Armout Macleod Limited - Cabernet

There was a time when 'Scotch', called 'wee heavy' in its land of origin, was very popular in Belgium, but very few of those 'old' Scotch beers have remained (Gordon X-Mas being one of them); I can certainly appreciate one if it is well done, so I am glad to see that this young Limburgian brewery tackles the style now, even if my sample is not the regular one but a special variant aged on Cabernet Sauvignon wine-soaked oak chips. Thickly moussey, creamy, membrane-lacing, pale greyish beige, dense, somewhat crackling but stable head on an initially clear deep and dark chestnut brown beer with burgundy glow and fine sparkling throughout, misty with sediment. Aroma of caramel candy, brown soap, chewing gum, walnut paste, medlar, fresh fig, pear, cognac (quite pronounced somehow), red apple peel, Brazil nuts, dry cookies, brown bread crust, hints of Poire William, green kiwi, dry earth, wood glue, very vague vanilla from the oak, creamy red wine faraway in the distance. Cleanly fruity onset, dried fig, medlar, old raisins, pear and red apple, sweet but not sticky with some sourishness added by very active, minerally carbonation; smooth, full, bit glueish mouthfeel. Deep brown-bready, caramelly and dry cookie-like dark maltiness with a nutty edge, sweet with that typical Scotch feature of soft toasty bitterness, clear from the start and growing a bit in the end; oak wood is also much more clear in the mouth than in the nose, with tannic effects, probably enlarged a bit by the wine they were soaked in - but the toasty bitterness dominates along with its sweeter caramelly side, bittered by leafy hops and, long before the actual finish, heatened by peppery, cheap brandy-like alcohol, which eventually scorches away the other flavours and ends up wry and obnoxious. I am bothered by the very badly hidden alcohol even for an 8%+ ABV beer: this really is a pity, considering how the other main flavour parts actually do fit well into the whole - a whole that conveys a credible Scotch experience. The oak chips are unnecessary but that burning, wry alcohol effect is something that needs to be addressed - if I mentally omit it, I end up with a perfectly decent, sweet-bitter example of its intended style. May very well improve with ageing as the sharper edges of the booze shave off a bit - so benefit of the doubt for now.