Gregorius
(has 7 batches)

Colour is nearly opaque deep dark brown, reddish hue, small foamy tan head, disappears quickly. Rich aroma of sweet malts, ripe dark fruits, maple syrup, caramel, brown sugar, liquorice notes. Flavour light heavy sweet and mild bitter, roasted malts, sugar, laurel, alcohol. Full body, sticky texture, soft carbonation. aftertaste is sweetbitter, roasted malts, spicy notes. Very sweet, decent beer but definitely lacks finesse.

Alkoholen trenger igjennom og sammen med en litt skarp smak drar den ølet i en retning som malt og fylde ikke klarer å balansere.

Location: .33 liter bottle from Sparrow, 8/23/14

Aroma: The aroma is fairly sweet, some dark fruit/raisin, molasses, and a bit of toffee
Appearance: It pours a murky brownish color, with a small tan colored head
Flavor: The taste is sweet and rich, heavy malty and fruity, with a long fruity finish
Palate: The body is medium-full, fairly sticky, with a rich feel, and a soft-to-average carbonation
Overall Impression: Overall, this is a solid quad, but it could use a hint of balance. It is very sweet and rich. Certainly not something I'd want to drink more than one of in a row.

The first trappist beer outside of the Low Countries if you don’t count the ’semi-trappist’ Mont des Cats, since 2011 and named after this abbey’s first abbot. Thick and frothy, dense, pale yellowish, very stable, light yellowish beige head captured after fairly strong gushing (the head kept creeping out of the neck of the bottle for a considerable amount of time); colour is a cloudy dark burgundy with purplish hue. Strong sweet aroma of cookie dough (almost like a Scotch) and Wiener Sachertorte (seriously, no autosuggestion here because of its Austrian heritage!), home made caramel, freshly made biscuit, raspberry coulis, fair deal of artisanal honey, raisins, milk chocolate, marzipan, nougat, drambuie or even chocolate liqueur, port wine, banana, iron, more subtle hints of coconut milk, whisky, earth, raw red cabbage, candi syrup, cinnamon - in all, quite bemusing, but there are clearly wood wax-like phenols lurking here and there as well. Taste is fairly complex and bittersweet, with a coating of banana, chocolate, candied dates and unmistakable honey in the beginning, soft carbonation, smooth and somewhat slick but full mouthfeel, deep and fairly thick caramelly maltiness turning chocolatey quite suddenly and early, even a bit bittering as if you are pouring down a bitter chocolate bar in liquid form; quite ’clean’ in the sense that the malts speak for themselves without being interrupted too much by frivolous yeastiness; a somewhat metallic ’zing’ does appear, but fortunately the bitter chocolate aspect becomes even stronger in the end, a tad roastedly bitter even, aided by spicy, somewhat peppery yet ’deep’ and not too aromatic hop bitterness and an expected warming, smooth, port-like alcohol effect, on the brink of becoming astringent, but refraining itself from becoming all too bothersome; honey sweetness does linger, even cloys a bit to the throat, which does annoy me a little bit, but this is easily solved by salty food (in this case a kind of artisanal salami). Interesting: I found this too sweet when I first had it (at the Gents Bierfestival of, I believe, 2011, cheers to Klaas, by the way!) and I still do, but now that I have allowed a more recent bottle to mature a bit in the cellar, I can see how these monks seek some sort of continuation with the big Belgian trappist ales. I can also see how they try to force their artisanally made honey into it - like in their other beers - and that is where it almost goes wrong: the added fermentation resulting from this, creates gushing and makes this beer almost go ’wild’. It does - barely - manage to preserve its dignity, however. The forced use of honey and the somewhat metallic aspect of this beer remind me a bit of Zatte Bie, in itself a good beer, but not even close to the highest trappist level. I do my best not to be chauvinistic (being Belgian and therefore having easy access to six of the existing trappist breweries), but I cannot honestly say this one levels with its Westvleteren or Rochefort congeners. It lacks the tradition behind it, the decades of refinement and the balance-to-perfection. Still: pretty close, I have to admit, and if you’re a ’trappist fetishist’ (as there are many in Belgium - so I’m addressing Belgian consumers here), this one is more worth seeking out than e.g. the American Spencer. In terms of style: not sure if this ’deserves’ the ’abt’ label, seems more like a complex, top-fermented Doppelbock to me (Aventinus style!) and that is also how the brewery itself designates it...

Flaske 330ml spandert av Rune. Delt med ham og djoeye på Nerstranda 5 Aug 14. Ekstremt mørkebrun. Veldig uklar. På grensen til gjørmete. Lavt, litt farget skum. Bra krydderaroma. Myk munnfølelse. Smaken er svakt syrlig med innslag av krydder. Alkoholen godt kamuflert.

Bottle from Mitra Druten. Mild gusher upon opening. Unclear brown coloured with a medium sized tan head. Nose is caramel malts, dark fruits, sweet raisins, bit of yeast. Flavour is caramel malts, dark and dried fruits. Slightly alcoholic, but smooth and soft mouthfeeling. Slighty bitter and sweet finish. Good balanced. Very pleasant.

Draft @ Three Fires. Molasses, caramel malt, raisin, and vinous woody aroma. Deep chestnut with a moderate beige head. Sweet dark fruit, toasty malt, alcohol flavor with a light bitter finish. Body on the lighter side of full, soft carbonation.

Muddy brown. Yellowbrown head. Not much lacing. Complex aroma of dark caramel, chocolate, coffee, honey and something burnt. Caramel, berries and gras in slightly sour taste and aftertaste.

Beautiful dark brown color with medium-to-much foam. Aroma is honey, caramel, and some fruit, hard to tell which one. Some more honey and caramel in the taste. Alcohol is quite noticeable. Full-bodied and light carbonation. Smooth. For sure one of the better Austrian beers I?ve had.