Eylenbosch Frater Ambrosius

A 1989 bottle at Heeren van Liedekercke, Denderleeuw, Belgium
Hazy, amber body. Off-white fizzy head. Ok lace. Ok head after all those years. Aroma of liquor, raspberries, some tanines, a lot of white port and higher alcohols. Quite sweet aroma with some complexity. Doesn’t remind me of lambic anymore. Fruity, quite sweet flavour. Quite flat carbonation and a little bit watery. Not so intense, nor very complex. Still it is quite ok after about 20 years.

A Mes rate: Another 1989 bottle from DHVL. Looks very much like a dark gueuze, pretty much no red at all. Nose is almost toasted but I guess that is mainly a sign of age. Also apparent is caramel, brown sugar and some chocolate notes. Flavour is stunningly good. Very delicate but with bags of character. Characteristic hit of dry sourness for the finish with a glorious wash of raspberry. I had this once before and it was nothing like as good. Once again Mr. J has cared for this bottle expertly well.

GBBF - Bottle 1986. Tobacco and cherry. Quite sweet. Like cough sweets. Fairly simple. Almost childish. OK.

[Bottle from ~1986 at GBBF] Brownish amber. Almost still. Aroma of ripe raspberries. Sweet some with oxidation showing through papery malt. Medium bodied with a touch of freshening acidity. Interesting, but over it’s top.

Very aged sample - surprised it’s in the database - but still to be found in various locations. Served ice-cold Amber-orange with pinkish shine; slim whitish head. Very nice raspberry-ish smell (fresh fruit), typical for the former Eylenbosch brewery, not syrupy but several fruitacids and lactic. Sweet taste, quite a bit artificial all the same. There’s fruit taste, but I could not say raspberry this time. Bit of smokiness (? sweetener). Lips say lactic acid. Medium bodied, very obvious slickness, probably also due to the sweetener. Not disagreable, just too sweet. The nose is a true marvel.