Piraat 10.5%

Brewed by Brouwerij Van Steenberge
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Ertvelde, Belgium

0,33 l bottle.
Poured hazy pale golden with a superrb foamy and creamy white head. Pleasant aroma of malt, fruity-citrussy hop and spicy coriander. Strong personality about the flavor...Spicy coriander dominates the malt based taste. Oily textured beer with a heavy character...The alcohol is well hidden...

Bottle. This has been in my cellar for about a year. I had hoped to mellow it out a bit. It’s quite a hazy golden orange in a wine glass with a hefty inch thick head and plenty of lace. The aroma is quite yeasty with apple, spices, light raisin. Well carbonated and spritzy, medium in body. Time in the cellar seems a success to me. I taste more apple with lime, crusty baguette, orange zest and some more raisin. The finish is long with citrus zest and dried dark fruit.

(Bottle into tulip) Poured a cloudy dark amber / light orange with a large head the hung around for the entire glass. Nose was of slight citrus, with a little caramel sweetness and a hint of banana. The taste was not disappointing as all of these came through in the mouth, enhanced by the jumpy carbonation which also brought forward a nice spicy bite at the end. This helped for a very nice finish. Be wary as the 10.5% could catch up with you! Unfortunately I only had one, as this was part of a brewer’s sampler.

750ml caged and corked bottle. Pours hazzy brown with a white, foamy head. Smells and tastes of fruity and spicey belgian yeast. Nice carbonation and warm alchohol aftertaste. Very nice belgian strong ale.

Pours a clear golden with a big white head. Lots of carbonation. Aroma is burnt malt and yeasty hops. Taste is complex and well balanced. Sweet bready taste with a semi-dry finish with a slight hop bitterness. Quite nice in the balance of this beer. It was a great pickup at Christmas.

Golden in color and has a slight and sweet scent. The taste was more complex than I imagined. Slightly banana and spicey.

On tap at Max’s in Baltimore. Pours a clear deeper yellow with good head and sticky lace. Aroma is very odd. Sort of cotton candy, mustiness. Taste is very boozy with sickly sweet candies and alcohol. Gross.

(Sample Date: 1/9/2010 Source:Other) 9L SALMANAZAR bottle courtesy of Steve for his birthday bash. That’s a really big bottle of 10.5% beer for 15 or so people! Complex peach pear fruitiness with spicy yeast character along with some grainy yeasty funk. Slightly cloudy golden with rocky white head. Very spicy with lots of fruitiness and really sneaky alcohol. Medium body and medium mouth feel. Finish has lots of spicy residual and pepper.