Piraat 10.5%

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

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip, Tumbler

330mL Bottle -- Pours deep honey gold with a small off-white head. Aromas of orange, lemon, straw, caramel, and some medicinal notes. Full bodied with a hoppy bitter and alcohol finish.

33cl Bottle from Achelse Kluis. Clear deep golden orange colour, white head. Aroma of bready malts, fruits, sweet alcohol, some banana. Flavour is sweet, malty, fruity, banana, candy, alcohol, some spices, light bitterness from the alcohol in the finish. Oily and creamy mouthfeel, medium to fullbodied.

Bottle. Hazy golden orange pour with a fluffy white head that lasts a little while. Aroma is quite yeasty, providing a little funkiness, and has notes of apples, pears, ginger, coriander, bready malt and candy. Flavour is sweeter and fruitier, although there is still plenty of spice, and has notes of caramel, pineapple, banana, apricot, pear and spices. Fairly thick, sticky mouthfeel with moderate to high carbonation and a lingering sweet, spicy finish. Very nice overall, better than a lot of blonde BSA’s that sometimes end up too sweet or bland; this one’s very well balanced and tasty, and the alcohol is well hidden.

Draft. Pours golden with a white head. Flavor is sweetness, spice, coriander, and booze. Overall pretty bland but the alcohol is well hidden.

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.