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Bottle @ Beer Circus, Croydon. Pours murky brown with beige head. Aroma is of banana / orange / earthy. Taste is spice / caramel, nice carbonation on the tongue slightly acidic and earthy. A refreshing brew. Very drinkable

Bottle at home. Unclear red/brown - light beige head. Fruity, berries, wine-like notes. yeasty, spicey, caramel, berries, light earthy, medium complexity. OK !!

Brown of color with a beige head. An aroma of spice, caramel and alcohol notes. A flavor of spice, caramel and oak.

Pours a cloudy ruby with some off white head. Nose is musty in a way that reminds me of a traditional lambic. If I hadn’t opened it myself, I’d swear this had come from a bottle with a cork. Flavor is extremely unusual and unique. Man. Very faint sweet tone. I can say right away that it ends with a noticable perfume characteristic. Caramel is there too. Alcohol is noticable a bit too. This is one extremely complex BSDA. And add that it is Dutch too. Who would’ve thought. Feel is goog. Smooth with a nice bubble edge to it. Drinkable? Hell yes; but more for the experience. More of a sipper, but the unique qualities should keep a lover of the style coming back for another. You would never be able to tell what this might be from seeing it on the shelves. I mean a diamond label with an ostrich on it? Come on. Regardless. If you see it, buy it.

Date: 04/01/2005
Mode: Bottle
Source: Brick Store Pub

muddy copper, nice tan head, rich sweet malty aroma, tart moldy horse blanket flavor, stays rich and moldy

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 5/10; Flavor: 5/10; Palate: 5/10; Overall: 10/20
Rating: 2.8/5.0
Score: *4
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The score was calculated based upon the notes and an old scoring system.

A much better showing this time around. Impressive appearance: big thick off-white head and a body of dark tan with a dark orange core. Nose shows toffee and chocolate, raisined fruits and some darker spices. Suprisingly light touch in the palate; mild spice and chocolate but the intensity does build to a warm and spicy finish. Not convinced that this bottle is in great nick.

August 2007 (2.8): Should have been another cracking beer from what is now one of favourite producers. Visually stunning, as is common for the house. Perfectly formed medium sized head, offwhite in colour. Glowing orange with a dull red core. Served in a chablis / chardonnay wine, which by the way worked a treat. Sweet candied malts on the nose together with minerals and cinnamon. Flavours unfortunately let the beer down I suspect this one has a bad case of the ’skunks’. Some cinnamon and spice of the palate, but quite mild and disapates as the skunky notes kick in. The palate is surprisingly light for a 9% with the alcohol barely registering any presence. I’ll rate this purely for record keeping purposes but clearly a sound sample would rate near or above 4.0.

First new rating in a long time! Bottle from City Beer Store in SF. Opaque light brown (not quite orange) color, light beige head, aroma of banana, orange, alcohol, caramel. Thin, reedy mouthfeel, taste of berries, lasting on the tongue. Almost drinks like an hour-old soda except for the slight alcohol burn.

Hazy orange to fresh polished copper brew, thin but clinging head. Smells like a massive U-pick berry farm on a cooler overcast day, not burned off or dusty, just clean berry essence, Somewhat tart, strawberry pop flavors, very thin and somewhat refreshing even for such a strong ale.