’English strong ale-ish’, the label reads... Bottle from Beergium, bottled almost two years ago. Loose, off-white head, quickly dissolving in the middle but retaining as a dense, moussy rim with some large bubbles, over a hazy, pure copper (red amber) coloured beer with even somewhat vermillion-like hue, looking almost like some sweet fruit beer initially but turning into a more brownish bronze with sediment; lots of translucent protein flakes floating around. Aroma of ripe red raspberries, honey, butterscotch, watermelon, candied cherries, white port, some rusty oxidation and even a vague hint of old cooked chicken (clearly related to those protein flakes), sugared rhubarb and beetroot, iron, sweet rosé wine, marmelade, some toasted bread somewhere, faint hints of horse steak, eucalyptus and white pepper. Very sweet onset, lots of unfermented sugars, strawberry jam, marmelade and pomegranate impressions, soft carbo (as is often the case with older Molen beers - apparently deliberately so), very smooth, slick but ’filling’ body, some deeper rhubarb-like sourish touch. Rounded, slick, resinous malt sweetness, caramelly and a tad nutty here and there, with this ongoing sugary and honeyish sweetness on top but also some vaguely metallic side notes; retronasal oxidation in a ’rusty’ manner, fortunately not too strongly so. Slight ’meaty’ notes in the end as well as a faint citrus peel-like hoppy touch, very mildly bittering; the real ’end dryness’ comes from somewhat astringent, sherry-like alcohol, which could have been better hidden for a beer of around 7% ABV. The honeyish and ’white sugary’ sweetness linger along with that slick caramelly maltiness and remainders of the oxidation, which is clearly beginning to eat at this beer. Alcohol astringency also lasts. Interesting beer but compared with some of De Molen’s great pieces of brewing art, this falls a bit short, lacking in complexity, oxidizing a bit too early, not hiding its alcohol all too well and, more than anything, teeming with unfermented sugars, making this a lot sweeter than any average English strong ale would be (hence the ’-ish’, I suppose); has certain old ale characteristics too, but since English old ale and dito strong ale are close to indistinguishable in the traditional sense, a continuum like porter and stout let’s say, I won’t bother too much with style issues here. I concur with most of the ratings below: this is too sweet and lacks ’malt nuttiness’ to qualify as either strong or old ale in the classic English sense. Clearly not Molen’s forte - but with some more bittering malts and less residual sugars, I can see this become a great winter warmer some day. One of the lesser Molen beers for me so far, but still interesting enough to enjoy, all things considered.

Bottled 330ml (Beergium)
Ruby color, small beige head. Berries and toffee in the nose. Medium-bodied. Sticky, toffeish, malty, marmalade, kind of berryish too but sweet. Sweet mess or is it sippable dessert beer? More the first one. Needs alco slap to back sweetness.

Bottle from the Bierkoning, Amsterdam. Poured a murky orange brown with a thin off white head¸ The aroma is sweet toffee caramel malt. The flavour is strong sweet with a smooth rich sweet sugary malty, fruty palate. Medium bodied with soft carbonation. Possibly the sweetest beer I ever had, but too sweet for me I’m afraid.

Bottlу 330 ml. Reddish amber. Aroma: very sweet, like a red currant jam. Taste: sweet, real red currant jam.

Bottled on 28-05-2015. Ridiculously sweet, almost honey. Some ripe fruit, peach. Little bit of bitterness. Soft and heavy mouthfeel.

Bottle, 330 ml from Pivoteka, Zagreb. Shared with JFK10000. Orange brownish, medium off white head. Extremly sweet, malty, honey, ripe fruit, syrupy. Lasting sweetness in finish. Medium bodied.

Huge, dense yellow head over clear red-copper beer. Caramel, toffee and sweet-ish fruity hops, rosewater. More of the same; caramel, rosewater, sweet citrus and a toasted setting. Orangesyrup and orangepeel, frangipane. Faintly fiery MF, quite sticky-slick-sweet, better carbonated than it looks. English strong-ish syrup, rather than English strong ale-is. Bit too sweet, but a nice sipping ale all the same.

Bottle, 0.33l. Pours hazy amber brown color with thin soapy tan-like head, yeast residue and average sparkling appearance. Aroma of cherries, berries, flowers, dandelion syrup, sherry and caramel. Taste starts heavy sweet jammy and fruity with caramel note, follows by sherry and earthy hints, mouth coating feeling and grassy bitter finish. Full body, syrupy texture and lively carbonation in palate. Interesting, but way too sweet...