Straffe Hendrik Heritage 2018 - Bordeaux
Huisbrouwerij De Halve Maan in Brugge, West Flanders, Belgium 🇧🇪
Belgian Style - Quadrupel / Dark Strong Regular|
Score
7.51
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Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
75cl bottle from Huisbrouwerij De Halve Maan in Brugy. F: medium, tan, quick gone. C: dark with coppery hue against the light. A: a lot of red wine, woody, bit caramel, plums, dried fruits, figs. T: full malty base, caramel, woody, red wine, decent bitterness, dried fruits, plums, almost no carbonation, bit spicy, very nice balanced for the style, fully enjoyable beer for me.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Corked bottle. Dark amber color. Toffee and vanilla in the vinous aroma. Malty sweet flavor with toffee, raisin and vinous notes Alcohol is well hidden. Friendly and tasty beer.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
Last year's Straffe Hendrik Heritage, released only this year as usual in this series, this one aged on Bordeaux wine barrels. Thin and immediately open, bubbly, uneven, yellowish beige head dissolving into practically nothing, clear purple-hued mahogany-bronze robe, misty with sediment. Quite perfumey bouquet of plum candy, candi sugar, old wooden barrels, toffee, fig jam, brown soap, candy apple, stewed pear, almond, lavender, medlar, cognac. Fruity, sweetish onset, fried apple, ripe pear, dried banana and pineapple esteriness, medium carbonation, full and smooth body. Toffeeish, brown-bready malt profile with a sweet-nutty edge (as per the regular beer, of course), honey-coated raisins, leading to a long, warming finish with gently drying woodiness and warming, brandy-like alcohol as well as a light herbal hop bitterish touch, whilst releasing retronasal impressions of lavender, clove, vanilla and jasmin. Rich, sweetish-desserty and quite 'profound' beer: while last year's edition fell somewhat short to impress on a world class level, this one manages to pick up where the best of its predecessors left off. This is as good as quadrupel gets, I think, at the same level of complexity, dignity and refinement as the best of Chimay's Barrique editions or La Trappe's oak aged quadrupels. Apparently red wine suits Straffe Hendrik Quadrupel better than whisky...
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
Draft at gist. Aroma of rich red wine, caramel, raisin and caramelised malt. Taste has nice vineus red fruit, oak, smooth red grape, vanilla and malt. Very nice.