Alchemist Grote Bruin

on tap-pours a minimal off white head and dark mahogany color. Aroma is vinuous, dark/medium malt, sour dark fruit. Taste is vinuous-cherry, dark/medium malt, sour dark fruit, brown sugar/cocoa powder, some yeast, hops bite, some alcohol not to the style of a Bruin, towards a Flemish sour ale style. OK carbonation.

Tap at the brewpub - beautiful burgundy/purple pour, with a lasting tan head - earthy, cellared aroma, with faint whiffs of wild yeast way in the back, underneath thick, dark fruits (plum, date) and light peppery notes - wonderfully complex flavor - dark fruit sweetness and some wine grape vinous character up front - the sweetness is tempered by a mild wild quality that will probably make this beer quite funky with age - the thyme really comes through in the finish, complimenting the earthiness really well - wonderful beer.

Cloudy mahogany body topped by a beige ring of foam. Grainy malts, dough, apples, no hops noticeable. 8% well hidden. That’s all the non-spices notes I have. Cooking spices totally take over the beer. Cloves, ginger, curacao and all kinds of herbal spices. Wouash! I like spicy beer as much as the next guy but this was gross. After half a glass (thankfully not served in pints) I was totally grossed out. The Alchemist brewer is too skilled to have screwed up like this so I assume this was the intended result. However I’ve got to give it the below 1.0 drain-pour rating because I couldn’t drink even a single glass of it. And me not being able to finish a glass of beer at The Alchemist is like Rosie O’Donnell not finishing her first plate at an all-you-can-eat buffet.
Update: after a quick beermail exchange with the friendly brewer it seems as if I was served a glass with a certain amount of yeasty sediment from the dish shaped bottom their serving tanks. The staff should have picked it up and not serve me the glass. It was a very very busy Saturday night (1 hour wait for a dinning table) which would explain the mistake. Also I didn’t bother checking with the staff to see if it was normal that my beer tasted like that because it was a very very busy night. I’ll make sure to try it again next time I’m at The Alchimist. So for now this rating should be taken with a grain of salt. I won’t change it for now because I always rate what I taste, not what I should or could have tasted.

Draught pint at red bones. Pours a muddy dark brown color with a small brown/red head. Nose is lightly spicy with some nice brown sugar notes, dough, light yeast notes. Palate is chewy and creamy. Flavor is again lightly spiced with some ginger notes, some milky notes with sweet malt and dark fruits. Some apple like notes are found as are a few dark fruit notes.

Très spéciale. Robe acajou aux reflets d’ambre. Vin, porto, fumé, sucre candy, épices. Très légèrement acide, comme s’il avait fait un sour mash... Très complexe. Mousse tenace.