3.3 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20Panama City Beach, Fl - Chan’s Wine World (brought back by my wife) - 750 ml bottle. Pours a very dark tea-like brown with a bubbly sticky off-white head. Aroma is earthy and green with hints of sassafras and anise seed. Flavor is unique and slightly complex with brief hints of chocolate, some root beer candy, a touch of black tea, some black dirt earthiness, brief fruity flourish reminiscent of cherries and pears. Mouthfeel is smooth. Interesting, to say the least.
4 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 16/20
Pours a nice deep red, brown from a distance with some eggshell fizz on the rim. The aroma is great, rich roasted grains, chicory, some Belgian fruits. The flavor is rich and very big. Lots of crazy things going on, sport of a mild Belgian dark porter, with hearty roasted notes, some robust chocolate and dried fruits. At first I could taste the rooibos but it quickly blends nicely into one complete roasted thing. Not much on the Belgian front but the intricacies of it set it apart from American imperial browns and porters and it is totally different that a Belgian mild stout or dubbel. Very good, I would not call it a dubbel, more a blend of an American strong brown ale mixed with a Belgian dark strong ale.
2.9 AROMA 5/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 4/10 PALATE 5/5 OVERALL 10/20
Dark brown and off white head. Aroma is msty and coppery. Taste is sweet and funk. Palate is a little watery, but finishes a little sticky.
3.7 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 15/20
Hazy reddish brown. Aroma is toasted grain, toffee, honey, fig, mysterious spices. Sweet on the palate, herbal finish. Taste is tea, nutmeg, honey, chocolate, mysterious spices. Unique and tasty.
3.8 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 15/20
Bottle share. Deep brown. Aroma of chocolate, oak, raisin. Taste is woody, dark chocolate, caramel, spices. Complex.
4 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 16/20
Appearance:
A beautiful brushed tan head covers liquid depths that speak of worn mahogany and cherry woods.
Nose:
Bark, sage, figs, exotic mushrooms. Raw peppercorns in the back. Western saddles and broken in leather. Essence of farm dust and grazing livestock – massive musk without the poop. Taro root. Dried figs, juniper, and black root. Star anise.
Palate:
Out of nowhere I am left with tart apples that pucker the cheeks and tickle the tastebuds. The Wild West meets old Europe meets the herbalist meets the rainforest in a crazy mélange of flavors that tastes of time itself. Very rustic and musky in the back with endless forests of bark, trees, and fallen foliage. Dry brittle parching baker’s chocolate along the edges. Rich spicy earthy peppery Bordeaux and Zinfandel grapes in the middle. A gin-ish essence pervades the palate with star anise while wild mushrooms grow underneath. Caraway seeds. Old red wine soaked leather sacks. A mysterious mixture of green herbs in the middle. Touch of old black earth in the back. Very parching.
Final Thoughts:
A perplexing thought-provoking beer from the folks at Dogfish Head that leaves me still wondering if I liked the beer or I like the experience. Maybe I’ll have to find another bottle to decide. Either way, if Mother Nature and Father Time had a baby, its name would be URKontinent.
(An original written work by Beer Ambassador, LLC. Plagiarism is not tolerated)
3.5 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 14/20
On tap @ Pizza Inferno in SF. Some interesting flavors in this one. Dark, malty, sweet and a little earthy. Good abbey dubbel.
3.9 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 17/20
Dark amber colour with a white head. Sweet aroma. Powerful dark malt flavour with hints of red and black licorice. Smooth with some carbination on the tongue.
3.9 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 16/20
Bottle from Wegmans Leesburg. Pours brown with a thin khaki head. Nice aromatics on the nose. Definitely malt on the tongue but also other awesome herbs and spices mixed in. This stuff is fucking fantastic.
3.7 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 15/20
Refrigerated 75 cl brown bottle poured into a tulip. Pours dark brown with big light brown head. Aroma is sweet and roasty. Taste is chocolate, dark belgian sugar, some earthy, some coffee, hint of honey, and hazelnut. Really complex and not that hard to drink. Good dubbel that is also part chocolate stout and part nut brown ale. Becomes more dubbel as it warms and less nut brown ale & chocolate stout.
4 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 5/5 OVERALL 15/20
Bottled 750. Nose is sweet with plenty of rich roast and underlying chocolate, there’s some frozen syrup / candi / molasses for complexity, mild plums, roasted seeds. A really vibrant earthy/grainy feel! Even some sweet malted milk balls. Noisy pour, deepest dark ruby with a frothing tan head. In the mouth, malted milk toward the front and various roastings pushed way to the back, lots more cherry and red berry, light black currants and mineral strokes. Faintest of herbal qualities, somewhat indistinct; very low bitterness and medium sweetness. Medium body yields gentle slow warming and a gorgeous velvety malty feel. I love reading off the special ingredients used, as they’re among my favorite ’occasionals’ in the kitchen; here they go utterly unnoticed in the mouth (though may contribute to some of the roasty aromatics) and prove the gimmick unnecessary -- this is nothing more than a really good dubbel!
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