Bottle. Aroma is very specific, like apple cider but not as if the beer is ruined kind of way. Really, nothing like I have smelled before. Alcohol present in the aroma. Body is very light for such a strong beer, must be all the candi sugar. Goes down with no bitterness at all. An aftertaste of port-like alcohol remains. A very fine beer.

Hazy dark red pour - quite foamy - big calvados aroma, with some port, overripe fruit, brown sugar - lots of calvados in the taste as well - some apples and pears, darker fruit esters - slight, lingering port character on the back end - a little tartness - something odd in the finish tastes like...celery? - otherwise a good beer.

Bottle at Kerstbierfestival 2005, Essen, Belgium
Clear, brown body. Virtually no head. Looks like cognac or something like that. Nose of honey, pears, port, cask wood, ... Lightly sweet, lightly bitter initial flavour. Lightly sweet, moderately bitter finish. Nice, but nothing special. Probably too much alcohol.

Bottle. Very yeasty and peppery marcipan aroma. Dark brown/orange cloudy colour. Flavour is malty, alcoholic, caramelly. Burnt aftertaste.

This Belgian Strong reminded me of an English Old Ale. Poured a dirty copper-brown, with abundant yeast sediment. No head. Bourbon, a touch of apple peel, and vinous notes characterize the aroma. Flavor of bourbon and wood, muting the vinous, slightly fruity character of the underlying malts. Alcohol is strong and warming. This beer was also flat. Interesting and tasty despite its flaws.

Muddy dull brown - looks dreadful in the glass. No hiss upon opening and no carbo visible. Aroma has apple, alcohol and rich malts - caramel and concentrated amounts of pale malt. Flat body, but alcohol arrives quickly and forcefully to minimize oiliness. Of course, this is merely replaced by heat. It carries alongside it an apple accent as well as slightly caramelized pears and peaches. Strongly alcoholic finish. I find the overall product too hot and the beer component too one-dimensional (read: dominated by the calvados). Decent at best.

Hazy brown coloured with ugly red highlights. No head at all, even with a quite vigourous pour! Aroma of plums, raisins, cranberries, malt, earth and alcohol. Medium-bodied; Still; Sweet, musty, mushroomy maltiness, mixed with some oak tannins and the ever present alcoholic burn. Aftertaste was fairly lacking, only a bit of the caster sugar sweetness comes out, and the malt bitterness lasts for an unpleasurable amount of time. Overall, this one needs some time, I guess? Perhaps it will get some carbonation, but the pour doesn't show too much sediment, so all with this batch might be screwed? I bought this 33 cL bottle at Premier Gourmet in Buffalo, New York and sampled it on 08.December.2003.