Onyx Amburana
Brasserie Atrium

Poured from a bottle at fridge temp. Pours jet black with a small amount of head. The nose is cinnamon, Dutch salted black licorice, and malts. The taste is oak, tobacco, black licorice, and slight dark fruit. Great beer overall. The amburana doesn't come through as much as I would have liked.

Bottle 0.33L.
Dark brown-to-black body, with a small, frothy, tan head, mostly diminishing with some lacing, though.
Moderate-to-heavy malty (roasted, some caramel) aroma with notes of dark chocolate, coffe, toffee, light spices and maybe dark fruits.
Moderate-to-heavy bitter flavour well balanced by a moderate sweet character; long-lasting sweetish finish with notes of cocoa and coffee.
Medium-to-full body with creamy texture; soft carbonation.

From the International Beer Collector Subscription in February 2022. Drunk in December of that year.

L: A cola-coloured beer with a small, mocha-coloured head. There's evident carbonation and lots of thick chunks of sediment at the bottom of my glass. There was no indication the beer was bottle conditioned so I poured without too much care and it was too late by the time I noticed the trub entering the glass.

S: The smell is cocoa, caramel and brandy snaps. Booze is also evident.

T:. In the mouth, there's an initial hit of smooth, creamy cocoa, then rich, tangy caramel and toffee. At the back end there are strong, whisky-like flavours that presumably come from the barrel. Last of all there is booze - and quite a lot of it. The beer is initially full but finishes quite dry and alcoholic-spirit-like. The end is not as enjoyable as the first half of the mouthful.

M: As with the taste, it's initially quite thick and oily but as the barrel washes over the palate it thins the beer out considerably. There's a pleasant alcoholic warmth to the mouth, tongue and throat after the swallow.

O: it's almost like a tale of two beers in one glass. Initially there's the classic RIS thickness with a nice cocoa and caramel backbone, but the barrel then takes over, thins it out, ramps up the booze, and dries everything up. I like the first half, but not so much the second.

Cheers!
#154

 

 

A- Pours the thickest Black colour with a thick Beige head that reduces slowly and laces
S- Slightly malty with coffee notes. A bit of a let down
T- Oh big flavours of cocoa and milk with a little vanilla. This finish is very smooth and blanced
M- Full body and medium carbonation. Perfect
O- This is a damn big stout. So full in flavour and body, only let down slightly by the aromas. If you see it buy it.

L- Pitch black, even held up right by a halogen bulb, pours with 2mm deep tan head. (Note: minor sediment left in bottle).
S- Slightly coffee'ish. I asked my wife (without sharing my thoughts) and she thot the same. Plus toasty/very mild smoke notes.
T- Wow! Deep cocoa notes, a liqueur edge... wow this goes down well.
F- Deep, quite rich (NOT at all sweet thankfully). Intense, deep, rounded... seriously pungent.
O- Wow! This reminds me of some of the seriously hard-core and great craft stout beers I had in Iceland last year. Full-on, super-intense flavours, internally balanced, 'not for kidz', and expensive lol. This beer rating should land up in the top-5% of the 1199 beers and counting I've rated here, it deserves it.
330ml bottle: BB: 12/2024. Euro 5.60 from BelgiumInABox at Antwerp/BE for home delivery to me in London/UK.