Bottle bought online, matured for a few years. Since this was still brewed at Gaverhopke at the time, I opened it over the sink as carefully as possible but surprisingly, it did not ’explode’, though a bit of foam did creep out of the bottle neck. Medium thick, moussy, pale greyish beige head over a misty purplish burgundy, brown but translucent beer. Aroma of overly strong liquorish and soapy coriander, caramel, star aniseed, sugared tea, banana, candied orange, dust and dry earth, baker’s yeast, maple syrup and Liège pear syrup, dried mint, varnish-like solvents, black pepper, brown rum, nutmeg, strong clove-like phenols, candied fig, cinnamon, chestnut, almond or even marzipan, kahlua. Very sweet onset, lots of residual brown candi sugar with even slightly cloying effect, raisin, candied date and banana with a soft, subtle, ’generic’ berry sourishness surrounding it, medium carbo, thick and ’fluffy’ malt sweetness, caramelly, honeyish and a tad chocolatey, phenolic spiciness on top along with banana ester but not in an exaggerated manner (rather like e.g. Rochefort 10 - fitting into the whole quite well); finish is ongoing residual sugar sweetness, very honey- and even pear syrup-like, while earthy and slightly spicy hop bitterness tries to counter it but in an insufficiently strong manner; a glow of warming, liqueurish alcohol is undeniable, but somehow manages to stay on the warming, inobtrusive side rather than becoming wry and fatiguing. But most of all, a sweet, ethereal spiciness creeps up on you, extremely liquorish-like (in the sweet candied way) and coriander-like as well, leaving behind a sticky, perfumey, soapy, sweet-and-spicy flavor. A bit messy and yeasty, too phenolic and solvent-like, sure, but given my previous experiences with White Pony beers made at Gaverhopke, I must admit I expected a lot less from this. In all quite a rich winter warmer, a Belgian quad in the warming, spicy, heavily satisfying way; I have only one problem with it, apart from its insufficiently controlled yeasty earthiness, and that is of course the problem of being ridiculously, even cloyingly sweet: this beer is teeming with unfermented syrupy sugar sweetness to the point where it becomes tiring after a few sips - and the same goes for the liquorish factor. I can appreciate sweet quads like La Trappe Quadrupel or Rochefort 10, but in comparison with those classics (especially the latter), this one is way sweeter and lacks balance and restraint, heavily impairing its drinkability more so than its impressive ABV; still, I am quite surprised that the alcohol remains quite well hidden even though this thing hits 12% ABV. Clearly needs more dryness and hop bitterness even for this style, but as said, it could have been a lot worse. In fact, pondering about its exaggerated sweetness, I have an idea: let’s give this the ’ferrer’ treatment by putting a red-hot fireplace poker in it, so that part of the sugars stick to the poker, much like Ecaussinnes’ Ultradélice (and a few of their other overly sweet beers) is intended and like the mourned De Gans pub in Zingem used to do with red Chimay: thàt could make this beer really interesting, I think...

Imported from my RateBeer account as White Pony WinterDawn (by White Pony Microbirrificio):
Aroma: 7/10, Appearance: 4/5, Taste: 6/10, Palate: 3/5, Overall: 11/20, MyTotalScore: 3.1/5

8/III/16 - 33cl bottle from De Hopduvel (Gent) @ home - BBE: 2017 (2016-260)

Note: I've aged most of my White Pony beers, since almost all are alcohol bombs, in the hope of acquiring some more depth and complexity.
Clear deep red to purple beer, creamy beige irregular head, pretty stable, adhesive, leaving some lacing in the glass. Aroma: very oxidized, bit sourish, dried fruits, floral, bit soapy, sherry notes, alcohol, bit yeasty. MF: soft to no carbon, medium body. Taste: very sugary, sweet, some caramel, bit oxidized, some alcohol, more sugar, all sugar. Aftertaste: bit oxidized, honey, very sugary, metallic touch, green banana, bit off.

Fonefan 300814. Dark amber colour with a beige head. Aroma is sugar, alcohol, herbs, malt. Flavour is sugar, alcohol, herbs, malt, alcohol, spices, dried fruits. Full body. Nice beer.

0,33L bottle, BB 2017. Pours copper with light tan head. The head stays for some time. Aroma is very sweet, caramel, malt, fruits, mint, a lot of spices. Flavor is similar to nose, plus some nutty flavors. Alcohol is noticeable, but not distracting. Overall: I generally love sweet beers, but this one is way too sweet and spicy to really enjoy it.

Bottle 330ml. @ The Danish Ratebeer Summer Gathering 2014, TSODRBSG14. [ As White Pony WinterDawn ].Clear medium to dark red amber color with a average, frothy, good lacing, mostly diminishing, off-white to light beige head. Aroma is moderate malty, caramel, spicy, moderate to heavy yeasty, bubble gum - mint, sugary. Flavour is moderate to heavy sweet with a long duration, sugary sweet, spicy, mint, yeasty, anis seed. Body is medium, texture is oily to watery, carbonation is soft. [20140830]

33 cL bottle. Pours cloudy orange with a small tan head. Aroma is spiced and slight herbal. Sweet, malty and caramelish. Mild spiced and toasted malty. Sweet and slight sticky. Fruity and toasted malty finish.

Bottle 330ml @ fonefan
Pours hazy reddish brown with a off-white head. Aroma has notes of malt, caramel, cinnamon, star anise and ginger. Taste is medium to heavy sweet and light bitter with a long warm, caramel and spicy finish. Body is full, texture is oily, carbonation is soft.

Bottle. It pours a small, dense, light beige head over a hazy dark amber colored body. The aroma is on the malty side, with bread, raisins, cardamom and ginger. Caramel. It’s semi-sweet on the palate, full-bodied and with a nice carbonation level. Sweet, caramel flavor with dark dried fruits, some bread and quite a lot of spices. Some warmth, but not much. Unusual, but quite nice. Perhaps a bit spiced. 140830