De Graal Speciale

Brewed by De Graal
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Brakel, Belgium

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip, Tumbler

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Just read "Foucault’s Pendulum" and felt I needed to go on a grail quest of my own. Mine also erupted upon opening, like a baking soda & vinegar volcano. Pours dark brown with a thick tan head that recedes after about a minute. Classic fruity Belgian aroma, with a bit more citrus than other Belgians. Thin, watery mouthfeel, with a smokey, oaky, vaguely metallic taste. The "middle frequencies" of the flavor spectrum, which are usually so strong in Belgians like Leffe and Duvel, are conspicuously low in the mix. Neither great nor horrible - this was one of the cheapest Belgian 750s at the store, and that’s pretty much what it tastes like. Lower middle upper class. :) Would drink it over something like Pabst, if I somehow had to choose at a party, but with the variety of other great Belgian ales out there I probably won’t be buying this again.

14-Mar-12 (750-ml bottle)
This dark Belgian ale has an extremely complex, intriguing, and enticing nose. It’s very fruity, malty, and candy-like, with prominent aromas of fig, date, and raisin, but also toffee, brown sugar, caramel candy, treacle, clove, nutmeg, aged wood, leather, nut shells, dust, and old books. Unfortunately, the beer doesn’t taste nearly as complex or enjoyable as the aroma suggests. It’s still quite fruity, again with the not-uncommon trio of fig, date, and raisin, plus some red apple, and the sweeter elements such as brown sugar, holiday spices, and caramel are also present, but apple skins and the slightly roasty, woody, dusty, and vinous aspects are strong throughout, but especially dominate the finish, creating a rather bleak and dreary final impression. There’s also a noticeable suggestion of hard alcohol that doesn’t help either. It’s full bodied on the palate and delivers moderate carbonation, but despite the suggestion of sweetness from various flavors, the mouthfeel is actually quite dry. The beer pours a hazy, amber-brown body capped by half an inch of tan-colored head that recedes to a thin ring. Overall, it’s an interesting beer, but the nose is the absolute high point. Too bad the beer doesn’t taste as good as it smells.

From a bottle which gushed the beer pours a crimson color with a medium tight head. The aroma is musty and nutty with some fig and rotting leaf notes. The flavor is malty and for lack of a better term "rustic". Lots of fig character is displayed here without being overly sweet, in fact it finishes dry and has light peppery and roasty notes throughout. On all accounts a very enjoyable beer.

25th May 2007
Warning! Early amateur rating! Dark and sumptuos beer. Rich and slightly treacly. Dark malt chocolate finish. No bitterness. Smooth. Nice.

750ml Bottle: Aroma of malt, dark ripe fruit, slight toasting, slight toffee, slight brown sugar, and a hint of yeast. Poured very deep amber/brown in color with a medium-sized, dense, beige head that diminished but lasted throughout. Cloudy. Sparkling. Full of small, medium, large, and huge-sized particles throughout. Flavor is medium to heavily sweet. Tastes of malt, slight chocolate, light roasting, slight wood, dark ripe fruit, and slight cocoa. Medium body. Thin, slightly tingly, then dry texture. Average carbonation. 8.5%ABV is completely hidden throughout.

Pours deep brown with a rocky tan head. The aroma has lots of dates, raisins, plums, brown sugar, sourdough, Belgian yeast, light molasses, anise and cream. Medium / thin body that’s slick and has very light carbonation for the style. The flavor starts as an ultra-watery version of the aroma with some sourness. The finish adds some spice and caramel. Fair at best.

Tasted at Extreme Beerfest. Clear brown with apricot lights. Tasty with a thick sweet malty nose.

Sampled at the 2010 Crescent Moon Extreme Beer Festival. Hazy brown with a medium beige head. Oxidized caramel aroma. Thin in body. Mild caramel flavor. I’m not so sure what is so special about this beer.

Date: November 11, 2009
Mode: Bottle
Source: Green’s, Atlanta
Appearance: gusher, hazy brown, fine beige head, sticky lace
Aroma: sweet malt aroma, dark fruity esters, light spicyness
Body: thin body
Flavor: sweet malt flavor, fruity esters, touch of chocolate, caramel sweetness, light earthyness
Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 6/10; Palate: 4/10; Overall: 13/20
Rating: 3.2/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: **+ /4

Bottle shared by argo0 on 8/7/08: Pours a transparent amber mahogany with a thin, wispy-lacing light tan head. Aroma of sweet caramel and toasty biscuity malts with some floral light fruity notes. Body starts fairly full and sweet with some good doguhy caramel and yeasty flavor before a drier toasty finish. A pretty good Belgian strong ale.

This bottled brew from a bottle shop poured a small sized head of foamy fine to medium sized light brown colored bubbles that were mostly diminishing and left behind a opaque strongly carbonated dark brown colored body. The aroma was vinous brown malt and wheat. The crisp mouth feel was tingly at the start and at the finish. I found it to be kind of soda pop like carbonated and bubbly on the tongue. The crisp flavor contained notes of hops and brown malt. A decent one that I would consider buying again.