Troubadour Obscura

Brouwerij The Musketeers
Brewed at De Proefbrouwerij
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Ursel, Belgium

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip, Tumbler

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UPDATED: JAN 8, 2012 I went back to my recycling bin twice to fetch this and attempt to drip whatever had gathered at the bottom into my glass. Yeah it’s good stuff. This is everything that I wish an aggressive belgian would be. All the aged pit fruits, raisins, tangy yeast, balanced acid and rum barrel you could ask for. It’s got this saturated, round intensity in it’s fullness of ingredients and flavor concentration. All that I have to compare it to is the one Westy 8 that I’ve ever tried, it’s not quite there, but close. Next time I’ll get a case instead of just one. Thanks so much Musketeers. 2011 11.2 oz. bottle.

Pours dark amber with a high tan head. Aroma is malts and dark fruits. Flavor is sweet malts, dark fruits and alcohol. Great.

Bottle 330 ml. Brown beer with a super fully lasting small beige head and nice lacing. Complex nose of raisins, roasted malt, chocolate, wood and slight caramel. Taste is raisins, bitter chocolate and wood. Slight but long lasting bitterness in the aftertaste. Bitterness and roasted aroma/flavor make this beer different from other of the style, but being different isn’t necessarily good... but it’s still an ok beer.

In bottle at de Garre. Pours a very dark brown colour with a thick tan head. Aroma of liquorice, roasty malt, dark chocolate, caramel, black pepper and alcohol. Similar flavours with moderate carbonation and an oily mouth-feel. Lovely with well balanced alcohol and lingering liquorice, roasty malt and dark chocolate again.

330ml bottle. Clear red glowing darkest brown with huge stable creamy lacing tan head. Dark malt aroma with toasted notes, a mixture of dark berries with decent sweetness. Taste has carbonation induced yeasty notes, dark fruit, late a dry toasted dark malt touch.

Bottle. Hazy chestnut brown with a beautiful foamy beige head. Aroma is light roast, faint campfire, candy, rye bread, mild licorice. Taste is sweet dark malty, light bitterness, spicy yeast, dark bread. Full bodied, soft carbonation.

Serving: Draft at Roasthouse Pub. They listed it as a foreign stout but it’s definitely a Belgian Strong. It pours a very dark brown, cola like color with a small head. The nose is sweet with slight notes of nuts and earth. The flavor definitely leans towards the sweet side with some roastiness, lots of nuttiness, some Belgian yeast, candy sugar, raisin, and a hint of spice. Medium to full bodied with higher than average carbonation and a sweet finish. A bit sweet for an entire pint of, but it was still pretty good.

Tasted this in the Delirium Cafe, Brussels in April 2012. 33cl bottle. Pours a dark ruby black with a thick off white head. Strong roasted malt with charred wood notes in the long intense aroma. Smooth oily mouthfeel and good lacing. Dark malts give a strong malty base with overipe mashed bananas, syrupy figs, weak mocha coffee, bitter chocolate and oak cask flavours. Distinct, spicy bitter hop resins in the long aftertaste, giving a more rounded flavour than compared to some of the sweeter Trappist beers which have no bitter element to them. Finish is dry and malty with strong undertones of liquorice, wood smoke and maple syrup. This is a cracking Belgian Strong Ale and highly recommended. Reminded me of that long extinct barley wine, Old Alloa brewed by Maclays in the 70’s - superb stuff.

2012.05.17 - 750ml bottle in snifter. Pours in that murky area between dark brown ale and deep brown to black heavy strong ales and stouts. Head less than a finger is light tab and recedes to traces pretty quickly. Aroma is bread/yeast. Taste is nice, like a strong brown ale... Not quite a stout and the roast flavor is minimal. So "mild stout" (as the bottle says) seems reasonable. A bit of sweetness on front end mitigated immediately by mild toasty flavor. Hops not that noticeable to me, perhaps in the mildly bitter aftertaste. A nice brew. If I were in a strange town and found this I'd be happy. But in close proximity to my favorites it doesn't really stand out.

brown, black, cloudy, tan foam, coffee, nuts, roasty, soy sauce, medium sweetness, lightly sour, medium body, oily feel, average carbonation, bitter,

brown, black, clear, tan foam, roasty, cough drop, soy sauce, full body, oily feel, average carbonation, long finish, heavy cloying sweetness, medium bitterness,