De Donder Imperial Stout

Aroma of cold black coffee and coffee filters, dusty old 'fondant' chocolate bars, hard caramel, toasted walnuts, cigar ashes, dried dates, prunes, moist nutmeg, burnt toast crumbs and even a very faint dash of charred steak somewhere, fig syrup, old liquorish candy (quite obviously so), freshly extinguished bonfire, cognac, vague hint of damp earth after adding the sediment. Very restrained in sweetness - especially when compared to the legions of other, often non-Belgian imperial stouts one comes across these days - but still hints of dried fig and prune, sourish undercurrent (blackberry-ish almost), dry beef stock cube-like umami more clearly present but acceptable for this style; medium carbonation, full and smooth body, oily and slick-edged.