Alvinne/Birdsong Night Owl

Brewed by Picobrouwerij Alvinne
Style: Barley Wine
Moen, Belgium

Serve in Snifter

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Clear reddish colour, beige head. Quite a gusher. Caramel aroma, wild yeast, rain water and sugar. Caramel flavour, molasses, quite sweet, light sour. Quite sour finish, sickly, caramel and molasses.
Have a slight feeling it was infected..
(From 75cL bottle @ RBBWG II, Wilrijk 2013. Courtesy of sebletitje. Thanks Seba!)

75cl bottle sample @ RBBWG 2013 from Alvinne biershop. Despite Glenn’s advise to keep this one cold to avoid a gusher, the bottle still managed to lose about a 1/3 of its content. Couleur acajou,foncée col beige très mousseux-pétillant, signe que qcq chose à mal tourné. Arôme caramel, malté, pointe de torréfié, le tout restant très léger et quasi dominer par ce bouquet levure. Palais est trop effervescent, même pour un barley wine, malt caramel avec un fini sucré doux le tout gardant un profil fruité fermenté évident accentué par ce côté sucré suivi d’une pointe d’amertume. On voit ici encore la versatilité de cette levure Morpheus qui semble ne pas tjrs vouloir coopérer.

Bottle shared at the CBC - Clerkenwell 1st Birthday Party, London. It gushed significantly, FYI. Pours cloudy amber-brown with a large, tan foam head. Big sweet aroma, ceramel and super ripe fruits. Big sweet flavor as well, tons of fruits, among them grapes, assorted berries and plums. Medium to full bodied with super high carbonation. Warming finish with loads of ripe fruits, candied fruits, grapes, cherries, alcohol. It has some nice, mild aged malts and old fruit tones as well. Pretty good, if a touch beastly.

bottle thanks to bu11zeye. poured dark brown with a beige head. aroma and flavor were different spices, cherry, and alcohol. body was light with high carbonation.

(Bottle, 0.75 l, 20120704, courtesy of FatPhil) The beer poured dark brown and hazy. Its head was medium sized and almost white. Aroma had chocolate, caramell, Belgian style yeastiness and spiciness. Palate was medium bodied and warming with medium carbonation. Flavours were malts, Belgian style yeast, chocolate, sweetness, spiciness and mild bitterness. Aftetaste was spicy and bitter. A well balanced brew and alcohol was very well hidden. I wouldn’t categorise this one as Barley Wine, though.

750ml bottle, shared by FatPhil. Hazy copper color. Small off-white head, stays. Plums, faint chocolate, sour, fruity, liquorice in aroma. Fruity, raisins, sweet, plum stones, mild sourness in flavor. Sweet bitter ending. Can’t really feel that much of alco in it as label says.

750ml bottle (Alvinne Webshop)
Sweet rich caramelly aroma. Breathing deeply, there’s a hint of acetone,and clearly some alcohol too, but it’s not coming over as spirit/vodka. Pleasant rich body, plenty of dark caramel (candi sugar, almost certainly). Surprisingly thin in the body for such a strong beer. Really not saying ~15%, nor saying "I’m trying to cover 15% using sugars" either. Fairly simple roasty body heading towards a stout in the level of roast.. Full in the mouth. Nice bitter finish. Certainly well crafted, but it doesn’t inspire me. The way they’ve covered the alcohol is exemplary.

Bottle, thanks to Leighton. It pours cloudy brown, with a massive beige head. The nose is candyfloss, slight sourness, vanilla, wood and marshmallow. The taste is sweet-sour, tinned syrupy fruit, jam, nectarine, tangy plum, prune, wood and leather. Medium body, fine carbonation and slightly sticky mouth-feel. A bit of warming alcohol, but not that of an almost 15% beer! Decent balance and flavour. Not too shabby!

Bottle @ CBC’s First Birthday Party. Cheers to whoever brought this along. Deep red in color with a small off-white head. The nose is red cherries, brown sugar, some shoe leather. The taste is super sweet lactose funkiness and burning marshmallow. Some alcohol warmth and cherry. Full-bodies, but drinks a bit thin. Decent.

11/25/11. dark brown pour with a tan head. it smells of caramel, belgo yeast, raisins, spice, bread and booze. tastes the same but with an added salty note half way through. it gets sticky and annoying after a bit.