Malheur 12

Brewed by De Landtsheer
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Buggenhout, Belgium

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip, Tumbler

aroma is tropical -- maybe passion fruit and a bit of banana -- with sweet malt and alcohol. taste is mostly sweet, alcohol and slight bitterness in the finish. nice fruityness. foamy texture -- not sure what the problem is, but it ruins the palate.

Received a 12oz bottle from a friend in Belgium (thanks, Bart!). I poured it into a Trappist glass.

A: Forms a huge, soda-like head that’s equally as fizzy. It’s dark tan and soapy and eventually dissapates completely, but does regenerate with a swirl of the glass. No lacing, though.

S: Similar to Westy 12 or Chimay Blue with many notes of dark fruit plus a bready scent and alcohol.

T: Wow, this is a robust beer to say the least. As soon as it hits my tongue it’s making itself known. Dark fruits like plum, raisin, and black cherry are prominent with strong malt backbone of breadiness. The finish is a nice syrup-like sweetness of caramel, but not cloying at all. There’s touch of bittersweet chocolate in the aftertaste, as well as some dry booziness.

M: Extremely effervescent brew as the carbonation stomps on my tongue and gets caught in the throat. Not a tart or sour palate, though. Noticeable warmth throughout the drinking process.

D: The only thing keeping this from scoring higher is the fact it’s too damn peppery! Even in small sips the CO2 gets stuck in the back of my throat and I burp after each swig.

Overall, a fun beer to taste and it’s an interesting beer to drink. I’d think a vintage of this would be an amazing beer, but a fresh bottle is very good in its own right.

On tap at Mekong on 12/14/2010. Murky brown body with a small creamy off-white head. Very sweet caramel, toffee, and light molasses aroma. Sweet caramel, fruit, belgian spice and toffee flavor. Medium full body with moderate carbonation.

11.2oz bottle. Poured a deep brown/purple color with fizzy white head. Aroma was cola, dark fruits, caramel, sweetness. Taste was predominantly floral and fruity an efforvescent feel to it which kind of overwhelmed the palate with those flavors. Pretty good quad but not fantastic.

Hides alcohol very well. Light and effervescent quad. Sweet and typical complex malts

Bottle. Dark brown with a tan head that fades to a coat but lasts. Aroma of stewed dark fruit, Port, chocolate, hard spices, orange blossoms, alcohol. Taste is very sweet (at first) but complicated with dark sugars, stewed fruit, chocolate, modest spices. Quite syrupy, but there’s a nice creaminess to it from very welcome carbonation that lifts the heaviness very well. There’s a fair bit of bitterness but it struggles to counter the sweetness. Finish is a bit boozy, but not all that much considering. Finish is insistently bitter though and after a hundred mls or so the balance is working pretty well and it’s getting to justify its strength.

Poured this into a glass and I could have sworn it looked like a glass of Coca-Cola. Sickly sweet and incredibly thick in our mouth. I wasn’t a huge fan of this.

Dark brown color with a sticky, little bit beige colored head. Smell malts and a little caramel, though not too much. Taste sweet, caramel. Alcohol very well hidden. Pretty good beer.