Malheur Brut Noir (Black Chocolate)
Brouwerij De Landtsheer NV

750 ml dark green "champagne" bottle, from Vinmonopolet Vika, Oslo. ABV is 12%. Hazy dark brown colour, huge beige head. Fairly interesting aroma, malts, chocolate, Belgian ale yeast, stewed dark fruits, hints of farmhouse and spices. The flavour is medium sweet and malty with moderately roasty and chocolatey notes, also spices, notes of prunes and other dark fruits. Moderate hops. Some warmth, but the alcohol is otherwise well hidden. An unusual Belgian, complex and well balanced, a beer to savour - but the big bottle is for sharing!

 

 

Drank this in honor of my new born child, cheers to a new future beer snob!

Medium: Cork + flute glass.
Opacity: Clear but deep veiled, good activity.
Color: Dark brown with a shiny copper hue.
Head: Foamy and light creamy beige 3 finger.
Legs: Moderate but strong lacing and good swirl reaction.
Smell: Toffee/Plums/Walnuts/Rum/Oak.
Taste: Raisins/Cherry/Chocolate/Vanilla/Belgian yeast.
Feel: Roasted/Spicy/Yeasty/Dark esters/Woody.
Body: Light to medium silky and smooth, slightly oily.
Carbonation: Slightly crispy at first, ends with a short sharp fizz.
Overall: Almost no alcohol feel, extremely treacherous, just perfect warmth and super rich. A sublime quality craft.

Visual 8/10 - Flavors 9/10 - Sensations 9.5/10 - Balance 9.5/10 -
Freshness 5/10 - Intensity 6.5/10 - Complexity 9.5/10 - Appreciation 9.5/10

 

 

Best poured in champagne glass and ages well, believe this is 7+ years:

L: Cherry Coca-Cola appearance but some dark prune, chocolate body with hints of ruby red amber. When poured lots of champagne foam, looked like champagne til the bubbles dissipated. Wasn't long til there was absolutely no head looking like flat Coke.

A: figs, prunes, dates, and chocolate. Reminds me a lot of Blue Chimmay

F: thin, delicate, soft, fizzy, slight dry alcohol burn on finish

T: figs, dates, chocolate, Coca-Cola, Blue Chimmay, quad, rum

O: pretty delicious and served purpose for personal celebration tonight. Cheers!

 

1/4/2019 date on the bottling, I assume a best-by date. Maybe bottled 1/4/2017?

A: Pours a dark brown with a hilariously large light brown head. Head fizzes out noisily and quickly however. No real sign of lacing and not a whole lot of head retention.

S: Interesting aroma. Light chocolate covered fruits. It's got some dark fruits in there like raisins and figs but I'd say it's also got some lighter fruit, like...peach? Maybe apricot? Fruity aroma despite my inability to identify all the fruits.

T: A lot more chocolate in the taste. It's a dark bittersweet cocoa-like chocolate and it's everywhere. All the fruitiness is here still but covered in tons of this dark chocolate. I definitely get raisins, figs and even cherries. Caramel sweetness helps warm it up on the back end. Light alcohol sting and tons of belly warmth follows. Lingering cherries and alcohol esters between sips.

M: Fairly heavy, sweet and plenty of warming alcohol.

O: Unique beer. Chocolate biere de champagne.

 

 

Reviewed in "Michael Jackson's Great Beers of Belgium", this awaits my review with another tasting.
Also reviewed in the "1001."

 

 

 

A - Nice dark black chocolate pour with a toffee creamy ring.

S - Sweet chocolate cherry cream and juicy ripe plums.

T - Chocolate from start to finish, some tart juicy acidic cherries, and finishes with some boozy chocolate cherries, plums, and layers of flavor that are nicely blended.

M - Heavy medium body, soft and velvety.

O - Really enjoyed this beer.

 

 

BBE F03/11 Pours dark brown with a hint of garnet. Normal head volume, lacing and retention.

Rich nose of dark fruit (figs, plum), chocolate and cherries.

Medium body with a creamy texture. Perfect carbonation with just enough effervescence in the middle to cut the creamy texture and a finely bubbled prickly finish.

The flavor profile is outstanding. Intensity is reasonable, rather complex and perfectly balanced. The 12% alcohol is completely covered, which few beers accomplish. It begins with a slightly bitter dark chocolate note that gains sweetness. Chocolate yields to dark fruit as the middle approaches with fig and plum slowly taking on a cherry note. As the fruit fades, a very mild bitterness emerges along with a light prune coupled with a hint of oak. As it warms, a slightly tannic aspect is evident. The finish is a slow fade that begins as chocolate and ends as prune.