Kasteelbier Donker

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

Bottle. Kasteel Bier Bruin. Pours a clear dark red-brown with a bubbly fast disappearing off-white head. Sweet aroma of well toasted malt, alcohol and dark fruits. Flavour is quite sweet with alcohol, dark fruits, mildly roasted malt, good bitter hops. Sweet alcoholic finish with some biterness.

Tasted 2007-03-16. Bottle from 2005, 33cl. Clear, dark red-brown colour with a disappearing head. The colour is beautiful! Powerful aroma of plums and alcohol. Taste of fruit, caramel and burned sugar, Very complex and very enjoyable! I’ll keep a few bottles of this for cellaring.

Thats a big brew packed with spicy roast malt and a fair hoppy acidity. The 11% alcohol warms as it goes down, but doesnt spoil the overall balance. The head is thin, although it does last well down the glass, but it loses a point for that, sorry! Fine Wine Shop, Musselburgh.

Pitch-like pour with ruby halo. Port sweetness with a nibble of roast. Curranty malt loaf and black cherry vinousness. Massive waft of booze- sodden barrel wood. Lick of the Marmite knife. Dandelion and burdock rootiness in there. Fruity, medicinal, malty and dryish. Much more impressive than on previous tastings. A persuasive Flemish bruiser with a heart of gold. (re-rate, 27/08/07) Marzipan, petrol, alcohol burn ....but above all, sugar. Undeniably silky, but wincingly sweet. A ladybeer. Yuk.

Pours a deep brown color with a fluffy off white head. Aroma is kind of spicy with raisins. Flavor is very malty sweet with raisins some toffee. Finish is spicy.

On tap, Bad Habits pub, Leiden. Intensely sweet, strong beer. Butterscotch, some spices, varnish-like alcohol taste. Oily texture. Not bad.

The 11.2 ounce bottle poured a clear, deep garnet red beverage with a small off-white fizzy head that was mostly diminishing but left some lacing on the glass. The aroma had a nicely balanced fruity, malty and spicy character to it. There were contributions from plumbs, grape juice, caramel, coriander and orange peel that I detected. The body was medium-full with soft carbonation and a smooth slightly oily texture. The flavor starts out moderately sweet with the fruity contributions mentioned above. Then the sweetness builds toward the middle and then tails off toward the end of the long finish as the spices and a moderately intense alcohol warmth take over.

Thought this beer was a little sweet and it didn’t rock my world. Have heard this is better on tap. Page 256 of Michael Jackson’s Great Beer Guide only 354 out of his 500 Classic Brews to go.