Pius X

Brewed by De Graal
Style: Barley Wine
Brakel, Belgium

Serve in Snifter

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Bottle, bought @ Nüetnigenough, Brussels.
Pours light muddy dark amber with a small, staying, creamy, off-white head. Aroma has caramel, light vinious, plums, sweetness, malts, almonds, light raisin and lovely piney hops. Medium carbonation, lovely fat and creamy mouthfeel with some dryness. Flavour is sweet, but balanced. Caramel, raisins, a soft edge of thyme, estery, red apples and only very softly vinious. Very delicious.

Bottle purchased somewhere in the middle of Belgium. Surprised this is rated as a barley wine, seems more strong Belgian ale to me. Decent throughout – drinkable!

Bottle bought at the Bierboom a while ago. Amber colour with creamy golden head. Aroma booze, bit sweet, touch of fruit there but not too strong aroma. Taste is sweet and boozy, caramel, boozy fruit, nice enough, but nothing that special.

(Bottle, Nuetnigenough, Brussels, 21 July) Amber colour with frothy, beige head. Malty, fruity nose with notes of dried fruit, orange marmalade, spicy hops and hints of cellar. Malty, fruity taste with caramel, marmalade, orange peel, candy sugar and a mild spicy bitterness in the finish. Full body, quite sweet. Smooth rounded mouthfeel, quite tasty and excellently balanced. Very nice beer.

Bottle at Nuetnigenough, Bruxelles, lot11022, bb 08/2012
Cloudy amber color, large compact head, but short retention. Malt aroma with tones of soil, not unheard of in Belgium, but not exciting; also a hint of apples. Good body strength; anonymous caramel flavor, with moderate sweetness, and no maltiness; the alcohol is too evident, there are traces of vegetables and liquorice; common bitterness.
Suitable for getting drunk, more than for the pleasure; the style can’t ever be Barley Wine, it’s just another Strong Ale.

Dumpy 33cl brown bottle, best before 08/2012, poured into my huge ’Judas’ glass in 11/2011. Almost prevented any sediment getting into the glass, but got cocky towards the end of the pour and allowed some to ruin the look of the beer, bugger. Murky autumnal red colour with a good white head of bubbles, not sure if it would have been clear even if I’d poured more carefully. The smell was of infused honey esters trapped in a bed of Belgian yeast on some toffee covered shortbread biscuits: so it had a sweet smell, fruity too (apples and plums). The taste was an extension of the smells, but with alcohol and spicy hop notes adding to the flavours. Really, really impressed, can’t remember where I got it from, most likely De Bierboom in Brugge?. I love it when I find beers like this: 2.00 Euro’s and a joy to drink. I may well have styled it on BA as a Strong Pale Ale, but it sits well within the barleywine or quad areas just as easily.

Hard to find this beer. Tasted on from bottle @ 2de Gents Bierfestival 20.08.2011. Hazy darkgolden almost amber color, with a creamy white head. Aroma: sweet, spice, some yeast, malts. Medium to full body. Taste: sweet malts, spices, honey and caramel. A complex beer.

bottle@GBF 2011: hazy orange with a white head, dense malt, slight fruits & a lot of caramel, lots of brown sugar & spices in the aftertaste, warming, lith to medium body, med. carb., somewhere in-between a quad & a barelywine but pretty far away from the style in general

33cl, exclusive brew, from 2nd Gents Bierfestival, complex brew, spicy and sweet, not too heavy, balanced, cloudy, good head, good brew

Utterly dense, tight-bubbled, cream-coloured head over fully hazy orange-amber beer. Alcohol, warm malts, and green herbs. Harsh flavour, greenmalts, raw alcohol with a sweet (alcoholic) fiish. Sweetness mounts even, warming up. Apparently brewed with ginger, but I could find hardly any, if any at all. Harsh (again) MF, slick, (alcohol)warming feel. Less than the sum of its parts, rather disappointing. A punch, and that’s it. Rather the topfermenting equivalent of a malt liquor, than a Barley Wine.