Bottle sample @ 18de Kerstbierfestival, Essen 2012. Brune foncée/cuivrée, col fin beige. Arôme léger en Cognac, grains aspect céréales et caramel avec une fine note au bouquet de Brandy, faible en mûrissage boisé et de raisin. Le tout garde néanmoins un léger côté fleuri, houblonné. Palais présente un profil presque de fraise/cerise, malté moyen avec le Cognac qui est bien là. Note de malt léger et caramel avec encore une fois une dominance des 12% mais cette fois en positif. Le palais reste épais huileux voire siropé.

75 cl. bottle sampled @ 18th Christmasbeer festival in Essen. #13 of many more to come, #1-6 seemed to be planned out, I sampled all of them save for #1 & except for the abysmal #5 they were quite nice & agreeable for the prices commanded in Belgium – probably not those that they were going for in the States. The rest of the series however came across to be as haphazard affair, made nearly with the philosophy of we will get rid of them anyway which is certainly true but still… I was less exited about the results. It was argued that I should be to critical of these beers, they are meant for the states anyway & there they will easily sell since they are BA, true but not necessarily a commendable logic. I am a bit complaining not because of cynicism but because I quite dig the ideas, style etc. of this brewery & I wish for them to do better than quite a bit of the stuff which they have done so far. I might be to negative about these beers but not too many appear to be exited, even the initial, better offerings all stay below 90 on ratebeer, content with scores like 70/100 overall for a BA offering on RB… that is not exactly a sign of a highflier. Pours a dark brown, light black, little head on the sides. Smell is boozy, medicinal, vinous, chocolate, wood. Taste is light gravy, chocolate, booze, bitter herbs, vinous, milky, dark fruits, if I focus & know it is their cognac, malts & grains. Slick, close to no carb. Not exactly what it should be, I feel.

Sampled at OBER Kerstbierfestival 2012. Opaque dark brown to black color, small light brown head. Don’t get much aroma. Taste clearly has cognac though, with malts, slightly hops and some sweetness. Medium to full body, medium carbonation.

Imported from my RateBeer account as Hof Ten Dormaal Barrel-aged Project (Dark Ale): No. 13 Cognac (by Brouwerij Hof Ten Dormaal):
Aroma: 8/10, Appearance: 3/5, Taste: 8/10, Palate: 4/5, Overall: 16/20, MyTotalScore: 3.9/5

15/XII/12 - 75cl bottle @ Kerstbierenfestival (Essen) - BB: n/a (2012-1372) Thanks to the Belgian/Dutch ratebeer crew for sharing our beers!

Clear dark brown beer, small beige head, unstable, dissipates immediately, non adhesive. Aroma: very sweet, alcohol, caramel, dried figs and raisins, dry, bit of mocha. MF: soft carbon, medium body. Taste: sweet start, alcohol, caramel, sugar, green banana, apples, bit sour, bitter touch. Aftertaste: alcohol, caramel, bit spicy, more alcohol, pretty boozy this one!