Celestial collaboration with Tempest Brewing, this imperial stout is made with shitake mushrooms, miso and salted seaweed for an explosion of umami-flavour.
Look: Dark black with a light brown head.
Aroma: Roasted malt with notes of dry roasted peanuts.
Taste: Salty, sweet and bitter with the earthiness of the mushrooms, miso and seaweed.
Verdict: Imperial Stout x Oyster Sauce. In a really good way.
A Smoked Porter collaboration with Brouwerij Kees & Marble Brewery.
Fôret Noir imperial stout.
Dedicated to “many years of admiration and friendship” between De Molen and Omnipollo, the Citra and Columbus hops make this IPA sweet hazy and bitter.
Look: Amber-orange and hazy with a small white head.
Aroma: Sweet and fruity; it’s bursting with pineapple, orange and zesty lemon.
Taste: Boozy and robust malts with notes of pine, tropical fruit and some hoppy bitterness. Lasting sweetness in the finish.
Verdict: A fitting dedication to years of friendship. Long may it continue!
Made with Bruichladdich distillery malt – the most peated malt in the world – this smokey stout has creamy chocolate and liquorice notes to sweeten the deal.
Look: Just off pitch black and opaque, with creamy beige head.
Aroma: Imperious smokiness backed up with spicy licorice and dark chocolate,
Taste: More sweet peatiness plus a chocolate creaminess. Massively full-bodied with a bold, thick mouthfeel that persists before floating off in a cloud of sweet smoke.
Verdict: Hemel & Aarde, which translates to Heaven & Earth, uses loads of Earthy peat to make a beer that is really is rather Heavenly. Go figure.
Living up to its name, this impy stout is intoxicating and full of character, with rich roasted malts and luxurious dark chocolate notes.
Look: Pours almost black with very slow forming off-white head and low carbonation.
Aroma: Powerful notes of dark chocolate, forest fruit and sweet warming bourbon.
Taste: Coffee and cocoa, rich syrupy bourbon, and some subtle spice and herbal accents.
Verdict: A smooth charismatic rascal. If it’s good enough for the Russian Queen, it’s good enough for us.
Smoked malt and subtle hints of chilli with dark sugar the master brewers of Bodegraven.
Look: Dark brown with a generous dark beige head.
Aroma: Sweet and smoky like marshmallows being toasted over a campfire.
Taste: Sweet brown sugar, roasted malts and oh so smoky, with a delicate chilli hit right at the end when you’d almost forgotten it was coming.
Verdict: Like maple candied bacon with a hint of chilli, these flavours were born to be married together. Beautiful.
‘Heaven and Hell’ features double the amount of dark roasted malts for a boozy and creamy chocolate treat with surprisingly high levels of hoppy crispness.
Look: Brown-black colour with a thick and foamy tan-coloured head.
Aroma: Boozy warmth and chocolate to start, fading to vanilla sweetness.
Taste: Loads of rich chocolate and floral hoppy notes – surprisingly so for such a malt-driven brew – and more vanilla. Super-full bodied and persistent which dries to bitter, crisp, finish.
Verdict: The taste is absolutely Heavenly. If you can leave it on a shelf for nine months it will become more complex and even richer – but that wait will be pretty Hellish.
Hel & Verdoemenis (Hell and Damnation), inspired by the old English style, and packs loads of sweet dark fruit and brown malts in one Hell of an Imperial Stout.
Look: Dense and jet black with a frothy, off white head and fine carbonation.
Aroma: Dark, bitter chocolate, coffee and syrup sweetness, spicy notes and some dark fruit.
Taste: More bitter chocolate and roasted coffee plus sweet dark fruit like figs, with some biscuit feel underneath. Thick and full-bodied with good alcohol burn that fades to a drier, spicier, hop finish.
Verdict: Damn this is good. We’d walk through Hell for another.
‘Divide and Conquer’, with Amarillo and Simcoe hops and late-hopped with Saaz, comes packed with Brett and chocolate and caramel malts for an intense BA stout.
Look: Jet black colour with a small beige-tan head that lasts nicely.
Aroma: Sweet forest fruits – plums, figs and berries – plus bitter dark chocolate and some peated whiskey notes.
Taste: Intense, yeasty and complex the Bretting, with loads more fruit plus banana and raisins on a bed of rich malts and syrupy boozy sweetness. Really full-bodied with roasted coffee beans and chocolate bitterness in the close.
Verdict: The almost leathery effects of the Brett will become stronger with age. This may Divide its drinkers into lovers and haters but our hearts have been Conquered yet again by de Molen – we love it.