Nostalgia Collection #8 - De Laatste Mijn
Brouwerij Kompel in Maasmechelen, Limburg, Belgium 🇧🇪
Belgian Style - Quadrupel / Dark Strong Series|
Score
6.89
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Deze Limited Edition Nostalgia is ter ere van de 30 jarige sluiting van de laatste mijn in Belgisch Limburg (Heusden-Zolder). Het design van de fles toont een momentopname van de schachtbok terwijl deze werd opgeblazen met explosieven. Bij de creatie van het bier hebben we de eigen Kompel bierlikeur (Miners Finest – Est 22) toegevoegd, dit zorgt voor exotische aroma’s en smaken. Een krachtige gist produceert banaanaroma’s en geeft een mooie ondersteuning aan de amandelnoten. Geroosterde gerst, donkere kandijsuiker en sinaas in het brouwproces geven extra dimensies aan deze aromatisch beladen parel.
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Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
Bottle from Drankenhandel Leiden. Aroma is caramel malt, yeasty notes, dried fruits, some toffee. A touch of liquor infusion but it's not overpowering. Medium sweet, light bitter, hint of alcohol. A decent Belgian Strong.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
33cl bottle from Albert Heijn supermarket in Maasmechelen. F: big, tanned, good retention. C: dark brown, hazy, opaque. A: pears, banana, dark bread, nutty, bit caramel, dried fruits, spicy. T: full malty base, dried fruits, banana, pears, spicy, dark bread, apples, nutty, dark bread, bit warming alcohol, medium carbonation, solid for the style, enjoyed.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Smell- weak caramel, weak Belgian tones, malt. Foam- thin, hops, bitter tones, weak Belgian yeast, faint alcohol. Head is medium-sized, white with slight brown in color. Sticks. Appearance- brewer bottle cap, somewhat interesting label. Clear ruby in color, no carbonation. From - pint Taste - weak hops, bitter tones, Belgian yeast, some alcohol, some sweetness. Not bad.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Fles gedeeld door Roelzie, het is een troebel roodbruin bier met een volle beige schuim. Het heeft een aroma van drop en salmiak. De smaak is vol, zoet, zoethout, salmiak en koffie.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Fles 33cl thuis. Pruim, rozijn, toffee, kandij, caramel, licht liquor merkbaar, zoetig, rood fruit, licht fizzy. (10-6-2023).
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Donkerbruin bier met schuim. Smaak is bitterzoet met iets van karamel, toffee, wat amandel, anijs en noten. Rijke smaak, uitstekend bier.
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 6.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
The eighth one in a series of 'Nostalgia' beers by Kompel in Limburg, honouring the mining industry which once thrived in the eastern and southern parts of Belgium. This one in particular depicts the headframe of an abandoned mine being demolished - a powerful symbol of the end of the mining era (the last coalmine in Belgium, also in Limburg, was closed in 1992). Flavoured with orange peel, candi sugar and a 'beer liquor', I assume a distillate of one of Kompel's own beers. Thick and frothy, heavily cobweb-lacing, pale greyish beige, uneven-bubbled, pillowy but stable head, lightly hazed ruddy chestnut brown beer with mahogany glow and very fine sparkling everywhere. Aroma of brown bread crust, hard caramel, a whiff of coffee grounds, roasted walnuts but lightly so, dried dates, pear, medlar, dried orange peel, 'oude jenever', nutmeg, hints of liquorish, old dry apple cake, chicory root, clove, dry earth. Fruity onset, sweet but nowhere cloying, hints of dried dates, apple peel, some pear and medlar, fizzily carbonated with minerally side effects (a bit much so for a beer like this, but okay); rounded, slick mouthfeel, perhaps not quite as 'full' as one would expect from a dark Belgian of this strength. Smooth-edged caramelly and brown-bready malts, some traces of candi sugar travelling along but remaining on the drier side of the spectrum, turning more toasty in the finish, when a spicy dried orange peel accent shows up too; vague reminiscences of coffee grounds and liquorice, but hard caramel and thick brown bread crust keep prevailing. A 'jenever'-like warmth and spiciness graces the finish, avoiding unpleasant astringency by a hair especially when an earthy hop bitterness comes to support the toasty bitter malt aspect; slight earthy and phenolic (clove, nutmeg) notes here and there, but 'jenever', brown bread crust and toast remain my final impressions after swallowing. The first of those three elements must somehow embody the 'beer liqueur' that went in here - luckily it is not more than that, because I tend to be very wary when I see 'infused with' on any beer label. In all, a bit slender and feeble-bodied for a dark Belgian ale of 8+% ABV, but tasty enough, without major flaws; stylistically, I would classify this under the Scotch (or 'wee heavy') category, because it remains relatively clean, has the right ABV for it and contains a portion of roasted malts, but since this old-fashioned term is mentioned nowhere on the label, I finally decided to let brewer's intent prevail in entering this beer and kept it deliberately vague with the 'Belgian strong dark ale' category. Memories of visits to abandoned Belgian coalmines, the history of which is celebrated not only in the Nostalgia series but in the entirety of Kompel's range and even its name (kompel being Dutch for miner), come to mind, including the one in Marcinelle where in the fifties hundreds of miners were killed in Belgium's worst mining disaster - and this fascinating but loaded history does add a bit to the experience here (though this is obviously a personal thing which has nothing to do with rating the beer itself). Decent, in all, but somehow I get the feeling that this Kompel brewery can do better.