Struise Black Jack

Brewed by De Struise Brouwers
Style: Imperial/Strong Porter
Oostvleteren, Belgium

Serve in Snifter

shared by ungstrup at ungstrup tasting. roasted malty aroma, notes of licorice, wood, faint malty and syruppy notes. flavor is roasted malty, sourish, dark fruity,slightly tart, i think perhaps slightly infected, still very complex and flavor is great.

Bottle thanks to Jeffo. Tasted 09/08/2011. Pours cola black, thin tan head, minimal lacing. Aroma features ground coffee, heavy roast, chocolate malts, mild vanilla sweetness at the periphery. At this point, however, the beer is somewhat infected, with a taste of tart, sour oak, quite in contrast to the nose, mild bitterness in the finish, but a nice round chocolate aftertaste, some vanilla, perhaps a somewhat redeeming feature. Thin in the mouth, but smooth. I was hoping for better, but this bottle had not held up well. Drink ’em if you got ’em, doubt there’s room for improvement.

Bottle, Kulminator. Pours a very dark brown almost black body with a small frothy dark brown head that fell to a thin ring. The nose is very chocolaty and woody with roast and a slight smokiness. The flavor is slightly watery up front with chocolate and roast. A slight almost lactic tartness on the finish along with a little chalkiness. Medium bodied, a little sticky on the finish, very minimal carbonation. Not all too thrilled with this one, not enough body, and the slight twang on the finish doesn’t please me too much. Gets a decent score at 3.3, but it’s largely carried by the appearance and aroma.

2008 Vintage dusty bottle @ Kulminator / 33 cl. / Always interested in trying a new Struise, they have had this one around for as long as I can remember but it doesn’t appear to be all that common, brewed only once in 2008 / Colour is a chestnut black with a mocha head that mostly sticks just to the sides / Smell is lots of cocoa, dried dark fruits, darker chocolate (but not the extreme stuff) & very vinous, this one appears to be infected, not necessarily in a undrinkable or terrible way but still clearly infected / Taste is lots of cocoa & even more Nescafe (the beans/grains themselves, to a lesser extend the brewed stuff as well) especially in the aftertaste, roasted, slight ashtray malt, dried dark fruits, hint of spices, somewhat thinned out by the aging, getting some slight wood here behind the Nescafe & clearly vinous, this is indeed infected / Body has been thinned somewhat by the barrel aging and the subsequent aging as well, although I don’t think that this was ever more than between medium to somewhat light, probably has always been thinned out by the aging / Not the best Struise around, I don’t think that this one was that amazing to begin with, the aging didn’t help it and the infection above all and yet I would lying if I didn’t say that I did somewhat enjoy it

bottle... one of the few times I’ve wondered what the heck was De Struise thinking, this is really bad, train wreck territory... super thin beer to barrel age, it is infected... the aroma is burnt black licorice, sour, olive juice... taste is equally unappealing... skip this

3rd June 2009
Cloudy dark brown beer. Soft palate. Rich tangy porter, sourish malt. The oaking seems sublte - may have slightly rounded this beer off otherwise does not make it’s prescense known. Low carbonation. Smooth.

Bottle shared at Kulminator. Pours dark brown with white head. Aroma is pure coffee. Flavor is coffee, chocolate and dark fruits.

Bottle at Max and Jess’s housewarming. Black pour with tan head. Roasted malt and bitter coffee aromatics. Flavor is woody with some whiskey tones, also roasted and chocolate malt.