Benelux Strato

Brewed by Benelux Brasserie Artisanale
Style: Black IPA
Montreal, Canada

Serve in Shaker, Tulip

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My Bottom Line:
Citrusy hops flourish through the spicy sweetness of molasses, as fresh coffee notes flawlessly lead to resinous bitterness for a complex and completely harmonious Black IPA.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A veil of foam slowly sinks into the brown-tinged blackness.
-The body is healthy and more redolent of IPAs than Stouts (not creamy, but slender).
-The dextrins work in unison with the hops and yeast, and licorice, vanilla and sarsaparilla impressions appear once in a while. The sign of a truly well crafted recipe.
-This is very drinkable throughout, just like any other well-made and well-hopped American IPA.

On tap at the brewpub.

A dark stout with a thin moka head. A super pleasant coffee chocolate with nice c-hops, roasted coffee beans. In mouth, a nice bitter chocolate, well balanced with capuccino, and a good dose of west coast hops, lingering in mouth, very roasted and intense. Well done. On tap at brewpub, Sept. 5 2009.

[on tap at brewpub] Pine hops aroma that nearly drowns out chocolate/mocha malt. Opaque, viscous, black with a tight, beige ring and wisps. Excellent vanilla and mocha roasted malt flavour nicely complimented by pine and grapefruit hops. Light to medium body, medium carbonation, lingering grapefruit bitter finish. Excellent.

Pitch black with a medium mocha head. Good retention. Aroma is roasted malt, chocolate, vanilla, coffee and a nice citrusy touch from the american hops. Flavor is roasted malt, capuccino, vanilla and chocolate with a very bitter background. I found the citrusy hops to be far less noticeable in the flavor than the aroma, contibuting more to bitterness than anything else in the flavor. Medium to full body with a rich creamy mouthfeel.

Bu sur place en fut (20oz), 13/10/08. Brune très foncée, un peu de collet. Arome de malte bien torrifié, cacao houblonné. Goût chocolat drolement houblonné, des notes de café mocha doux et agréable et une amerturme légèrment plaisant. C’était assez intéressant!

Pint at the brewpub. Opaque black pour with dense whitish head. Aroma of burnt toast, lots of piney hops (cascade would be my guess), licrorice and coffee. Taste is very bitter, quite harsh with coffee and bittering hops dominating throughout, some notes of herbs and roastiness. Palate is superb. Very well carbonated, not too heavily bodied with a long dry bitter finish. A very good beer, the only thing that could keep me from lining up successive pints of this is that the repeated assault on my tastebuds would probably leave me tasting nothing else for the rest of my life.

Elle est noire ayant une mousse brune persistante, qui s’étant sur les côtés pour en garnir d’une dentelle discrète. Des odeurs houblonnées, de conifère et de grains grillés en émanent. Le goût se situe bien entre les deux mondes du style. Les particularités d’une stout prennent un peu le dessus sur celle d’une IPA. Un côté velouté, apporté par les grains noircis s’occupent bien des papilles, alors qu’une belle et bonne amertume tranchante est ressentie en arrière-goût. C’est bon, surtout si je ne cherche pas trop à savoir quoi est quoi. (410-181012)

Black color, with some mahogany highlights, with a creamy tan-beige head, mild roasted, toasted malt nose, with some light cappuccino, mochaish accents, with some chocolate, fruity plummy, coffee notes, within a faint floral hop leafy aroma follows through on a medium-bodied palate with a good roasted, chocolate, black malt character with some nice flowery hop leafy, grassy, piney accents and some coffee bean, bitter dark chocolate flavours, leading towards a good piney, cedray hop bitterness finish.

2010-10-29. Black body, small frothy tan head. Flavour is interesting, modest roast, modest bitterness throughout, light green leafy character. It is not super complex, but quite good. Modest leafy green hops in the aroma. 6+ Average palate. 3+ Pretty decent. Cask at Volo, Toronto

Sapiné, floral et résineux, elle ne fait rien d’extraordinaire mais ne croule pas sous les malts rotis. Agréable, sans plus.