Barrel Aged Series: Whiskey Barrel aged Obscure Dark
Brouwerij The Musketeers in Sint-Gillis-Waas, East Flanders, Belgium 🇧🇪
Belgian Style - Quadrupel / Dark Strong Series|
Score
7.23
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Dark Barrel Aged beer – Alc. 10% by vol.
KLEUR
115 EBC – Bruin
SMAAK
30 IBU – Toetsen van karamel; licht gerookt
BESCHIKBAARHEID
Limited edition
Deze vaten werden eerder gebruikt voor de rijping van bourbon (V.S.) en whiskey (Ierland). Dat heeft zeker en vast zijn effect op het bier waardoor je een licht gerookte nasmaak hebt.
Dit donker bier is gebrouwen met een combinatie van vier mouten en in het aroma van Obscure Dark herken je duidelijk deze bijzondere samenstelling. Je ervaart toetsen van karamel en vanille, duidelijk beïnvloed door het hout van het vat.
De volmondige smaak biedt je toetsen van karamel. Dat zorgt ook voor een zacht mondgevoel, gecombineerd met een licht gerookte nasmaak.
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Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6
3/I/25 - 33cl bottle from Geers (Oostakker), shared @ home with Bouvier, BB: 3/XI/24, batch: 6504211103 (2025-12)
Clear dark brown beer, small creamy beige head, unstable, falls down quickly, a bit adhesive, leaving some lacing in the glass. Aroma: caramel, gentle roast, dried fruits, a bit sugary, muscovado sugar, pretty rich and pleasant smell! MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: bitter start, gentle roast, very dry, earthy, whisky notes, soft acidity, hoppy. Aftertaste: bitter, dry, caramel, a bit sour, lots of alcohol, dry touch, earthy, more roast, bitter finish.
PS: Looks like that tradition never really took off. Never saw a new edition...
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
Easily one of my favorite styles, Strong Dark Belgian Ales, I have a 330 ml bottle of Obscure in that style to taste. I obtained it from Finest Belgian Beers close to a year ago. I’m drinking out of a globe glass this evening, the bottle is opened and I lift to pour. I determine a dark cola-colored body and a persistent taupe skim across the top. A delightful nose I must say, fully ripe dark fruit, yeast and grain. The drink matches the smell, nice I believe. Black raisins, ripe plums, chocolate from somewhere, malt, bread, syrup, vanilla and some booze. Somewhat sweet and a bit of bitterness, 30 IBU the label says. I am enjoying the brew, more than expected.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
Dark brown with thin head. Definitely some woody notes. Plentiful with sweet dried fruits. Dates and raisins. Could be more bitter. Under delivers.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Small beige-tan head, retreating over redbrown opaque beer. Whiskey a mile out, sweet, brandy-like, even with citruspeel as Mandarine Napoléon, ripe banana. Sweet, faintly bitterish, walnut, dried fruit as orange, apricot. Sweetish spirit but avoiding a crude boozy character. Well-bodied, alcoholwarming, sticky to viscous. Liqueurish feel. Another nice one, guys! Purchased at the brewpub.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 8
One of the newest Musketeers, a whisky barrel aged dark strong ale (presumably a new basic recipe rather than an existing Troubadour beer). Very thick and frothy, yellowish beige, tightly cobweb-lacing, rocky and very stable head, hazy dark caramel brown beer with mahogany glow. Aroma indeed with a lot of dominant whisky, even iodine-like peat as in an Islay whisky, weighing heavily over impressions of hard caramel candy, soggy brown bread, fried red apple, damp earth to even vague manure here and there, dried fig, clove, wet old oak wood, raisins soaked in rum (with even a dried coconut flake accent), fresh paint, dry bayleaf, very vague hint at salmiak. Fruity onset in a cleanish way, fried apple and dried fig returning, hint of old raisins but nowhere too sweet or brown-sugary contrary to what I was expecting; lively carbonated with minerally effects, perhaps even a tad much so for this kind of beer, with full, rounded mouthfeel. Smooth caramelly and brown-bready malts, a thin layer of honeyish sweetness on top, moves onwards to a rich, warming finish, in which first tannic woody notes appear paired with vague spicy aspects (clove, bayleaf, very light touch of liquorice) and a herbal, tea-ish hop bitterness that stretches out over the root of the tongue - but this entire 'end phase' is deeply soaked in actual whisky, at first retronasally dominant and then taking over in flavour, as if indeed a glass of whisky was poured into the beer, with all the peppery, solventy alcohol heat and astringency that go with it. Not too sweet, in all, with a decent amount of complexity and enough power; not a bad effort - everybody jumps on the bandwagon of barrel ageing these days so why not Musketeers - but the whisky is really strong here, a bit too strong for me personally in fact. Less of that pure, boozy whisky and more of the beer itself would have lifted this concoction to a higher level in my book (but this is personal preference - I am sure others will appreciate this better). A welcoming restitution of my faith in this brewery, which had seriously dwindled after the last Bucketlist beers and others. Probably very suitable for long-term cellaring, too, which may decrease the whisky dominance a bit.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Bottle from Stockman, Maldegem. Deep dark brown colour, beige foam. Nose of sweet malts, dried fruit, whisky, Light notes of green apples. Gets better when warming up. A nice sipper.