Kasteelbier Donker

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

Vintage 1998.
Pours cloudy dark brown with a disappearing tan head. Very full and rather vinous aroma dominated by raisin and prunes. Sweet, fruity and sugary with some fusty wood tones from the age. Extremely sweet and sticky flavor of malt, fruit and raisin and a bit of sourness in the end. Sticky mouthfeel. No sign of the alcohol. All right but gets cloying in the long run. Thanks a lot Michael (Dalle) for the bottle!

Bottle. Dark brown colour, small tan head. Little to no aroma - what is there is slightly sweet. A very full taste!!: lots of sweet molasses malt like flavours - which actually kind of hides the fact that this is rather thin bodied. Borders on too sweet, but I didn’t think it crossed the line - remained balanced. Boozy as it warmed. Pretty good.

Bottle: Courtesy of Styles. Fruity aroma with light yeastiness and a hint of alcohol. Pours a very dark mostly transparent copper with a small off-white head. Fruity up fruit but finishes excessiviely sweet. Lots of sugar and just too sweet for me. Not enough other flavors to balance out all the sugary sweetness.

2003. Aroma of alcohol, malts, sugar, and very light rubbery hops. Dark copper-red brown clear with diminishing off-white, slightly lacing head. Medium heavy carb in a heavy watery, just short of syrupy, body. SWEET. Sweet up front, sweet in finish, and sweet remains long after the swallow. Alcohol is obvious, sweet malts - sugary. Did I mention it's sweet? Hard to tell much else about the flavor. Any subtleties are masked by a level of sugar strong enough to cause polyps on my tongue. Pretty bad. May be good with dessert, or as a cooking ingredient. Hard to drink whole thing.

A nice sweet aroma. A crazy flavor too, almost so sweet that it covers all the alcohol. If you can get past the sweetness this is quite enjoyable.

Caramelly and nutty nose emanating from a dark, almost opaque brown colored brew with a lacy head. Nutty flavors come through a thick, brown sugar-like body. Wood-like finish. Powerful brew that is for sipping only. Very nice.

Bottle from LCBO. Deep brown-red colour. Very still body with a small tan head. Sweet aroma of prunes and chocolate toffee, with a strong bozzy punch. Flavour matches the aroma well, with the addition of licorice and raisins. Long, warming finish with some medicinal notes. I found the sweetness a little off-putting at first, but as the beer warmed up a bit, I got used to it and found this to be a fantastic winter warmer.

Bottle via trade with radiomgb - Thanks Jeff! - Pours a dark brown with a creamy tan head that settles back to a film and laces in layers from there. Aroma is big of candi sugar, raisin, some corriander, and maple syrup. Flavor is very sweet, raisins, candi sugar, syrup, plums, molasses. This and syrupy on the palate. A sweet lovers delight. A little over the top sweet for me though. Not much alcohol found til the warmth on the finish though.