7.5

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

Smell of sweet malt, raisins, calvados, caramel. Deep bronze colour, beige head. Aroma of sweet malt, apple, calvados, some oak. Foamy carbon. Sweet, lightly sour.

8

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 8

750ml bottle, no.15043/34500, topped with a cork and wire cradle. Solid taster, trade with djoeye. Display of laceworks from a beige head, clear dark-brown body. Attractive on the nose with dark and dried fruits. Well malt-fruity balanced taste, impacts of dark fruits, chocolate-caramel, and a little touch of spices. Oaky. Rounded, long-lived finish, integrated warmth from the alcohol. Enjoying sitter on a Saturday eve. (Tromsø, 02.12.2023).

8

Mørk rubin med lett beige skum. Aroma kirsebær urter. Smak kirsebær eple fatpreg krydder/urter. Fyldig, rund, balansert. Flaske delt med DjOeye og Synny

8.6

Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5

Mørk rubin med lett beige skum. Aroma kirsebær urter. Smak kirsebær eple fatpreg krydder/urter. Fyldig, rund, balansert. Flaske delt med DjOeye og Synny

7.8

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 9

Lett uklar mørk amber med offwhite topp som daler raskt og blir liggende som er slør. Aroma; alkohol, rosiner, urter, furu, eple, kirsebær. Smak; kirsebær, eple, moreller, urter. Fatpreget fyldig og smaksrik. Godt balansert. Spandert av Djoeye. Delt med Djoeye og Leif.

7.6

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

Bottle, 37.5 cl, Very nice bottle, looking like a miniature of the big 75 cl bottle. Color: Dark copper, beige head. Aroma: Apple, Calvados, some raisins, sweetish. Taste: Quite a lot of apple, Calvados. Oak wood and raisin notes. Some caramel. A little boozy. Smooth mouthfeel. Very fruity. Thin. Medium body, below below average carbonation. Interesting combination, although the Calvados is somewhat overwhelming.

6

Prik&Tik Genk Gijbels. --- Beer merged from original tick of Grande Réserve Fermentée En Barriques - Chêne Français, Chêne Américain, Calvados (05/2023) on 05 Nov 2023 at 22:35 - Score: 6

7.8

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

Huge, towering, light cream head over deep dark amber beer. Alcohol bursting out upon opening. More (sweet) alcohol & fusels in the nose. Pine, Pino Silvestre. Hints of young oak, lightly toasted. Sweet, alcohol & fusels. Dried fruti, apples, strawberry. Meaty esters warming up. Old (waxed) pine needles. Calvados proves very plausible. Very slick to viscous, oily feel; alcoholwarming. Very well-carbonated. Rich feel, velvety texture. AHA! This is Chimay of an higher order!

7.8

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

The new barrel aged blue Chimay, for the first time involving a calvados barrel - one I was looking forward to. From a 37,5 cl bottle with cork, shared with Craftmember. Medium thick, moussy, pale yellowish beige, opening head, misty caramel brown robe with ruddy-bronze glow. Aroma of clear vanilla-scenting oak wood, hard caramel, brown bread, cranberry sauce, fried red apple and indeed a touch of apple-ish calvados, blue plum, old brown honey, raisins, blackberry jam, hint of raw red cabbage somewhere. Sweet onset, raisin-y with side notes of ripe pear, red apple and dried plum, quite fizzily carbonated with rounded, full mouthfeel; smooth caramelly and brown-bready malt body with increasing tannic woodiness, paired with that typical oaky vanilla. Prune, raisin and sweet red apple notes linger on till the end, making for a quite fruity finish, the fruitiness no doubt accentuated by the calvados; all the way at the back, an earthy hint of hop bitterness brings things to balance. Warming alcohol glow but fit for the style - and indeed the calvados remains recognisable. The booze in the end hit me just a little bit too hard, flavourwise at least, clashing a bit with those soft, sweet dark malty flavours; in my personal opinion, the cognac and whisky versions of some of the previous years made for a more harmonious whole. Maybe calvados is not the most suitable liquor to use in this series, but who knows, these bottles can last for ages if well kept so I would love to taste this again within, say, five years from now, when the alcohol has been shaved off a bit and the flavours are molten together more tightly. One to cellar (as goes for the others too, of course).