Maredsous 8

Brewed by Brouwerij Moortgat
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Breendonk-Puurs, Belgium

Dark brown cloudy color. Aroma is of sweeter malts, figs, hops, and possibly brown sugar. Taste is of sweeter malts, hints of raisins, molasses, figs, and hops. Nice and sweet aftertaste. Pretty good stuff.

33cl bottle, with different label (the one in the image is outdated). Dark reddish brown colour - big, soapy beige head that disappears rather quickly but leaves decent lacing. Aroma of red berries, malt and booze. Medium carbonation, slightly grainy mouth feel. The taste is quite surprising: Not the usual Belgian-bruine sweetness, but a strong, herbal bitterness with some aniseed, leading to a malty, dry and bitter finish, with a lingering bitter after taste. The earthy, herbal spices neatly balance the alcohol. Well-crafted dark Belgian brew, which, unlike many, will be welcome by lovers of "real" beer, too!

Bottle at a cafeteria in Brussels. Pours a clear, dark, copper brown to chestnut color. A lasting, creamy head of beige colored foam laves broken sheets of lacing that cling hard to the glass. The aroma is big on brown sugar malt, with hints of bronzed hazelnuts and a bit of vanilla and lactic cream. Flavors show similarly, though with a bit more of a roasty backbone as notes of burnt brown sugar seem ramped up a bit. There’s a nice, earthy, peppery spiciness that comes through in the finish, intensified by lively carbonation from the medium-full body. Roasted hazelnut is again a prominent and welcomed component. Good, solid abbey brune.

A reddish-brown beer with a decent head. the aroma is fruity, & yeast. The taste is fruity almost fruit punch like with very noticeable alcohol that goes down way to easy. Nice lacing.

Bottle- 33cl. Not so hazy, dark-ruby brown color with huge, airy head. Faint aroma of roasted malts, brown sugar and alcohol. Roasted malty mouthfeel with intense caramel and toffee tones. The alcohol shows up too abruptly IMO. Nice Belgian strong dark that carries some powerful malty flavors, but the alcohol is still too harsh.

Poured thick and dark, nice creamy head. Great malty, caramel aroma. The taste was... strage? Sharp and bubbly like champagne, which might be nice in a lighter beer, but this stuff is syrupy and chewy. I know I ought to like this beer more than I do, but the carbonation and sweetness is strange.

Poured a mostly clear dark amber or brown color with an off-white head that settled slowly. The aroma was plenty of malts, dark fruits and a hint of yeast. The flavor was a nice blend of the aforementioned along with a welcoming rush of warming alcohol. The mouthfeel was on point and the overall experience was very good.

750 ml. bottle. Pours a exuberant, rapidly collapsing beige head, with loads of lacing, over a clear, amber (SRM 15) body.....nose is light dried fruit, (cherry raisin), toffee, caramel, bit of molasses, finishing with light floral hop......taste is sweet caramel malt with some light dried fruits,(cherry, fig, raisin) finishing with a light bitterness....mouth feel is medium, carbonation low. This is a pleasant flavorful beer, which does not reach the complexity of many of the bigger Belgian Strong Ales. However, the bottle lists it as a Dubbel, so what is it? The answer, naturally, is that both styles are broad enough to include it. Call it Belgian democracy.