Bottle shared at home. Smaak doet mij denken aan tomatensorbetijs met basilicum. Heel bizar spul, nadruk op zuur. Onrijpe kiwi. Whisky barrels vermoedelijk. Backlog from 2015/05/07.

One of the countless inventive Molen brews, presented as an oak-aged "imperial Gose" - a style experiment proving the seemingly endless creativity of this and other Dutch craft breweries nowadays. Two year old vintage. Beautiful, lightly hazy, warm coppery amber colour, loose, lightly greyish white head breaking open in instants but retaining well around the edges. Complex, rustic, noble bouquet of strawberry yoghurt, lime, vanilla-like oaky tannins, caramel, hazelnuts, redcurrant, passion fruit, lots of tangelo and blood orange, cognac, cloves, medium dry sherry (very clearly so, undoubtedly coming from an early stage of oxidation), brown rhum, candied cherries, honey. Refined but very sweet, even somewhat sugary onset, candied fruits, fortunately not too sticky, gracious and refreshing along with a sharpish, lemony acidic touch enlightening the palate, spicy suggestions (cloves, aniseed) retronasally, oily, smooth caramelly maltiness underneath, finishing in lingering sweetness as well as persisting but gentle acidity, lots of wood, peppery and somewhat citrussy hops providing more aroma than bitterness, and expectedly a great deal of warming, almost burning, rhum-like alcohol, heating up the throat but not becoming too wry or astringent; very vinous too. A complex ’upper class’ ale, with a very long flavour development. In terms of style, this is indeed a tough one to classify; it does have the sourishness of a Gose, but I do not find any saltiness in it at all (salt is not mentioned among the ingredients either - anyway, if it would have been used, it would have to serve only as a means to increase certain flavours without becoming too noticeable by itself); still, in terms of looks, strength, sweetness, mouthfeel and overall impression, this is much closer to a barley wine, if you ask me. The fruity sour aspect does give it a kind of refreshing, frivolous graciousness which is absent in most any other barley wine, making it seem less strong than it is. In any case: very interesting beer, but perhaps a bit demanding for a tired palate...