Like most right-thinking Americans, I am devoting my mental energies to questions such as: can Maryland get past California in Kansas City, and if so, how do they handle Memphis? In other words, I am penciling in my NCAA mens basketball bracket.

I use a pencil because I change my mind, a lot. This work requires "brain fuel," and yesterday to help me in the endeavor I sipped a Black Albert Royal Stout, from De Struise Brouwers in Belgium -- a brew Beeradvocate has rated as among the best in the world.

It poured very dark, 160 EBC (European Brewing Convention) for color, the label said. Its bitterness was 100 IBU (International Bitterness Units), again according to the label. Yet this Belgian Royal Stout was remarkably well balanced, with a rich malty body and distinct snappy finish.

For a time this Belgian Royal Stout was brewed exclusively for Ebenezer's Pub in Lovell, Maine. Ebenezer's Web site gives a glowing description of the brew.

It is pricey. I paid $11 for an 11.2 ounce bottle I found at the Wine Source in Hampden.  A brew this fine is a sipper, not a gulper, and I shared the bottle with my two sons.

One word of warning: at 13 percent alcohol by volume, it can twist your judgment. Maybe that is why, in my early bracketing, I have Maryland beating Memphis.

Any other opinion on Black Albert Royal Stout?

Is it worth the price tag?

Also who is in your final four, and what is your favorite bracket "brain fuel?"