7.5

Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Whisky-infused dark ale by this still young and relatively unknown Limburg brewery; sadly the kind of whisky is not mentioned. Bottle from Drinks4U in Deinze. Foamy, deep yellowish beige, membrane-lacing, dense and frothy head, very dark chocolate brown robe - blackish almost, with hazy burgundy edges being unveiled under bright light. Aroma of caramel, dried prunes, brown bread pulp, whisky piercing through indeed (non-peated!), clove, old raisins soaked in jenever, old wrinkled autumn apples, wet toast, damp tree leaves, nutmeg, toffee, ground hazelnuts, vague notes of beef bouillon and tobacco. Sweetish onset but nothing really sugary, estery fruity notes of fig, dried plum and pear, light porcini-like umami aspect, medium carb; quite full, bit 'fluffy' mouthfeel, brown-bready and bread-crusty dark maltiness with caramelly core and toasty tail, the latter bringing in a drying bitterness matching with leafy, earthy hops as well as with the whisky, which establishes flavour and warmth without behaving too rough, even if a slight alcoholic wryness does linger at the back. Clove- and nutmeg-like phenols join in as well. The name did not inspire a lot of confidence ('verloren' meaning 'lost') and I usually tend to dislike or at least distrust all these liquor-infused beers, too: I still feel that generally speaking, they are the lazy and cheap answer to barrel ageing and usually the liquor is too present for me. Here, however, it is fairly well done, in spite of a light 'end astringency' still annoying me a bit. A bit more refined than many of its pumped-up, boozy, crude congeners, admittedly, and an enjoyable beer on a sombre November evening.