Oot The Windae French Brandy Barrel Aged
Brouwerij Hoppug in Meerhout, Antwerp, Belgium 🇧🇪
Scotch Ale / Wee Heavy Special|
Score
7.26
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4 maanden gerijpt op Cognac (French Brandy) vaten.
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Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
Very good greyish tinted cream head, stable, over carmine red-shot, almost black beer, very attractive. Cognac jumps out of the glass whilst pouring; dark malts, dark fruit as blue grapes; also wood, mushrooms. Chocolate in the oral cavity, cacao, mushrooms again, sweet brandy (dark Pineau des Charentes, if you can mentally form that), liquorice, wood. Pretty well-bodied, good carbonation, almost chewy. Palate is quite balanced, texture quite velvety. Good, if certainly not stellar.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
20 August 2022. At 12de Gents Bierfestival. Cheers to Anke, Pieter & the whole crew!
Hazy dark brown, stable, foamy, tan head. Aroma of caramel sauce, sugared peanut, fig, date, pear syrup, almond, brandy, wet wood. Taste has sweet candied plum, date & pear in a thick malt body of caramel, milk chocolate, almond & very slight toast. Herbal hoppy finish offering dried fruits, caramel, spicy liquorice (bit ethereal) and warming brandy alcohol. Medium to full body, syrupy texture, average carbonation. Just a tiny bit too spicy but otherwise quite to my taste.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
20/VIII/22 - 33cl bottle @ Gents Bierfestival, BB: n/a (2022-1062)
Clear dark brown red beer, creamy beige head, stable, a bit adhesive. Aroma: nice and malty, caramel, sugary impression, rural character. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: malty start, lots of caramel, a little sweet, some chocolate, more malts, a bit hoppy. Aftertaste: hoppy and resinous, dry, soft roast, lots of caramel, very malty, hoppy, decent.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Bottle 33 cl. Lively pour. Clear, dark brown with an orange hue and a creamy, beige head. Phenollic, tannic aroma. Rich, sweet caramel base, light smoke and again some tannins. Lacking some oompf considering the strength, 190822
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
Zythos 2022. Brown colour with thin head. Lots of sweetness from malty and fruity elements. Especially dried fruits. Thinnish. Dry finish.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Bottle. Darker coppery brown, solid and not too lasting tan coloured head. Caramel, biscuity, nuts and hints of chocolate, slight wood. Medium sweetness, syrupy feeling, biscuits mostly. Medium bitterness, slight herbal tartness. Lasting and not too strong aftertaste. Quite later on some alcohol warmth, getting more noticeable. Medium body. I quite like this one.
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 6.5 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7.5
Scotch (or indeed, as it was originally called, 'wee heavy') by Hoppug, aged for four months on French brandy barrels; too bad the brand remains undisclosed, but given the generic description 'French brandy', I assume it was neither cognac nor armagnac which inhabited the original barrels... Anyway: thick, foamy, crackling, pale yellowish beige, uneven-bubbled but tight and pillowy head on an initially clear, dark chocolate brown beer with burgundy glow, turning misty with sediment. Aroma of wet caramel candy, soggy brown bread, prunes, wet oak wood and a bit of its associate vanilla, old raisins, earth, brandy indeed but not too obtrusive, unsugared chewing gum, varnish, old pecan nuts, dried thyme, coriander seed, damp forest floor, dried porcini, mud, plaster. Sweetish, fruity onset, lively carbonated (a bit much so for the style even), hints of pear, some banana and fresh fig, vague sourish undertone, rounded and bit resinous mouthfeel thinned by alcohol; brown-bready, caramelly and slightly walnutty maltiness, sweetish but sleek with a toasty bitter edge as is custom for the style, the bitterness accentuated by leafy hops and - even more so - a good dose of the brandy, more so than expected based on the orthonasal aromas. The brandy heats and thins the finish, balancing on the brink of off-putting wryness but softened by both an underlying woodiness and dense brown-bready maltiness; spicy notes unfold at the same time, coriander powder-, clove- and thyme-like, but without becoming all Christmas-y and over the top. Ends bready, warmingly boozy, 'Belgian-spicy' and dark-malty. The earthy effects are generally strong here, a bit too much so for me as a typical Scotch needs a cleaner profile and this way, it intersects too much with the Belgian dubbel (or, in this case, quadrupel) idiom for me; that said, the toasty bitterish aspect of a Scotch is certainly there, as in many Belgian winter beers, historically often derived from Scotch so there is nothing freaky about that. The barrel ageing could haved been done better, the booze is present but does not burn away the basic flavour profile of the beer too much but there is a lot of disturbing solventy activity here still. Not Hoppug's most impressive creation so far for me, perhaps, but a pleasant and interesting 'sofa beer' nonetheless and it does deliver on its promise: this is indeed clearly a brandy barrel aged Scotch (the Belgian way), there is no arguing about that.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
Bottle. Color: Murky reddish brown, yellowish beige head. Aroma: Caramel, cookies, notes of dark fruit and hints of raisins. Taste: Malty, notes of caramel, spices, booze, fruity grapeskin tannins, raisins, dried grapes, other dried fruits (dark fruit and stone fruit, also light hints of red fruit), hints of smoke. Over medium body, just below average carbonation. Over moderate sweet, moderate bitterness. Long lasting warming finish. Bitter palate at dry-ish finish. Nice complexity and balance. One to fully explore all flavors during slow sipping. Very nice.