Kasteelbier Donker

Brewed by Brouwerij Van Honsebrouck
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Ingelmunster, Belgium

33 cl bottle, bought in shop in Oostende. Dark reddish color, fine beige head. Aroma is roasted malt and dried fruit. Flavor is very sweet - too sweet - dried/dark fruit, malt and lots of alcohol. Unbalanced and not very good.

Bottled. Pours dark/medium brown with a light brown head. Aroma is soggy bread, yeast, spices, and a hint of sweet cherry burried underneath it all. Flavor is very sweet with dark fruits dominating the profile. Some plum and fig both sweet with a hint of alcohol and then a even more sweet finish. Almost cloying.

Mine had a very unpleasant nose, of booze and rotten yeasty biscuits. Very unpleasant. This beer is just average in my book. The sweetness is very nice, but I don’t really care for the yeast and spice profile, which is very funky of currant and uncooked beans, as well as all the booze. This one doens’t hide its booze at all, which isn’t a bad thing if the flavors are fantastic that you want to feel them as well as taste them, but this just wasn’t it for me.

Urc la tipica birra che mi mette un po’ in difficoltà: non potrei non definirla "buona", effettivamente la potrei anche consigliare... ma soggettivamente ha un elemento che mi spiazza, ed è l’estrema (e dico davvero estrema) dolcezza. Non soffusa, aggressiva, proprio una botta enorme di dolce che ti spiazza ad ogni sorso e ti fa venir voglia di dire "basta" dopo poco. Per il resto notevole complessità, aroma molto particolare, sentore etilico davvero ridotto data la gradazione, aspetto fantastico (anche se la bellissima schiuma se ne scende presto).

Pours a cloudy dark rust brown color with a light brown head that doesn’t last. Smells a little like a chocolate brownie. Or, actually, more like bread pudding with rum sauce. Taste is fairly like bread pudding with raisins and rum sauce as well. Bread, dark fruit, sugary sweetness, and alcohol. Slight hints of chocolate. The bready sweetness and alcohol lingers to form the finish.

Deep mahogany brown color wiht a thin light brown head. Aroma is malty, somewhat yeasty, gblack cherries, roasted grains. Flavor is a lively sweet medley of cherries, figs, molasses and a touch of dark chocolate. Wonderful beer! Hops are not apparent, finish is lingering, alcohol warmth at the end.

2008-06-26 from bottle: Dry and crisp aroma with some chocolate. Deep amber color with light brown head. Sweet, yet dry finish…hot with some dried fruit. Thin and fizzy body.

Pours a dark and cloudy mahoganny with a small tan head. Smell is strong, and I can’t decide if I like it or not. It is very earthy, with mustard greens and some earthy hops. There are some fruit smells in there too, like raisins and figs. Flavor is incredibly sweet. Brown sugar and raisins dominate. There is a lot of alcohol in the smell and cutting through the flavor. Creamy finish, but with something tickling my throat and making it hard to swallow. I find the alcohol and sweetness to be overbearing. Otherwise this is a tasty beer.