Piraat 10.5%

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

Source:Bottle from Frugal MacDoogal’s in Nashville.
Glass:Trappist glass.
Appearance:Hazy dark gold pour with a thin off white head.
Aroma:Spices and yeast dominate the nose. Very sweet.
Flavor:Alcohol dominates, but sweet malt and spices show through.
Palate:Medium/full body with soft carbonation.
Overall:Excellent beer, but the alcohol was a little too present.

Growler from Bellport Beer. Pours deep, golden, cloudy, with a thin, lasting head. Alcohol is well hidden behind the sweet malty flavor. Lots of stuff in there, but I’m not that great at picking it all up. Light fruit flavors, and an excellent aroma. This one is a winner!

Bomber. Pour bright and promising shiny gold with lots of foamy head to spare, and boy does the foam last... Aroma is all spices, hops, and malt. Perhaps some yeast too, but I’m caught up in the spice and hops. Flavor is a big fruit and bran muffin, but the muffin dough was infused with rum! It’s an alcohol attack. Unlike for other raters, however, the penultimate burn of booze doesn’t ruin this ale for me. I like the punch. Besides, it settles at the end for a nice semi-bitter beer finish. It’s good enough for me on a Friday night. Not sublte, not refined, just good.

Bottle, 33 cl. Dark golden (nearly amber) beer with a white head, not lacing very well. The nose is grainy, hoppy, malty and a bit yeasty. Maybe a bit spicy also, but I’m not sure about it because I forgot. Red wine also, but I was drinking half a bottle red wine before. The taste is... a bit of everything. It starts grainy, hoppy and malt with medium yeast on the background. Then comes a lovely sweet taste, with some caramel notes, and also a spicy aftertaste. But disaster, disaster: the beer can’t hide its high alcohol percentage because you have at the end an alcohol taste that comes more and more to the foreground, pushing away the other tastes. Waste of the pallet, otherwise the beer would have received a 4 for it. I wouldn’t say it gave me a warm feeling, but it burned a bit. But that can also be the effect of drinking (other) alcohol the whole evening before. A typical Van Steenberghe: no top beer but very decent.

Poured a dark golden color with little head that didn’t leave much lacing. Spicy aroma and quite a bit of spiciness in the flavor along with some alcohol. I can’t say that I was impressed with this one.

"When poured only a thin bubble island floats on top of a hazy brass body. Aroma is sharp and yeasty but not all that strong red wine is also coming through. Flavour is nice and sweet. Woody alcohol, grape, sour yeast and wheat malts are making their way through in the flavour. Beer seems sweeter than most other Belgians but it never gets sickening. Caramel has shown up when warm and the beer has a nice alcohol bite in the finish. This Belgian is average at best."

Hazy gold with thick white head and nice lacing. Very sweet aroma of candy sugar, bannanas, Fluffy mouthfeel, lively carbonation. Quick spicy bite on the tip of the tongue, very peppery alcohol, cloves, spicy hops - more bitter than flavor. The sweetness in the aroma is hard to find, but it’s hidden there under all the spiciness. Finishes with bitter hops and alcohol. Nice and complex, very interesting.

Colore arancio, opaco e denso con una buona carbonatazione.Molto cremosa e ingombranti la schiuma e ottima la persistenza. Dolce e fortemente alcoolico l’aroma con notedi lievito.Gusto corposo e pieno, caldo, di malto dolce, cantina e chiare note di frutta. Molto alcolico e dolce il lungo finale