29th January 2026
Bottle share at CBJ. Thanks to LKS. Near clear brown beer, decent bubbly pale tan head. Airy dry palate, decent fine carbonation. Thin malts, a little creamy sweetness, caramel and modest ripe fruits that may have of had a brief flirtation with a bourbon barrel. Light and semi dry finish. It's fine.

Pretty tasty, brown bread, some candi sugar, toasted malts, berries, cherry. Soft. Drinks well for both the age and the strength. Sound.

750ml bottle pours out a dark brown amber topped with a sand head. Nose is spice pit fruit anise some brown sugar. Taste is more of the pit fruit notes a bit sweet with a lot of spice.

Bottle share at Steve’s. A bit too much licorice/anise. Flavor distracts, medicinal cough drops . A bit too much on the flavor spectrum.

750mL bottled October 2015 and drunk 3/26/16.
Very large, beige head tops a chestnut brown body with good clarity. Retention is moderately strong.
Raisins, plums, brown sugar and vanilla show off the malt very prominently, in the nose. Very low on esters and doesn’t seem remotely trappist-like (not suggesting it’s intended to be) and yet isn’t that close to even something like Ommegang’s regular beer. While there’s a bit of earth, a touch of black pepper and some light plum/prune-like character, it’s mostly given over to the malt and seems to come across as more of a vague strong amber ale of sorts.
In the mouth it’s full of caramel, raisin, toffee and heavy brown sugar. Wouldn’t call it syrupy or cloying, but it’s the next step down from both of those. Ample, tight carbonation helps dispel some of the sweetness, but there’s scant drying ester or phenol here and the caramel-raisin character gets fatiguing/boring fast. Of course, that being said, there’s nothing wrong with the beer, as it’s very clean and the flavors are true. As well, the alcohol is nicely concealed. Even some of that might help balance the malt...

Bottle thanks to ClarkVV. Deep brown, thin lasting head retention. Aroma of prunes, dates, raisins, brown sugar, spicy yeast. A shade of alcohol.

Brown sugar, sweet caramel, fruity yeast, steady amount of dark Fruits. I can smell alcohol but it’s not found in the flavor. I liked this much better than either of the soured fruit variants of this base. Pretty nicely constructed for the style.

Poured from bottle thanks ClarkVV brown pour with a nice cream color head. Aromas of belgian yeast caramel toffee and dark fruit. Taste is nice dark fruit toffee and slightly sweet taste.