4.01/5  rDev -1.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

Strong is the bond that binds the love that Omnipollo and To Øl have for eachother. Equally as strong is the beer that's conceived from that love. I'm sure that we could wax poetically about this collaborative ale, but instead let's jump right into the nuts and bolts of the beer.

Black. Simple and pure the beer is a hazy black concoction that's bold, confident, and very masculine to the eye. A dense, creamy, ivory head rises through the viscous elixir and settles into a thick blanket of foam which retains firmly and laces delicately on the glass.

Strongly roasted aromas hit the nose with bold espresso, charred toast, cocoa, and roasted nuts. It's roasted character is supported with a somewhat sweeter backdrop of burnt toffee, heavy whipping cream, and vanilla. Singed hops allow for a light herb and grass undertow that comes to life as the beer settles in a bit, and rides along side of growing bourbon alcohol.

Flavors are every bit as strong as the taste of charred grains, campfire, burnt embers, coffee and cocoa imply acrid roast flavors. But just as soon as the beer demonstrates light ash, the rise of sweet toffee, chocolate, and malted milkshakes rise from its depth and sooth its taste to balance. From middle palate on, the roast and sweetness recedes and allows oak, vanilla, cherry, caramel and alcohol to reveal its bourbony cocoon. Medium bittered, the finish concludes with both hop and coffee bite.

Viscous and rich in mouthfeel, the beer's assured fullness gives both a marshmallowy and powdery dryness. Mild ash and wood-derived astringency assists in dryness until hops and alcohol take over in the beer's extended aftertaste. Echos of ash and smoke continue to reward the taste long after the beer has finished.

There's a point where I thought that the enormity of char would hurl the balance way over to the ashy and smoky side. But the rebuttal of malt and bourbon support saves the beer and makes it highly enjoyable.

★ 1,968 characters