Bottle kindly donated by Secret Benzai, many thanks. Dark amber color,with medium white head. Surprisingly high carbonation. Aroma of caramel, candies, cognac. Taste, ripe fruits, caramel, candies, light oxidation, cognac. Tasty.

Small beige head doesn’t last. Nearly opaque body shows one spot of deep dark red. Strong fruity wooden toffee aroma with alcohol and spice notes. Sweetish coke and toast taste with licorice, fruit, and wood notes. Sweetish fruity spicy herbal aftertaste with licorice and earth notes. Excellent balance of wood character, cellar character, freshness, sweetness, and bitterness. Quite impressive. Later on, green apples emerge. (0.33l bottle, gift from Heleen in Belgium.)

Bottle from the Prik & Tik in Zele. "Two-Faced Jack" because this is essentially a ’versnijbier’, a blend of Kleveretien and Schuppenboer, this version aged on cognac barrels, an increasingly common feature in Western Europe when it comes to BA beers (cognac barrels are much more easily available here than in the US, obviously) - and I hope to see more of this in the future, as cognac barrel ageing can bring subtle astringency as well as sweetness to a beer and I often find them very enjoyable. Regularly shaped, dense, medium thick, quite frothy, pale yellowish beige head over an initially clear, dark but translucent, wine red-hued, burgundy brown beer, gradually becoming misty as the bottle progresses. Aroma of caramelized brown sugar, toffee, ripe strawberry, candied fig, dried banana, blackcurrant, some vague FFF (manure) in the background but not off-putting, very old dry liquorish, nougat, raw turnip, dry earth, old oak wood and indeed cognac, though this latter component also reminds me a bit of young madera. Fruity, lively onset, sweet raisins, candied date and some banana mingle with residual brown sugar sweetness but are balanced with basic, blueberry-like sourishness; carbo is quite sharp for the style, ’audibly’ fizzy and numbing the tongue a bit initially, distracting from the actual flavor. Smooth and slick, lean body, thinner than expected for a beer of this size, full toffeeish malt sweetness pairing with the lingering brown sugar sweetness but then gaining a toasted bittering edge which brings the necessary balance. In the final stage, this pleasantly bittersweet combo meets subtly drying tannins (and retronasal oaky accents), an earthy, somewhat herbal (tea-ish) hop bitterness and a strong, heating alcohol taste, recognizable as brandy- or indeed cognac-like, burning its way down the throat and leaving a somewhat astringent sensation on the root of the tongue. In all an interesting ’versnijbier’ in which the coupage has resulted in something quadrupel-like, albeit more lean and spritzy, so for once I will not argue about its classification as a ’Belgian strong ale’ here (whatever that may mean), but I do have a few issues with it: first of all, the manure-like quality in the nose, however subtle, really shouldn’t be there. Secondly, carbonation is way too fizzy for a Belgian brown ale of 10% ABV - surely it will still have enough body with a bit less of that fizz, though it does not really feel like such a strong beer on the tongue. And lastly, the alcohol, already significant at this alcohol strength, is further accentuated by the cognac factor - too much to my liking, as it is physically tangible as a heating effect dominating the finish, effectuating a rather wry ending to the story. Enjoyed it, in all, but not more than the wine barrel aged version - which at least seemed to be a bit more subtle when it comes to that alcohol effect. Needs more finetuning but this is a beer that is conceptually worth making an effort for, and if they do that, I think Het Nest would be one step closer to creating a truly classic Belgian.

Bottle shared @ Van Moll Brewpub. Hazy dark red-brown color with a small off-white head. Aroma is malts, dark and light roasted malts, cognac. Taste malts, some roast, cognac, some bitterness. Decent body and carbonation. Quite pleasant.

33 cl bottle @ hotel room. BBE 18.03.2016. Aroma is sweet with licorice and hops. Also molasses. Flavour has molasses, raisins, licorice, cognac and warming alcohol. Also some Belgian yeast. Good but nothing special.

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Flesje met Tom gedronken. Helder amber - bruin bier. Cognac komt in geur sterk naar boven. Ook de smaak is lekker vol van de Cognac, drop, kruidig en fruitig. De nasmaak is licht bitter. Heerlijk bier om rustig van te genieten.

Very darkk brown. Thin head. Aroma has the sweetness of cognac. Flavour has a dry, woody edge and slight aniseed. Warming cognac boozy sweetness in the finish.

Sample @ Zythos’16, courtesy of and shared with the RB Belgian crew. Brune-ambrée, col fin beige. Arôme de pomme cuite, caramel malté, grillé, Cognac reste modéré. Palais est malté avec uen poitne d’épices, grillé, cereals avec un alcool perçant et un léger sucre brun. Pointe oxydée, impression de vieille levure, fruité noir; date et figue et ce côté que l’on retrouve chez Deca Br. Cognac en retrait.

Dries D. Seppe V. --- Beer merged from original tick of Two Faced Jack - Cognac BA on 17 Apr 2016 at 21:32 - Score: 6. Original review text: Veel carbonisatie, stevige body, maar nasmaak valt redelijk snel weg. Mss nog iets te jong, verwachtte wat voller/strooeriger mondgevoel.