 cking (709), North Canton, Ohio, USA
Apr 30, 2008
Surprising find at the local shop, no hesitation on my part to uncork this fine treat. Pours a mottled, ruby-brown color. A thin tan head sits on top of the opaque body and produces small spots of lacing. Mellow aroma of port wine filled with lots of dark fruity scents and a lightly interwoven mustiness. Exceptionally smooth mouth feel, I’m sure the few years spent conditioning in the bottle have helped. Slightly sweet and dry, nice and yeasty. Wonderful rich fruity flavors. Thick red wine, plums, and raisins. A complimenting thin mulch-like earthiness adds depth. Well blended flavor, subtle and potent. Nicely aged and very enjoyable.
Snojerk321 (879), San Diego, California, USA
Jul 13, 2008 750ml bottle. Pours a swamp water brown with a minimal tan head that became non existent. Aroma had a kind of sour funk and mustiness to it, sour cherries and other dark fruits in there as well. A slightly sour carbonated mouth feel with a faint pucker on the finish. Different than I was expecting but very good!
EnSiFeRuM (216), Quebec, Canada
Jun 20, 2008 Bouteille de 750 ml. Nos yeux observent une bière de couleur brune foncée avec des reflets rubis et une mousse quasi-inexistante. Notre sens de l’odorat respire des arômes très madérisés de sucre brun, d’alcool, de cassis, de caramel brûlé, de fleurs, de vieille framboises, de chocolat noir, de cerises noires et de pruneaux. Notre palais fait face à un bon corps avec une texture sirupeuse et nos papilles gustatives à des flaveurs madérisées de petits fruits rouges confits, de chocolat noir, d’alcool, de vin rouge, de sucre brun et de fleurs. Me fait un peu penser à une Trois-Pistoles qui aurait subit les effets néfastes du temps.
jhumphries69 (495), Tyrone, Georgia, USA
Jun 18, 2008 750ml caged&corked bottle. Pours a dark, cloudy brown with minimal, light tan head that leaves no lace. The aroma is strong with alcohol. After your nose gets past that aroma, you are treated to a complex array of aromas: flowers, soft and ripe fruit, honey, sweet biscuits, maple, and hints of toffee. The flavor starts sweet and malty with sugary, jellied toast, some caramel, some spices (allspice, nutmeg, mace?), and a good bit of ethanol to boot. By mid-palate, the bitterness of ethanol and some mild, earthy hop bitterness help to balance the sweet malts. There is a mustiness and some notes of brandy and muscat grapes at mid-tongue, too. In the finish, there is a subtle hint of tartness/acid along with a strong note of chocolate and caramel combined with cooked/caramelized banana. The finish is somewhat dry with a roastiness that is not really perceived earlier on the tongue. The beer is quite warming and leaves a complex, fruity, spicy, sweet aftertaste. The mouthfeel is disappointingly still. It lacks the carbonation of a great Belgian ale. The body is meidum-full - lighter than one might expect from a beer that is so packed with complex maltiness and 10% alcohol. Overall, this is a great beer. It would have been even better (easily scoring over 4.0) if the bottle I bought were more lively carbonated - it would have looked better and felt much better on the palate. The bubbles could possibly have even pushed the flavor up to a full 10 points. As it was, it was still a fantastic, delicious treat of a beer.
AgentSteve (606), Livermore, California, USA
Jun 13, 2008 Pours medium hazy brown. The nose is rich fruits and some alcohol. The flavor is similar with a bit more complexity and a added dose of heat.
Haslinger (450), Syracuse, New York, USA
Jun 12, 2008 Bottle that was bottled on November 18th,2004. The aroma is a solid very fruit almost wine, the taste is of at first wine and then it warms into a bit of chocolate and then culminates into a chocolate almost mousse in the mouth once it has been swallowed.
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