De Molen Pek & Veren (Tar & Feathers)

750 ml bottle - 2007 vintage on the cork; thin cola brown with trace tan head; smoke on the flavor, but not on the nose; peaty, dry finish; slight metallic flavor and smoke is quite minor with some obvious meatiness; it’s a nice level of smoke for me and there’s also some nice stout characteristics to even it out; fluffy and roasty with chocolate and toffee; quite interesting

This corked and caged $17 bottled brew from a bottle shop poured a large sized head of foamy finely sized bubbles that were long lasting and left behind a transparent softly carbonated dark ruby red brown colored body and a thick foamy lacing. The aroma was mild hop Irish Red malty and dark malt. The semi-flat mouth feel was tingly at the start and at the finish. The flavor contained notes of mild hops and dark malt. "But it’s Dutch!" famous JSquire quote from the rating party.

Sampled at Relentless Thirst tasting. Dark amber. Aroma is primarily chocolate and a bit of Belgian yeasty notes. Flavor matches - I would have taken it to be a stout with Belgian yeast due to the chocolate notes, but I missed smoke notes entirely. Not bad, happy to try this.

Bottle shared at the first Relentless Thirst gathering in Richmond, VA, 8.29.09. Pours a hazy brown color with a medium head. Aroma is smoky with light roastiness and sweet malts. Taste is light smoked malts and bitter hop notes. Medium bodied.

750ml from Bruisin Ales, thanks to emacgee. I was eager to try this one, and ended up fairly surprised at how the beer turned out. Pretty basic and uninspiring pour, dark brown with some haze and a medium head. The nose is fairly understated, a sweet base to the ale along with a pretty modest amount of peat and smoked malts. Thinnish mouthfeel. The taste, however, was even more disappointing - and I was sorely tempted to give it a 5. It began with a mild acidity to the beer that fairly quickly developed into a sour vegetal component that dominated things. Imagine that Aecht Schlenkerla was a fruit; this would be its rotten cousin.

Bottled. Hazy dark brownish amber colour, mediumsized brown foamy head that settles quite quickly. Aroma is chocolate, some bitterness, smoked wet wood, mild caramel and also liquorice and old coffee. Flavour is quite much the same with some slight peaty notes. Aftertaste is burnt wet wood as well as chocolate. As it warms up some mild nuttyness as well.

Chocolate. Not too roasty or intense in flavor. Dark. But there are traces of funk in there as well.

Tasted at the San Diego International Beer Festival. Dark brown with a fizzy head. Smokey chocolate aroma. Bitter burnt chocolate taste.