Tasting Notes: Hofbrouwerijke: Hofblues

Hofbrouwerijke: Hofblues (Belgium: Sweet Stout: 5.5% ABV)

Visual: Well I thought de Dolle was hard to get out of the bottle in a non explosive manner, and then I ran into this thing. Opened the bottle a tiny crack to find the beer spurting out in a thick whipped ice cream nozzle style. I had to catch the froth in two glasses before in finally stopped overflowing. Whew.

When settled it’s a dark hazy brown with a nut coloured, lace leaving head.

Nose: Dry roasted peanuts and pistachios mix. Crushed mint. Quite earthy.

Body: Slick. Nutty, mainly walnuts. Slight sour cream and light herbs. Bitter, lots of dry malt and milky chocolate.

Finish: Sour dough, more nuts. Bitter chocolate. Quite bitter and dry overall. Salt, turmeric and brown sugar.

Conclusion: Ok, I’ve already covered the beers excitable nature in the visual section, right. Check. Ok, wow that was a tad explosive. Anyway, now that is out of the way let’s get onto the beer.

It’s always a tad odd seeing a stout come out of Belgium, they tend to be quite rare, but most often they are worth checking out.

The beer doesn’t come in thick like a lot of stouts, but is very much roasted and just slightly sour.  It’s kind of like Guinness Foreign Export in the sours styling. Very easy drinking for a stout, especially because of the aforementioned sourness. Nicely restrained ABV as well.

Quite earthy texture and main body, somewhat the same feel you would expect from a farmers lunch, and that isn’t a construction I can complain about in this case.  For all that’s it has that simple down to earth feel its got a punch of flavour, and that sweet touch hidden within works every nicely into the mix.

If anything then it is that oddity that is a sessionable stout. Flavoursome, but not overpowering, a decent set drink for a gathering, if not the hot day that usually accompanies a session beer.

Background: Picked up from Gent, I’d heard good things about this beer but had not seen it anywhere else before.  Generally I’m quite the fan of Belgium takes on stouts. Chilled slightly due to insane heat wave we are suffering right now. A small amount of the bottle was lost due to its bloody explosive nature.