Bottle, 22oz. An unclear, reddish-brown beer topped by a small, dense, beige head. The aroma has a good deal of toffee and brown sugar, with nuts, coffee notes, dried fruits and alcohol. It’s full-bodied, lightly warming, smooth and with flavors of dried fruits, toffee, some berries and brown sugar. There’s some tannin-ish red wine notes. Long finish. Sure a good one, delicious actually, but still I find it hard to award more than 3.6. 160213

Vintage bomber type bottle from late 2014 and since this is barrel aged (red wine, bourbon and calvados) and refermented with Brett, I’m guessing it has about the right age for consumption now. Slow gushing but nothing dramatic. Medium thick, dense, pale greyish beige head dissipating slowly, over a hazy dark burgundy coloured beer with cherryish hue and vivid sparkling. Powerful, very ’oud bruin’-like aroma of passion fruit, gooseberry, blackberry, yoghurt, fermenting hay, roasted almond, medlar, apricot, mouldy lemon, lots of wet oak and vanilla-ish tannins, brandy, pear, damp cellar, red wine vinegar, ’sweaty leather’, horse meat, very old madera, hazelnut, mushroom. Estery, quite intense onset bombing the tip of the tongue with sweet, sour and umami: I get a lot of passion fruit, blackberry and redcurrant, sweetness remains rather restrained but sufficient against the sourishness, which is very mellow and soft; umami is subtle as well, translating itself in a hint of dried mushroom. Carbo is refined and soft, fit for this style, mouthfeel is soft and ’fluffy’, based on a smooth maltiness, sweetish and a tad caramelly at first but very quickly shifting to a much more nutty and bitterly toasted flavour, while esters and well-dosed yeasty effects continue. The toasted bitterness dries even further with some deep, late and subdued but effective, peppery and very earthy hop bitterness all the way at the back, leaving a persistent and even somewhat tangy bitter accent on the root of the tongue, as well as a pronounced drying woodiness, retronasal tannins (along with the berry-like fruitiness and unmistakable ’horseblanket-like’ Brett esters) included. Alcohol warmth is noticeable, a bit brandy-like indeed; I get more calvados flavour than bourbon and red wine, though the latter is palpable as a faint ’grape peel’-like dryness at the back. A light wryness and persistent rooty hop bitterness remain, in the midst of ongoing maltiness, but the one factor pulling everything together, is the soft, clearly non-bacterial, mellow, yoghurty Brett tartness, reminding me constantly of oud bruin; one could, however, argue that the late, earthy hop bitterness clashes a bit with this tartness, but maybe that is just my Flemish pedigree talking. Pleasant enough sipper, but in terms of style, this is only an old ale if the odd example of Strong Suffolk, which is loosely comparable to the Flemish red tradition (as the late Michael Jackson pointed out), is to be taken as a model; in all other respects, this is more a free interpretation of the Flemish red (’oud bruin’) style. A good one at that, with more alcohol, more bitterness and doubtlessly an ageing potential not shorter than that of e.g. Rodenbach Vintage. I expected a more malt sweet beer, but this is a very nice surprise, highly enjoyable if you like this ’tart and woody’ style; both the wood and the tartness provide drought which works very appetizing.

Draught @ CBC2015. Pours deep golden with a small offwhite head that leaves some sparse trace on the glass while dissiapting. Smell is malty, fruity and tiny funky with bread, caramel, vanilla fudge, charred wood, prunes, hay, moist soil, leather, barnyard and lemon zest. Taste is sweet, tiny sour, malty and tiny funky. Mouthfeel is soft, round, tiny tart, tiny boozy and medium to full bodied. Finish is sweet, tiny bitter and tiny sour with caramel, dark bread, vanilla fudge, charred wood, raisins, prunes, leather, moist soil, barnyard, lemon peal and hints of alcohol. Nice and complex. Cool beer!

Bottle @ Beer Temple, shared with Caesar, Benzai & Mr. Hangover. Clear copper color. Light beige head. Aroma’s: ight sweet, light funk, woddy, vinous. Retronasal it’s light sour, funky, moderate sweet, tannines, vinous. Flavor is moderate sweet, a bit old, light sour, funky. Medium bodied. Finish is rather bitter. Quite complex and nice, but not entirely satisfying.

Bottle shared. Clear red color, average sized off-white head. Aroma is lightly malts, breed, wood-ish tart. Taste lightly malts, slightly sweetish, wood, brett, lightly liquor, red wine influences. Decent body, medium carbonation.

Fonefan 110415. Red golden colour with an off-white head. Aroma is citrus, brett, malt. Flavour is alcohol, malt, hop, brett, citrus,caramel, dried fruits, wood, bourbon, red wine, spices. Nice beer.

CBC. Dark brown with small off-white head. Aroma is malt, caramel, oak, toasted, hop and dark fruit. Flavour is malt, caramel, toasted, oak, hop, wood, dark fruit, sweet, vanilla and a little bitter.

Draught @ CBC 2015. Pours dark brown with a small tan head, light lacings. Aroma of malt, sweet caramel, wood, vanilla, bourbon notes. Flavor is light sweet, malt, caramel, wood, oak, light tart, bourbon, redwine notes, vanilla, little alcohol. Medium body, lively carbonation, warming alcohol in the finish. 010515