BFM Abbaye de Saint Bon-Chien 2006

In short: An extremely oaky/woody dry Flemish Sour style of beer. Almost highly drinkable. Kick-ass!!!
How: Bottle 750ml, 1.5 year old. Labelled “Assemblage March 2007” like all my other bottles, are there many batches/assemblages?
The look: Cloudy red-brown body topped by a initially large beige head with low retention
In long: Nose is amazingly oaky hinting on an extreme Flemish Sour. Taste however is not that sour. A lot of wood (oak mainly). Dried cherry skin. Some sour/tart red fruits including raspberries! Medium sourness. This beer is woody/oaky to the max and this really gives the beer an overall somewhat dry feeling. Crunchy caramel. Carbonation is soft, maybe a bit too much so but that’s only the only complain I have about the beer. I’ve always liked it a lot at tasting sessions but it’s when I drank a full bottle (this rating) that I realized how great it really is. I often compliment strong beers about having the alcohol well hidden but in this case it is simply absurd, I drank a full 750ml of 11% beer like I was drinking a pilsner. Kick-ass beer, fantastically woody, I didn’t get that much wood since that time my friend switched all my blue Smarties with Viagra pills in my family-size Smarties bag… that I ate in one night. Now that was a lot of wood.

Bottle poured a medium brown with garnet highlights. Buttery, scotch, smoke, sweet, dark fruit aroma. Light head but nice lacing. Good carbonation that cuts through the body. Medium sour body with some wood, bit astringent, wine flavors mingle with some bread. Alot going on. Need to give it another try.

Bottle Number 276; Sampled January 2008
This is well carbonated as a soft pour into my large Tripel Karmeliet tulip glass produces three fingers of tightly beaded, tan colored froth. The beer is dark, damp earth sort of amber color that shows a brilliantly clear ruby color and countless madly streaming carbonation bubbles when held up to the light. The aroma of oak is noticeable as soon as I start to pour this beer; solid vanillin notes, butterscotch, a touch of oak spice and a nicely complex woody note are joined by a light tartness that accentuates notes of plum perhaps a hint of tamarind, there is also a note that is a bit like a funky, farmhouse cheese (ripe cheese, funky feet and a musty, earthy note scent that nose with their light, but persistent presence). There is really a rich, earthy fruit note here that provides a solid backdrop to the oak, there is also some alcohol that provides a bit of singing piquancy to my nose. The oak is definitely the most noticeable component of this beer’s aroma, but there is enough fruit and funkiness here to keep this in check and to make this quite enjoyable to smell.

Frothy feeling, but the body is rich enough to temper this quite well. The beer is also a bit more tart than I was expecting, though not overly so, in fact it is quite pleasant for this particular lover of sour beers. The beer comes off as quite dry tasting, but there is still some body left to this brew; the oak seems to provide a tannic structure and velvety body; despite being somewhat light, this definitely comes off as a sipping beer (which is a good thing given the alcohol of this beer). The oak character accentuates the dryness with lots of woody spice notes, almost a bourbon like piquancy. The oak combines with the alcohol to provide some heat to the finish in the throat. Up front there are some nice, tart, fruit notes of plums, raisins, and dried fig, but all with the sweetness stripped out and just the hearty, dark fruit and tart notes left. This is quite reminiscent of an over oaked red wine in many ways; it definitely has a very vinous quality to it (in body, aroma and taste), and the fruit character also is reminiscent of the almost jam-like, concentrated berry character one often finds in the wine world as well. The tartness seems to get a bit more complex as the beer warms up, it is definitely lactic in character and somehow provides a roundness to the flavor profile. The spiciness of this beer can at times be quite piquant; ample, woody black pepper notes, a touch of mace and some turpene-clove. As the beer warms up it also begins to pick up a touch of sweetness, this helps to bring out a bit more of the fruit character.

It is funny that the bottle says this is only slightly carbonated and lightly tart, obviously the wild bugs have done some work during this bottles slumber. This is definitely a bit over oaked, not only does it get a bit too hot in the finish at times (the alcohol obviously accentuates this), but the oak character itself is a bit too dominant in that it drowns out some of the other notes that could make this a more balanced brew. Still, I am enjoying this brew and would gladly try this one again; in fact I seem to enjoy drinking this more than the sum of the component flavors would suggest.

Bottle from Capital Ale House - Midlothian on 08/29/2008. Hazy dark brown body with a small frothy tan head. Sweet fruit, light molassas, faint caramel and slightly sour aroma. Sweet caramel, spice, fruit and faint molassas flavor with hints of sour and oak. Medium body with moderate carbonation.

Bottle thanks to Dave. Great guy. Deep amber pour with a big beige head. Woody earthy funky aroma. Sour, but not overly fruity, with slight cherry and lemon notes, but a woodiness more dominant. Vague herb/vegetal notes that I can’t put my finger on. Good, if elusive.

Thanks durhambeer for sharing. Pours a dark ruby copper with a thick white head. The nose is tart cherry pie, rusty, woody, mild yeast characters, mild alcohol, well hidden for 11%, spicy. Flavor is tart and spicy, woody character, some herbal feel, oaky, tannic, mild cherry tartness. The palate is spicy and gets warmer as it sits.

Bottle shared by durhambeer - thanks, Bob! I enjoyed this far more than the 2005 recipe. The pour is cloudy, like a very old, highly sedimented port or something like that, but with lively carbonation from the bottle conditioning. The nose is intensely yeasty, with notes of dark cherry and oak all over the place. Sour, lightly vegetal in a sense, but mostly suffused with flavors of wood and tannins. It’s nicely complex even if the profile is ultimately a bit indistinct.

From 75 cL bottle, thanks to Papsoe. Pours hazy brown with a light off-white head. Lovely dried fruit and slight acidic aroma. Flavour is slight citric and lovely caramel sweet and slight roasted. Dried fruity. Nice acidic finish.