 DruncanVeasey (1612), Burbage, Leicestershire, England
Jan 9, 2008
2007 bottle. I know I should have left it until next Xmas, but I couldn’t help myself, having tried it in ’t Brugs Beertje last week and tasted nothing (flu). Pours red amber with creamy white froth. Saliva-making aroma of oak, apple juice, marmalade, soap, just a teaspoon of something acetic, but not quite vinegar. Massive peppery alcohol, heady raisiny fruit, and intensely bitter hops. An amazing, sweet, cereally aftertaste of....I don’t know what. Wheat? Corn? Honey Nut Loops? Buttery, malty, toffee-dipped popcorn. Glowing oesophagal fire, orange and strawberry fruit so fat, bulbous and humming it’ll take your head off. Chewy, fat and soapy throughout, but returning to that sweet buttery aftertaste 20secs after the swallow.Cornflakes, fresh bread, Rodenbach Vin De Cereale. Don’t know where the sourness went, it’s all punishing bitterness and sweetness beyond the first intoxicating sniff. However many times your head is smashed against the canvass, you keep coming back up for another tender bludgeoning PUNCH IN THE FACE. Unbelievable complexity, headiness, balance, length. All the hallmarks of a classic Belgian ale. Don’t bother ageing it, DRINK IT NOW.
badlizard (1424), San Diego, California, USA
Aug 17, 2008 Bottle from Holiday. Cloudy copper brown with a tan foamy head. Caramel apple and spice aroma and taste with a tart finish.
BeerandBlues2 (2450), Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA
Aug 7, 2008 1996 vintage, bottle #1531, received via trade with PilsnerPeter. Pours cloudy tawny with an average, fizzy, off-white head, mostly diminishing with fair lacing. Aroma is heavy malt (cookie, caramel, toffee), average hops (flowers, perfume, grass), heavy yeast (horse blanket, barnyard) with notes of light alcohol, raisins, plums, dates, cherry, and cinnamon. Full bodied, sticky texture, lively carbonation, and a bitter finish. Long duration, moderate sweetness, acidity, and bitterness. I could not tell that this beer was twelve years old; if it is not at its prime, damn, send me one at its prime and it will be a 5.0!
Ofortuna (303), Grafton, Wisconsin, USA
Aug 6, 2008 Poured a huge whipped cream head in my snifter. Spiced notes and quite a bit of hop bitterness jumping out of the glass. Nice golden colour with a good amount of carbonation. Nice zesty esters and a bit of fusel. The first sip made me do a double-take on the viscosity. They weren’t kidding that this is one of the highest densities for a Belgian. Unfortunately, with that density comes a rather cloying component. In fact, the more I drink of this the more cloying this becomes. On the flip-side, this does display some nice vinuous notes on the finish. A bit of cab, tannins, some nice complexity. Very odd. Alot going on here. Some good, some bad.
padrefan98 (592), (San Diego) Santee, California, USA
Aug 6, 2008 Bottle shared at RBSG during the grand tasting held at Pizza Port Carlsbad in San Diego.
cmillward (158), Orlando, Florida, USA
Aug 6, 2008 Bottle. Pours blond with a fluffy white head, leaves some very nice lacing. Huge nose of figs, bready yeast, bubblegum, plums. On the tongue this is sweet, doughy, tastes o f yeast, plums, apricots, dates, candi sugar, just a hint of alcohol. Gives a little alcohol burn in the chest. Amazingly light and fluffy in the mouth, especially for how big this is. Wow.
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