6

kerstbierfestival essen 2016

7.2

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 8

Deep amber colour, white foam. Nose of dried fruit, caramel, spices, peat. Taste is medium sweet, some spices and a lovely peaty whisky finish. Well balanced, maybe a bit too much carbonation.

5

Funky

7.8

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8

Bottle, 9%. Citrus and vanilla notes, perhaps orangey. Clear dark golden colour. Small stable white head. The flavour is sweet with some vanilla, tobacco, cigar box. Some lemon to balance, and a fair amount of mellow alcohol. Smokey finish, whiskey-like, even peaty. Tastes like whiskey has been added.

7.1

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

Bottle. Pours hazy amber with stable off-white head. Clear aroma of malt, Beligian yeast and flowers, with notes of barrel. Sweetish flavour of malt, vanilla, whisky barrel and flowers, with notes of yeast and bitter, hoppy touches. Bitter and sour-sweetish afteraste. Warming alcohol presence. Decent.

8

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9

Hazy dark blond colour with lasting head. The whisky barrel transforms the beer in a very good way. The tropical fruit elements remain. The herbs and spices have been muted. There's added citrus in the aroma. The lightly smokey, leathery, dry whisky balances it out well.

6

Wow, zware toetsen van gerookte Laphroaig (Islay) whisky, zowel in geur als smaak. Grens tussen bier en whisky is hier ietsje overschreden.

7.2

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

Special edition of Kempisch Vuur Winter, Pirlot’s spiced Christmas ale, aged on the Laphroaig barrels in which they – since 2016 if I’m not mistaken – also age their own, Belgian Kempisch Vuur whisky, sounds like an interesting experiment. Steini bottle from Willems shared with Goedele. Medium sized, tightly cobweb-lacing, eggshell-white, stable head (even closed for a relatively long time) over a hazy, warm deep amber coloured beer with orange hue. Aroma has a striking smoky and peaty quality to it, smoked bacon even as if smoked malt was used, iodine from the Laphroaig, unsmoked cigarette tobacco and a dash of whisky but not too overpowering and leaving enough room fort he beer’s basic qualities of apricot, stewed apple, gingerbread, cinnamon, sweetbread, chewing gum, anise, banana, some plastic. Fruity onset, sweet with hints of peach, banana and red apple, soft sourish edge, medium carbo, smooth and soapy mouthfeel (wheaty, but in this case probably coming from the oatmeal which normally should have provided a more subtle velvetiness instead of strong soapiness as is the case here); full bready malt sweet middle with honeyish edges, spicy in the finish with gingerbread, cinnamon and clove notes, sweetish and ethereal, but now overwhelmed by the retronasal smokiness and iodine-like peatiness from the barrel. Woody tannins remain soft and subtle and so does the whisky, I guess the barrel was emptied before use here, as – luckily – the finish lacks the sometimes harsh, solventy and burning alcohol effect many modern barrel aged ales tend to have. A pleasant toasty biscuit- and spicy gingerbread-like flavour survives this peatiness and a dash of herbal hoppiness provides bittering balance to the overall sweetness of the beer. Basically a bit of a potpourri of flavours which will not match with each other to anyone’s taste but for me this works, because the whisky heat remains at bay and the iodine-like peatiness is, however strong, not strong enough to completely destroy the basic beer’s flavours. Enjoyed it, contrary to many of my colleagues below apparently - maybe aging has made it softer and more accessible.

7.5

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7

Flesje gedeeld met Tomhendriksen. Oranje-achtig bier. Aroma is rokerig. Smaak is houtig, rokerig en zoethoutig. Jammer dat de smaak snel weg ebt.

5.8

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 3 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6

Fles gedeeld door Inoven, geprobeerd met BartvG en JoepvW. Het is een goudkleurig bier met weinig schuim. Het heeft een rokerige geur. De smaak is rokerig en turf achtig.