Score
7.24
|
|
Sample (thanks fonefan!). Deep copper colour with a small off-white head. Aroma is dried fruits, some toffee, mild spicy and yeasty tones with a wee bit of alcohol too. Flavour is alcohol, some toffee, dried fruits, spices, mild yeasty tones with some plum and burnt sugary tones. Very drinkable, and actually alcohol is evident, but not at all as brutal as I expected.
0.75l bottle, huge thanks Papsoe! Shared with Hrabren and Ogi. Murky dark brown-chestnut body, traces of an off-white head. Bourbon barrel notes in the aroma, but a bit floury initially. Light raisins show up aaaand... alcohol. Of course. 15.5% - quite in evidence. Lean taste, nice soft caramel-raisin combo, warming, very much warming alcohol. Nicely creamy maltiness, dried fruit, some of the same yoghurty notes as in the aroma, actually, quite interesting, but not much Belgian character honestly. Better as a sum of its parts than each of its part is on its own. Not sure if the barrel was 100% on point here.
0.75 l bottle thanks to Marko who brought it from Prague, shared with Marko and Ogi. Unclear amber to copper, small off-white head. Malts, caramel, red fruit and alcohol. Some molasses and syrup. A soft touch of spice, some cardboard. Soft tart fruit, tannins. Salted caramel, smooth, soft, strong. Light finish.
Very dark brown with no head. Loads of sweet element like malts and raisins. A hint of coconut. Massive vanilla that lingers.
Sample, thanks fonefan! Clear mahogany colour, no head, almost flat. Huge aroma of vanilla and caramel. Very sweet with massive boyd and rounded mouthfeel. Caramel and bourbon vanilla, cherry brandy and marzipan, hints of salmiak. Intense peppery finish. Very intense, but not that complex.
Superstrong âb.b.a.â quadrupel by this trusted Danish craft brewer, bottle â with, as usual, an overly elaborate, fabricated background story on the label â shared with Craftmember. Thinnish, pale yellow-beige, open and eventually dissolving head; initially clea r dark bronze robe with warm burgundy hue, misty with sediment. Aroma of fudge, bourbon, lots of vanilla-scenting oak wood, plums in brandy, âboerenjongensâ, cooked pear, raisins, caramel liqueur, brown rum, honey, solventy shoe polish note. Sweet onset with a pronounced candi sugar effect, candied figs, raisins, soft carbonation yet discreetly adding a vague minerally effect, full and rather vinous body yet somehow more supple than expected; caramelly, hazelnutty and lightly chocolatey maltiness, full and sweet, rounded, heated by considerable alcohol with obvious bourbon flavour, accentuating the vanilla effect from its own barrels, helping the woody tannins to bring some dryness to an overall sweet beer. Light herbal hoppy aspect in the finish, some of the candi sugar lingering and sticking a bit â yet the bourbon and the wood bring sufficient balance. A âtour de forceâ, this beer, and a difficult exercise in flavour balance as even ânormalâ quadrupels often get too sweet and boozy â and boozy as this one may be, the booze feels entirely due to the bourbon and balances out the sweetness in a clever, focused way. Far more drinkable than expected, if still a formidable beer to be taken the slow-sipping way; much better than I was expecting, to be honest, and one of the best quads I had in a while (ignoring the Rochefort 10 I had in a cafĂ© in Ghent last week, that is).