Hoegaarden Verboden Vrucht

Brewed by Brouwerij Hoegaarden (InBev)
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Hoegaarden, Belgium

330ml bottle. Dark golden body with a fine off white head. Aroma is malt, dry fruit (raisin) and some alcohol. Flavor is malt, caramel, dry fruit and syrup. The balance between alcohol and sugar is perfect, and make this a very pleasant and well balanced beer. Compared to the previous version from de Kluis, I think this used to be even better with a lesser alcohol character.

Brown cloudy colour, with a very big head that holds for a while. Bready aroma primarily, that developes into fruits, berries, dates,figs, caramel and some coriander. Fruity taste, spices, candy, hard to discern everything, aromas are more mixed in the mouth. Alcohol is noticeable, creamy palate and sweet fruity astertaste.

Hmmmm... could have sworn I’d rated this already in Czech. Mustn’t have had a pen with me. Pity, because I’m sure it tasted better to me the first time. Still great, but not as colourful as I remembered. Just an extrememly rich and tasty treat, all nice and cloudy with flavours of caramel, dates, apricots.

Bottle. Had a little vertical test on this one, with a 1993-bottle ƙ% ABV) from de Kluis and a 2006-bottle Ƙ,5% ABV) from InBev. I know it has been cellared nice since 1995, but uncertain what it experienced until I got it. First of all, it cellars very well, and the 1993 was better than the 2006, but the 2006 was more drinkable. The 1993 poured almost clear, but there’s sediments in the bottle, so I poured it rather gently. Both had a copper-golden color, but only the fresh bottle had a small, dense, beige head. There was lots of sediments in the 2006 as well, but they didn’t stick to the bottom in the same manner. While the older bottle was quite complex, with raisins, sherry, sugar, malt and obious signs of aging, the fresh one was a bit more straigh-forward. Sweetness, malt and some dried fruits was present. Malt, sugar, raisins, prunes, caramel and alcohol made the flavor in the cellared one, and the new one had sugar, caramel and some hops. There were no signs of hops in the cellared version. They both had afull body and a long finish. The old one with alcohol and raisins, and the 2006 had a lightly spiced and sweet finish. I loved the wonderfully aged Verboden Vrucht, it was a real treat, but the fresh one was lovely as well, but in another way. I chose to rate the fresh bottle, as that’s what is available, but I would definately buy a lagered one if I ever find one. Rating 1993-bottle: 8-4-8-4-17-4.1. �)

Bottle at De Spuyt in Amsterdam. Orangish-Amberish color with a nice head. Smell was yeasty, fruity, alcoholic. Flavor was not too complex, but yeast, alcohol, a little bit of fruits. Overall it was a decent beer.

0,33 bottle. Fruity aroma. Brown and cloudy. Sweet and smooth with well-hidden alcohol.

Bottle: very good beer, very fruity, very yeasty, some caramel, some honey, some grapes, some apples, some spicyness, some nutty flavor and toasted sweetend almonds, the alcohol is pretty detectable which is not too pleasant.

Bottle. Peach aroma, caramel color with a big off-white head. Apples and pears in the flavor. It was a bit sticky and the alcohol clearly showed though, it could have been a little bit better balanced, still an enjoyable beer.