Bottle of t Smisje Halloween. A bright hazy golden ale with a thick creamy white head, and some hefty yeast chunks. A rather small faint aroma for such a strong beer, rather vegetal in character, light anise, and alcohol. In mouth, interesting but harsh, with light candy sugar, coriander, yeast, but there si some sort of raspyness which I fing unsettling. The alcohol doesn’t come out too much, nothing the strength of this beer. BB 2011. Bieropholie import.

33 cL bottle, as t Smisje Halloween. Pours hazy orange with small floating yeast sediments. A little off-white head. Sweet aroma with notes of dried fruit. Flavour is sweet caramel, malty, dried fruity to overripe and with a mellow yeast note. Light pumpkin note. Lingering fruity and yeasty finish.

[i] Bottle, picked up from Hop Duvel, Gent. Had this Christmas Eve 07 [/i] Poured looking marginally better than its stablemate the Dubbel IPA but still not quite the fine specimen in the picture to the left, mine was indeed hazy amber but with only a tiny rim of bubbles. slightly sour funky spicy nose some fruit. Nice soft spritzy carbonation tangy, punchy some nutmeg there maybe can’t really notice the pumpkin much, easy drinking and very tasty.

Bottled. Cloudy orange golden color, short white head. Aroma of caramel malt, some toffee, slight yeast, fruity hint. Strong taste, some sour fruit, bit cheesy, slight alcohol, bit bitter. Decent stuff.

I first had this on tap in January on tap at the Gingerman in NY. It was called Speciale and after a month or so of trying to figure out what beer it was I finally found out (with the help of the brewer on BBB) that this was in fact a re-label. Except at the time the beer was a beautiful, delicious, estery banana, bubblegum, and sweet Belgian yeasty monster. I loved it so much but never rated it. This rating is for a 33cl bottle from Glouglouburp, 2006 vintage, which is remarkably different..

Poured into my new Rodenbach Grand Cru smaller sized tulip glass (I am using it for everything right now). Pours with a thick medium head that turns into a surface covering lacing. Color is dark muted golden, slight orange-ish. It’s full of light yet just thick enough to not allow visibility through the beer. Aroma is strong and starts off with an earthy, thick, moist forest/milky lactose sweetness, seems yeasty to me. Light banana esters behind that. Its sweet, original and strong, what’s not to like. Taste is Belgian yeasty sweet with strong sweet pond cake, a grainy aspect, and a light herbal-ness. Finishes with light white bread sweetness and a hint of bitterness, and just slightly dry. A medium body beer that’s remarkably drinkable for the sweetness present and the alcohol content (which by the way is barely felt). Oh, btw, where is the pumpkin? I do get a slightly starch-ish feeling in the beer, is that it?

Bottle at Københavnske øldage 07. Dark golden colour with no head. Aroma is honey, spices, alcohol. Flavour is honey, alcohol, heather, spices, hop.

Bottle at Københavnske Øldage. Except for lots of microfloaties, the beer is clear. The color is golden, and it poured without head. Honey, some spices, heather and too much alcohol in the aroma. Honey, sugar, heather and alcohol in the flavor. Medium to full body. A bit sticky and warming mouthfeel. Honey-sweet finish. Even though I think the alcohol is too dominant, I like it. It’s not world class, but it’s likeable. (070511)

(Bottle 25 cl) Slightly hazy, warm, amber golden with an off-white head. Spicy pumpkin aroma. Very full-bodied, sweet and sugary caramel notes - again with a spicy edge from the pumpkins. Unfortunately also a fusty edge. Warming alcohol in the finish. Rustic but very unclean. 160507

Draft. Amber beer with a whitish head. Low malt aroma. Nice fruity esters (peach) with malt backing, slight yeast, and some tartness. Lingering fruit. Easy to drink.

Bottle: Orange hazy amber in apperiance with off white head. Roasted malt aroma was prelevant. Nice fruit, nut and malt flavor that finished dry and sweet.