Grande Réserve Fermentée en Barriques - Chêne Français, Chêne Américain, Whisky (2022)
Bières de Chimay (Abbaye de Scourmont) in Baileux, Hainaut, Belgium 🇧🇪
Belgian Style - Quadrupel / Dark Strong Regular|
Score
7.68
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34% Frans eiken, 41% Amerikaans eiken 25% Whisky Brouwerij "Het Anker" Gouden Carolus
34% French oak, 41% American oak, 25% Whisky "Het Anker"
On the nose, we can clearly distinguish floral and fruity scents: violet and elderflower rub shoulders with aromas of banana and pear brandy. On the palate, this bouquet is completed by notes of coconut and vanilla coming from the oak, punctuated by subtle undertones of caramel and chocolate. The whole gives a pleasantly surprising roundness. The initial sweetness of the beer is counterbalanced by the generously present alcohol. Then, the sweet character of the beer blossoms, with a lingering finish.
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Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 6.5
Mörkt rödbrun med ett litet men stadigt skum. Doft av karamell, farin mandel, kanel och ekfat. Eldig och lite sötklibbig smak med inslag av ekfat, peppar och lakrits. Blir säkert bra med tiden men just nu är den alldeles för ung och kantig för mig.
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 10
Fles 37,5cl thuis gedeeld. 2/2022. Zacht, eik, whisky, vanille, caramel, wat chocolade, amandel, pruim, licht boozy, kandij, donker fruit, mooi zoet, licht koolzuur. (5-5-2022).
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
This year’s barrel-aged ‘blue’ Chimay, combining French and American oak with whisky barrels like the 2018 version, only this time whisky barrels from Het Anker were used, the ancient brewery in Mechelen which also produces whisky since 2010 (at another location, but from malt also used for some of their beers). Chimay’s representative underscores the historical and cultural resemblances between both breweries for this, an explanation as good as any other one I guess. I had this from a 37.5 cl bottle with cork and muselet (75 cl bottles also exist of course) and was quite shocked when opening it: right after removing the muselet, the cork simply popped out of the bottle – and not just the cork, like I have seen in some other (especially lambic) bottles, but also part of the bottle neck with it, in the form of a glass ring that remained stuck around the cork in an irremovable way… I had the bottle warmed up till near room temperature before serving but even then, this could never have been the intention – mine was hopefully an exception, but still, be warned and open this one very cautiously. In spite of this, though, there was no sign of gushing. Thickly moussy, pale yellowish beige, plaster-like lacing, stable, frothy head on an initially clear chestnut bronze beer with copper red glow, misty with sediment. Aroma of caramel candy, hazelnut oil, strong vanilla-scenting ‘fresh’ oak wood everywhere, furniture polish, candied figs, dried prunes, Parfait d’Amour, lavender blossom, raisins, brown honey, indeed whisky but not too overpowering, almond, hints of liquorish, cherry candy, banana, brown soap, candied orange peel and tea. Sweet, ‘candied’ onset, candi sugar and candied cherries, banana, fig, raisin; finely but strongly tingling effervescence, rounded and smooth but full body, a bit resinous as usual in this series. Thoroughly caramelly middle, caramel candy with a brown-bready core and vague toasty-bitterish note somewhere; retronasal oak comes up strong, vanilla-like, with those typical brown-soapy and lavender-perfumey side aspects the others in this series have too – though in this case a bit less expressively so. A dim, deep earthy hop bitterish note lurks below, but the wood and the caramelly character of the malt prevail; the sweetness never becomes too much and the whisky runs through the whole in a relatively subtle way, a subtlety many other contemporary ‘whisky barrel agers’ should take into consideration. A candied banana-like aspect lingers, something I have tasted years ago in the actual whisky made by Het Anker, but here it could just as well be of an estery nature; still, with that banana flavour profile of the whisky in mind, I was expecting to receive more of it in this beer. In all, less different from the 2018 version than I was expecting (and, perhaps, hoping), but certainly another very solid and enjoyable offering, suitable for extended cellaring – and side-by-side tasing with the other vintages. I love this series.