Hoegaarden Verboden Vrucht

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

The fruity bouquet is reason alone to try this fantastic belgian strong ale. Red/amber colouration, fairly complex flavours include spices, sweet maltiness and dry fruit. palate is smooth with a slightly creamy mouthfeel.

Cloudy copper colour with a thin off-white head. Aroma of bananas, yeast, ripe fruits, subtle spices and some malt. Medium-bodied; Spicey (nutmeg/cloves) initial flavour with yeast and banana at the back-end. Aftertaste shows sweetness and spiceyness but combines nicely. Overall, a nice treat, fairly good, but could use some more complexities. Bottle date (Best until) 09-October-2005. I was lucky enough to sample this 33 cL bottle from my sister's fiance, which he got from Belgium! I sampled this beer on 27-November-2003.

Considering the high ABV it tasted rather light for an belgian strong ale. Couldn´t recognize neither the orange nor the coriander in the taste, just a a bit of fruitiness. Otherwise there was a sweet maltiness. Biter finish.

Bottled. Dark amber with fine head and some yeast-particles. A weak aroma from dried fruit. A warm alcohol-feel and flavour from sweet,dried fruits.

Oct, 2003. This was among the bottles I brought back from my first trip to Belgium - before I started to keep records. The label is unforgettable. The beer is less memorable, though very pleasant. The alcohol is present, but softly, adding depth, warmth and complexity to an otherwise decent, but not wholly remarkable brew. Like a thin bodied barley wine, but with nice tannic, bloody edges. The head forms attractive clumps. On a different day and a different mood I might score this higher - or lower. [3.7]
Nov, 2006. 8.5% abv Chocolate, licorice, coffee, cola, honey, sugar, heather, lavender, warm woody spice, apricot, ginger, slight astringency. Warming alcohol. A very pleasant beer. [3.3]

Color is a very deep, dark brownish gold color with a fluffy styrofoamed, light cream colored head that grew to about an inch high after a fairly slow pour. Impressive. Takes forever to settle down to a solid hazy creamed top always present with drippy ink blot lace. Smell is super spiced and fruity, lots of orange and lemon peels. Extremely wafting and strong. Spiced to the hilt with corriander and white pepper with a smokey musky yeast underlay and a alcohol reminscent of rubbing alcohol or cleaner. Hugely strong aroma! Oh yeah! Although the aroma mellows out as it warms. Taste is mild, mellow, and balanced well between dulled orange and lemon with a touch of banana and unripe mango mixing with spices of corriander, pepper, slight cinnamon, clove, yeast, herbal hops and a dry crisping finish grabbing a bit more lingering qualities with fruit peels and spice. Feel is smooth, lightly creamy, and quite full, finishing a bit milder and with a crispy lingering of slight hop bite and dull tangy orangey fruit. What a lovely beer, incredibly enjoyable, a soothing ale with just the right bite and character.

Amber coluured with a lot of sediments. Rich head. Yeasty aroma with a little bit of citrus. The flavour is fruity and quite sweet with too much alcohol. If I had a cellar I would surely use it for year or two.

The aroma is a lovely smooth and fruity. Not quite a beer so far! Produceds a cloudy redish body with quite thick light pink head. And as for the flavour, it's something else. What alcohol? Plenty of fruity over-tones. Reminds me of a mixed fruit juice. Beautiful in it's own right, but i'm afraid, it's just not beery enough for my likes, once again.