Blacklist Or De Belgique Review

Name: Blacklist Or De Belgique
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
ABV: 9.5%

Blacklist Brewing Company is a relatively new brewery here in Duluth....well not quite a brewery. Right now they rent out space at other breweries to brew their own beer; Or as they call it "Gypsy Brewing" according to their website. While this beer was brewed BY Blacklist, it was brewed AT Dubrue Brewing which is another microbrewery here in Duluth. They plan on setting up shop permanently in the future in either Northern Minnesota or Wisconsin, but for right now it's strictly rental.

Right now, I have only seen their Belgian Strong Ale: Or De Belgique, which means Gold of Belgium in Dutch(?). According to their website, they have a rotating lineup for each month of the year.

The beer pours a hazy dark yellow color with a fizzy head that becomes permanently filmy once it settles down but the lacing retention is surprisingly good. The carbonation activity visible is pretty high according to what I can see.

The aroma takes on a lemon zest, clove and pepper character upfront, followed by some bananas and pale malt sweetness.

Yeasts, cracked pepper, cloves and lemon zest start off the flavor before settling into a sweeter banana, bubblegum, and malt sweetness.

The body has a moderate weight to it but the carbonation is actually quite light and allows one to savor the flavors that this beer has to offer.

It's worth noting that while getting this beer open was like trying to pull a sword of a stone, the sword in this case is Excalibur. This is my way of saying that even though it's incredibly difficult to open, the great tasting beer that is contained within is well worth the effort to get it open.

Blacklist Or De Belgique - 9/10