Maredsous 8

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

Bottle. Brown with a touch of red sporting a thin off-white head that just clings on. Aroma of sweet malt, sugar plums, and brown sugar. The taste is of roasty malts and cocoa - not quite sachrine, but a tad too sweet. Nice clean finish. It’s a little too roasty for what I’d like, and as you drink the cocoa flavors really step up. Hides alcohol well.

Dark red/brown with a rocky white head. Not much in the aroma, only some hops. Vegetable spice in the flavor. Medium bodied. Kind of thin. Good but not complex.

Brown color with a thick beige head, nice lacing. Aroma of chocolate, raisins and alcohol. Flavor of malt, raisins with hints of chocolate. Slightly sweet finish. Medium to full body, creamy mouthfeel, soft carbonation. A good, enjoyable beer.

Bottle from Winking Lizard. Pours a lustrous ruby-brown color with a medium off-white head that has good retention. Patches of lacing on the glass. Bouquet of fruits and spices, as well as some yeast and malt. Medium-bodied with roasted malt, yeast and spice flavors. Dark fruit and hops undertones as well. The finish is fruit and oak with a spicy yeast aftertaste. Solid all around.

Lovely aroma, typically for a dark belgian strong ale. Lasting but very thin head. Taste is bitter in the beginnig, morefruity, sweet and refreshing in the end. Good combination. Lovely beer.

Bottle pours dark caramel with a thinly vailed white head.   Carbonation is very lively.   Head retention is light, lacing is fair.   Aroma is vinous, chalked full of figs, plums, oak, and some toffee or caramel.   First taste shows some fruity notes, a bit sweet, as well as mildly earthy/moldy.   Finish is smooth but extremely thin on flavor.   The 8% is well hidden.   Mouthfeel is enjoyable, not overly carbonated.   Quite enjoyable, but points taken for uneventful finish.   If you get a chance, try the 10.  

33cl bottle. Pours a very dark red. Small but persistent white head with good lacing. Vinous aroma. Starts a bit harsh and dry but evolves towards a pleasant fruity and slightly sour taste (red grapes, cherries) toped with some earthy spices. Alcohol presence too much for an 8% abv and that’s where it loses a lot of points for me. Not a bad beer. This is the only member of the Maredsous family that I’ve had and I hope to be able to try them all which is something I was never able to do with my ex-girlfriends families.

From bottle at Paters Vaetje. Somewhere between dark bronze colour to mahogny with a creamy tan head that leaves nice lacework. Molasses aroma with some yeastiness. Sweet caramel flavours, some yeasty spiciness as well as fruit. Medium body, slightly oily textuyre. Not quite living up to my expectations.