A beer called Leroy

Leroy Stout - 5%

I'm a fan of stouts and porters. Roasty, smoky flavours can't beaten for big flavours and they're the perfect antithesis to insipid lager. I'm a fan of something a little quirky too, so a stout named Leroy was too tempting. I'll have two, please. Plus, this wasn't any stout, it was a Belgian stout.

It then struck me that I hadn't had too many Belgian stouts in my time; I suppose they're not so common. Guinness Foreign Export classes as a 'Belgian Stout' in some people's eyes (even though some of it is brewed in Nigeria!) and my other experience of note is Hercule Stout, a seriously fine ale.  Expectations were high.

Pouring the drink out presents no surprises; it's a dark, fairly fizzy beer with a tightly packed, light brown head. As soon as I took a sniff, the game changed. It actually took me two glasses of this beer to work out what the smell was, so much it took me by surprise. It smells like a sweet, aromatic lager. There's no bitterness in the smell and the hops come through strongly. It was certainly interesting.

On sipping, you're presented with huge and instant sweetness. Sweetness you wouldn't expect in such a dark beer. And it builds! That saccharin keeps coming. Initially, I loved it; it had such an original taste and was as quirky as I hoped. As time goes on though, it really needs something to balance out that sweetness. Alcoholic strength would probably help (it's only 5%) but really (and unsurprisingly) a good roasted barley sharpness is what's in order!

Its lack of balance prevents it from quenching your thirst and the stickiness it leaves in your mouth (which I'm often keen on) is too sweet to enjoy. If you burp you get a light, lagery hop aroma; it's fairly pleasant but just a bit peculiar. 

It's a conundrum; I'm not sure where they've managed to get their colour from. To get dark beer like this you need to add malt which has been fairly highly roasted and this adds bitterness. As this beer is bitter-free I can only guess that some dark sugar has been added and the beer has been on a long boil in the  kettle to add colour. I'm probably wrong but I'm not sure how else you'd get the colour.

There'll be someone out there who will love this beer, but it's a bit too sweet for me. I had to eat really strong and bitter cheese with it to get through the second bottle (ooh, it's a chore!). P.s., if you know how this beer would be made, I'd love to know!


Leroy Stout - 5.5

http://www.brouwerijhetsas.be/en/assortiment/leroy-stout