Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

Bottled, from Systembolaget. Deepest mahogany colour, lively head. Rich aroma of brown sugar, red wine and rum. Sweet with full body and rounded mouthfeel, spritzy carbonation. Red wine, marzipan and cognac. Wood and dark berries. Peppery finish. Complex, even though dominated by the wood.

Red chestnut colour with a lasting off-white head. Malty and fruity aroma with biscuit, bread crust, plum, dates and balsamic vinegar. Sweetish and tart flavour with nutty malt, dark fruits and oak.

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 9.5

clear ruby to mahogany colour, minimal beige head, which disappears fully quite quickly; aroma of dried cherry, raisins, and some prune soaked into alcohol, red wine, some vanilla, and raspberry notes; taste is basically the same with some woody, bittery, burnt sugary and alcoholic notes; amazing beer - I am cross-checking it with the default version (i.e. Straffe Hendrik) and it is completely different! Not only its taste and aroma differ, but also its colour (that one is a brown beer with huge beige head, while this one looks more like a red wine with brownish notes - and with no head); anyway, despite the fact that the two beers are completely different, both of them are just simply extraordinary!

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

Dark brown colour, beige foam. Nose of red wine, dried fruit, some woodiness. Taste is medium tart, vinous, notes of port, a bit sweet. Well balanced, more vinous than I expected.

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

Bottle. 75cl. Pours amber copper with a small fading partly settling head. Wood and port notes. Vinous with a touch of alcohol and dark fruit. Dry prickly warming finish. I 'd like previous batches more.

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5

75cl bottle from Prik & Tik Dranken Marlou. F: thin, tan, not long lasting. C: brown with coppery touch against the light, hazy. A: red wine, woody, caramel, red currants, red apples peels, banana, bit spicy, chocolate touch. T: full malty base, red wine, woody, red currants, banana, bit vanilla, caramel, dried fruits, chocolate, bit warming alcohol, low carbonation, very nice balanced and fully enjoyed as I expected.

Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 8

Cette année la brasserie De Halve Maan nous propose une version intégrant différent barriquages avec porto, cognac et armagnac. 3 barriquages différents, cela peut donner de la complexité mais faire perdre en lisibilité. Je ne connais pas la proportion des 3 provenances, mais le fût de porto a une très nette prépondérance. Ce qui est dommage car le vieillissement en porto n'amène pas la vivacité et la puissance d'un cognac et armagnac. On ne les ressent d'ailleurs quasiment pas. Ils amènent donc une légère complexité sous-jacente sans vraiment participer directement à l'alliance aromatique. J'en reste donc sur ma soif pour une bière qui reste de qualité toutefois.

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

Last year’s Heritage, the annual barrel aged version of Straffe Hendrik Quadrupel, released this year as per their tradition; this time aged on a combination of cognac, armagnac and port barrels. Mousy, creamy, egg-white, opening and thinning but largely stable head on an initially clear chestnut brown beer with warm burgundy hue, misty with sediment. Rich and attractive nose of caramel candy, almond, white port, carraway seed, unripe banana, white chocolate, vanilla-scenting oak wood, dried apple peel, redcurrant jam, coriander seed, white port, furniture wax, shoe polish, violet-based perfume. Sweet fruity onset, lots of fig, candied cherry, some blackberry compote and some pear, spritzy carb but in a small-bubbled, refined way, slick body (feeling a bit lighter than its ABV would suggest, actually); peanutty, brown-bready and caramelly malt core with a brown-honeyish, treacle-like sweetness on top, while fruitiness continues in a more and more ‘candied’ way, sweet and concentrated but ‘lively’ as well (red apple, pear). Lots of lingering sweetness in the finish, but countered by woodiness, adding a vanilla scent retronasally, a herbal hop bitter element and, of course, sweetish booze, more port-like than brandy-like but heating like cognac as well in the end. Quite complex, better than the 2018 edition for me, and some of the editions before that. As usual with this kind of ‘provision’ bottles, I wonder how this ages if properly cellared…