33cl bottle. A clear amber beer with a mid-sized good lasting beige head. Aroma of strong caramelish malt, bitter resinous hops, wood, some grapes. taste of strong woody resinous hops, pine, caramel, intense bitter hops, wood, slightly boozy.

Clear and dark brown with thin head. Aroma and flavour have some sweet red fruits. Some caramel too. Not bad but below expectations.

Bottle @ benzai. Amber colour with a huge offwhite head. Smells overripe fruits, weird, sourish, cherry peel, herbs. Tastes annoying, sweet, overripe fruits, sour, weird. Whoever made this up should be fired. Medium too full body, soft carbo. Hate it.

At MEUG tasting festival, Antwerp. Hilldevils apparently have been working on a whole string of barrel aged beers, gathered under the "basement barrel aged" flag, and this is a DIPA aged on a cognac barrel - which cognac, however, remains undisclosed due to copyright legislation, quote the brewer. Lightly lacing, moussy, medium thick, egg-white head over a hazy, warm peach blonde beer with khaki tinge. Aroma - unsurprising for an aged IPA of any kind - is heavily coloured by cheesy notes, old abbey cheese, gorgonzola even, next to hints of dried peach, cognac but not too harshly so, old bread, honey liqueur, vanilla-ish oak, old cider, nougat, dried orange. Fruity onset in a cleanish kind of way, apricot and apple peel, sweetish even with notes of yellow raisin, over a light underlying sourishness; quite spritzy carbonation still. Supple, bit resinous mouthfeel, bready malt core, caramelly sweetish edges, long finish with a lot of boozy cognac yet somehow in a mellow, gently warming way, softly bittering dried citrus peel-ish hoppiness (very soft even for a DIPA), pleasant dryish woody tannins, lingering dried fruit sweetness and the expected retronasal dominance of old cheesy hops (even blue cheese). Skeptical as I was when I first encountered a barrel aged IPA, I can only say that all of the examples that crossed my path so far, were delicious and interesting. This one may not be the most refined example in this segment, but I sure enjoyed it a lot.

Thanks! Sampled @ MEUG 2018. Dark orange, creamy white head. Nose is strange yoghurt, sugar, orange peel, candy. Taste is way too dominated by yoghurt, strange sweet yoghurt, lacking much barrel & not a very good DIPA, caramel, sugar & yoghurt heavy body.