Struise Pannepot

Brewed by De Struise Brouwers
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Oostvleteren, Belgium

Pours a murky brown with a large tan head. Aroma is mostly dark fruits with some maple syrup and yeast. Palate is full and carbonated. The alcohol is there, but compliments the flavor profile. The flavor is rich with spice. Overall a top notch beer

Thanks again to Adrian for sharing some of the best beers on earth with me. This here Pannepot was a fruity tasting beer lovers dream. Big, super foamy pour. Honey, malt, herbs, and caramel in the aroma, plus a touch of skank. Gorgeous label with a sailboat on it. The flavor is rich, fruity, and sweet. Maple syrup, figs, cherry, grape, honey, citrus, molasses, wow. Cant say enough about the taste. I wonder what went into this, but who cares . Whatever they used, the result is magnificent.

2006 bottle from my Secret Santa. Let this one settle for more than a week after shipping and it still exploded from the bottle. Took more than 10 minutes to pour a dark plum color with a frothy brown head. Smells like a mince meat pie. Loaded with spices, fruit and yeast. Tastes of tart charries, red apples, cinnamon, butter, caramel, and faint lemon with plenty of char and a boozy finish. Sticky and syruppy. Delicious.

2007 Bottle from West Lakeview. Pours a dark brown, almost black. Huge fluffy off beige head that sprouts up. Nose is great, I get dust, tart lemons, white pepper, plums and apple. A little baker’s yeast and some light candy scent. The body is lively with sweet candy sugar, vanilla creme, a slight salty tartness, coupled with coriander and a bit of thyme. Pretty robust and finish carries on into blueberries and some light juicy notes. Pretty darn good, though I’d not put it in the top of the top. Nice though.

Vintage 2003 but bottle says 2005. The nose is rather thin with caramel malts dominating, vanilla, tobacco and wine-yeasts. The taste is sweet with a smooth sweet but weak finish. There is alcohol, brown sugar and roasted malts. The palate is creamy with an medium carbination.

Cloudy redbrown with a large cream head. Aroma is sweet malt, roasted caramel, blackberry, fernish at the beginning. Taste is candy caramel and molasses. Not what I have expected.

75cl bottle dated 2007, which was very lively and frothed out as the cork was pulled (yes, there’s a cork under the crown-cap). Pours a very dark brown with a fine beige head and an aroma of demerara/burnt caramel with a hint of ginger. The first taste is surprisingly dry on the tip of the tongue, then there’s a big sweet, smooth and slightly spicey body, and finally tartness develops in the aftertaste. A fascinating blend of flavours.

(Draught at Monk’s Café, Sveavägen, Stockholm, 19 Dec 2008) Dark brown colour, almost black, with frothy, pale brown head. Malty, fruity nose with notes of dark fruit and burnt sugar, slightly vinous. Malty taste with dried fruit, raisins, prunes, dark bread and burnt sugar. Vinous hints of alcohol, rather sweet (but not excessively). Medium to full body. Very nice beer to be savoured slowly.