This 33 cl bottle came from Smaakhuis early last year. I'm getting through my quadrupel inventory, saving a White Pony beer for near the end. Teku glass ready, I lift the cap and pour. The body is dark cola brown veering towards black and completed by a here-now and disappearing cover of parchment tan foam. I take a smell and it jumps out at me. Bright red fruit, some yeast esters and perhaps bread. Unusual for a quad. And the taste is likewise not the standard. Red cherries, grain, malt, a bit of chocolate and wood. The beer sweetens up a bit as it warms. The sensation is absolutely dense. And the taste reminds somewhat of a candy bar from my youth called a Cherry Mash. This brew registers quite a distance from my favorite quads from the brewery.

This one, bought at Wijnegemse Drankenhal, may well be among the most far-fetched beers I ever had (though there is stiff competition for that title): apparently a cocoa- and cherry-flavoured quadrupel "infused with cigars" (something I've only encountered from fellow Italian Opperbacco so far) and aged on aquavit barrels... Thick and mousy, yellow-beige, lightly lacing, remarkably stable (for strength!) head on an initially clear, dark mahogany brown beer with vermillion-red glow, misty with sediment. Aroma of caramel candy, cocoa indeed (dark chocolate and quite a lot of it), 'koetjesreep' too, ripe black cherries and cherry liqueur, Belgian chocolates with cherry flavour, tea, tawny port, cough syrup, indeed cigars (but rather cheap, old and musty ones to be honest), wet oak including a whiff of vanilla, nutmeg, blackberry jam, 'drop', shoe polish, cola, red apple. Sweet onset, syrupy even, ripe black cherry galore but so sweet that it reminds of candied cherries as well (I assume concentrated cherry juice was used, which would be congruent with this profile), brambleberry jam and plum compote, light sourish note from the cherry, medium carb, rounded and slick, quite full body - though not as full as one would expect from a beer over 13% ABV. Sticky brown-sugary sweetness rules over a toffeeish maltiness deeply flavoured by the cocoa, in an almost milk-chocolatey way, but then the cigars set in, adding a retronasal whiff of old tobacco paired with nutmeg- and white pepper-like impressions and, not unexpectedly, rather strong solvents, again accentuated by that gin-like aquavit. Some oak reveals itself in a vanilla-ish accent tucked away in the background, but the tannic effects remain soft and sticky sugariness gets the last word - impairing drinkability a bit, but then this is a slow sipping beer anyway so that does not bother me too much in this case. Aquavit booziness is strong, but less wry and dominant than feared, mitigated as it is by the sweetness. A sugar-driven quad in all respects, but the malts and some herbal hops provide some bitterness in the end to keep things interesting; the cigar smoke is noticeable enough, but for me clashes a bit too much with that 'praline'-like cocoa and cherry sweetness. A complicated and truly bizarre construction, this beer: I know that White Pony has guts, a lot of guts even, but if you put so many different flavour aspects in one beer, they need to match with each other too, and that is not entirely the case here. Very interesting brew, though, but very odd as well; not really sure what to think of it, in spite of my twenty years of experience... Have a point for that.

sample shared @ Bruges Beer Festival 2019 day 1. with 77ships, tderoeck and nathanvc. F: medium, tan, average retention. C: dark brown, red hue, hazy. A: dark malts, dark fruits, chocolate, cocoa, caramel, toffee. T: sweet malty backbone, toffee, chocolate, cocoa, caramel, very sweet with bit herbal accent, medium to full body, medium carbonation, not bad for me, enjoyed.

2 February 2019. At Brugs Bierfestival. Cheers to tderoeck, 77ships, Rubin77, Jerre, Kevin & Anke! Hazy dark brown, red hue, with a lasting, small, foamy, tan head; little lacing. Aroma of licorice, candied plum, Turkish delight, cookie dough, milk chocolate, creamy mocha, sugary overall. Taste is medium to heavy malty sweet, very caramelly, fruity accents of candied plum & raisin; light to medium spicy bitter then, 'spicy' licorice, cookie spices, a bit herbal (cigars, then?), liqueur popping up already. Dryish, herbal hoppy finish, but sweet & sugary maltiness has the final say with notes of caramel, candied fruit, and a dash of warming herbal liqueur/aquavit alcohol. Medium body, syrupy texture, soft carbonation. It is how I expected it... Not bad in its sugary sweetness, just underwhelming.

Thanks for sharing tderoeck + Rubin77 + nathanvc! Sampled draft @ Bierfestival Brugge 2019. Dark brown going to black. Nose is sweet vanilla, oak, overripe fruit, very sweet malt syrup. Taste is lots of sugar, cacao, vanilla, one huge very sweet slab of oak & malt syrup with sugar as usual for this kind of White Pony, not bad but really just a whole bunch of sugar with no finesse whatsoever, candy-like. Also infused with Italian cigars wait what?

Imported from my RateBeer account as White Pony Oak Barrel Aged Collection MMXVII - U Make Me Sick (by White Pony Microbirrificio):
Aroma: 8/10, Appearance: 3/5, Taste: 8/10, Palate: 3/5, Overall: 15/20, MyTotalScore: 3.7/5

2/II/19 - sample @ Brugs Bierfestival, BB: n/a - (2019-170) Thanks to the Belgian ratebeer crew for sharing todays' beers!
Clear dark brown beer, small creamy beige head, stable, non adhesive. Aroma: oh yes, lots of vanilla, caramel, alcohol, soft roast, some chocolate, sweaty feet, bit of cinnamon. MF: ok carbon, medium to full body. Taste: sugary, sweet, milk chocolate. Aftertaste: lots of alcohol, caramel, dried fruits, bit sugary, vanilla, very decent.

Bit too sweet