One of two high-profile beers celebrating the fifth anniversary of Galea, a successful microbrewery in Antwerp and meanwhile a household name in craft beer circles. There is a silver edition as well, differing in the choice of barrel: while the silver one was apparently aged on bourbon barrels, this golden version used sherry barrels; the base beer is the same, though, a kind of quad enriched with molasses, pear syrup and ‘coconut blossom sugar’ – highly unusual ingredients in a Belgian strong dark ale, obviously. From a 50 cl English barleywine style bottle, shared with Craftmember. Yellowish deep beige, small-bubbled and dense, shred-lacing head, opening slowly over a cloudy, very dark chocolate brown beer – as good as black actually so notably darker than a typical Belgian strong dark, and opaque. It should be noted that the pear syrup in my sample apparently never got sufficiently in the beer, as it came out in the end in a sluggy, syrupy, not quite appetizing way… Intense and desserty, complex bouquet of burnt toast (actually burnt – so charcoal-like), pecan nuts, ‘kramiek’ dough, strong sirop de Liège (even if another, Flemish form of pear syrup was used), prune jam, oak furniture, sweet and nutty sherry, chestnut purée, instant cocoa powder dissolved in water rather than milk, dried fig, hints of shoe polish-like solvent, bayleaf, wood ashes, beef stock and blackberries. Sweet and syrupy onset, cooked prunes, candied figs and raisins, dates, and of course a lot of pear syrup – adding to an extremely thick, syrupy mouthfeel, as does a very understated carbonation; massive oily-hazelnutty, pecan-nutty, toffeeish, molasses-like and chestnut purée-like middle with chocolatey edges, lingering sourish dark fruit accents and upcoming wood, with that classic oaky vanilla scent and soft tannins offering a bit of balance against the sweetness and syrupiness. Sweet sherry flavours are noticeable in the finish, along with accents of bayleaf, rum (possibly the coconut sugar!) and clove; ends sticky and syrupy but long and complex, with a fine trace of black burnt toast trailing behind, oddly. Complex and rich, utterly thick but also very unusual beer, a bit over the top really, but in any case festive enough for the occasion. Too bad for that ‘slush’ of pear syrup in the end, but that will not stop me to go find the silver edition of this weird, but fascinating beer.