Bottle. Color: Slightly hazy golden, white head. Aroma: Yeasty, malty, vinuous notes. Taste: Yeasty, vinuous, a bit brut. Fruity notes of pear and grape. Floral hints. Subtle Whisky. Some oak wood. Medium body, average carbonation. Dry-ish mouthfeel. Moderate to over moderate sweet, light bitterness. Lightly boozy. Ok.

Fles gedeeld door JvW en gedronken met familie. Goudgeel licht troebel bier met flink schuim dat als een film blijft liggen. Aroma van whisky en fruitig. Smaak is vol, fruitig en whisky-achtig. Nasmaak is iets bitter.

Ever since their tripel gained commercial success, the d'Oude Caert guys have been toying around with barrels a whole lot - I have no idea how many barrel aged versions of this beer have appeared so far, but it must be a whole string. I had several of those before but this is apparently a relatively new one, aged on whisky barrels and (to a lesser extent) sweet Sauternes wine barrels. Egg-white, medium thick, shred-lacing head on a misty golden blonde beer with apricot tinge. Aroma of ripe banana, peach, sugar loaf, honey, camomile, egg yolk, something sweaty, pear compote, white bread, melting butter, sweet white grapes seemingly a bit more obvious than the whisky, potato juice, margarine, damp straw, gin, Cointreau somewhere (probably the whisky in combination with esters or something). Sweet onset, banana, peach, ripe pear, medium carb, rounded and soft, full mouthfeel; honeyish residual sweetness over a white-bready, bit 'fluffy' maltiness, hint of coriander seed spiciness right before the barrel effects begin to set in, producing that typical vanilla scent of wet oak wood, indeed a sweet dessert wine element and a warming booziness, if not very outspokenly whisky-like; woody tannic effects as such remain gentle, while hops provide only the slightest background bitterness and sweet fruitiness and breadiness remain the key aspects of this beer. As an old Dutch saying goes, a dressed up monkey is still a monkey: this needs more elaboration, a stronger barrel effect and less of those banana and coriander flavours associated with the basic beer (and tripels in general). Not overwhelmed (at all), but good enough for what it is, I guess the average Belgian 'specialty' beer drinker will find this accessible enough to enjoy.