La Gueule Noire - Koempelbier
Brasserie de Silly S.A.

Brown 25cl bottle, best before 22 Aug 2007, drank 10 July 2007. Obtained while travelling through Belgium.

Poured into one of my Corsendonk tulip glasses.

Dirty, murky red-come-dark brown in colour with a scummy biege thin head.

Aroma of sweet molasses, a kind of toffee, malty smell.

The taste follows the aroma at first, sweet and malty. Then sour fruit flavours arrive as the beer warmed.

The alcohol comes through in the mouthfeel, not the greatest beer to come from Silly, but not all bad.

I will not be searching high and low for this beer, but if our paths cross again, I won't run away.

The color is a quite dark red, with monk's habit's reflexes. Average foam, beige in color, not really compact, but quite sticky.
The smell is resolute, a apricot-like fruitiness, and maybe sour cherries. Ripe pear, too? After that, some liquorice. And dark candy sugar.
In the taste a confirm of the sweetness of the candy sugar, maybe exaggerated. Then sweet liquorice notes, and a ripe fruitiness. Not really well balanced.
At the end, in the aftertaste, some roasted malt.
It's better of a lot of other beers, but surely, nothing to remember.

bottle BBD'ed 22/09/07. Came recently from belgium. Bottle states that this was bottled by Silly, not sure if the exclusion of brewed is signifigant.

Pours a dark orange with a 15% white head. Smell is very malty, with heavy yeasty overtones, reminds me some of a bakery.

Taste is somewhat metallic, with a piercing bitterness surrounded by heavy malt flavor. I assume the bitterness is from hops but cannot place it. The beer is sweet throughout, but the metallic character detracts notably. This beer reminds me in the taste of Yersekes Mosselbier.

Aftertaste is sweet and malty, nothing to get exciting about.

Decent beer, but metal isn't a helpful taste in any beverage.

I have reviewed 2 other biers from Silly and all 3 have metallic taste.