Sample (thanks omhper!). Copper colour, small off-white head. Aroma is sweet malts, some floral, caramel and some mild wooden tones with mild marzipan. Flavour is sweet malts, caramel, some toffee, wooden tones and some marzipan with some dried fruits and some mild alcohol sweetness.

--Bottled, from Systembolaget. -- Clear mahonagy colour, mid sized head. Oaky nose with dates, brandy and caramel. Fairly dry wwith medium to full body and well rounded mouthfeel. Peppery caramel, cinnamon and marzipan. Complex wood. Warming mid bitter finish.

One of those beers I look forward to every year, is the Chimay Barriques series, this year aged on a combination of French oak, American oak and brandy barrels - the 'brandy edition', so to speak. From a 37.5 cl bottle with cork and muselet (as usual). Thickly moussey, greyish off-white, crackling, irregular yet tightly knit, stable, lightly lacing head on an initially clear, deep mahogany brown beer with copper red glow and lots of fine sparkling, turning hazy and more chestnutty with sediment. Aroma of caramel candy, cashew nuts, baked banana, brown soap (quite strong even), nougat, ground hazelnuts, obvious vanillin from oak wood, far less obvious brandy (hardly recognisable even), jasmin blossoms, toffee, hints of raisin bread, ripe pear or even pear syrup, clove, vague smoked ox meat, rosewater, limestone and bayleaf. Sweet, fruity onset, dried prunes, raisins, candied figs and clear banana, sharpishly carbonated with minerally, prickly, somewhat distracting effect (a bit too sharp for a quad even); vague sourish and umami undertones but very limited and 'hidden'. Rounded, full body, toffeeish, caramelly and lightly brown-bready with faint nutty accents, but also a feeling of 'bubblegumminess' from white candi syrup or even 'sirop de Liège'; the sweetness goes on initially but dries a bit further on, when a mild herbal hop bitter element sets in, together with tannic woodiness and warming alcohol; the oak is clear enough retronasally with its classic vanilla effect (very outspoken here), while the whole brandy thing which this edition ultimately is all about, remains rather understated. The alcohol does convey a brandyish feeling, though, warming but also a little bit astringent - with the brandy flavour remaining subtle enough to confuse it with another type of liquor. Only in the aftertaste, however, does a clear brandy flavour linger. Not lacking in 'layeredness', this new brandy edition of Chimay Grande Réserve does not entirely convince: the brandy effect remains a bit 'cheap' and astringent like any other liquor, while soapiness, caramel and banana still prevail. After having enjoyed all these Chimay Barrique versions - including all the different versions that came out of that confusing first phase - I cannot but conclude that, while still very good beers, the quality has declined and simplified a bit since the first ones came out. This one fails to prove otherwise, in my opinion, but surely I drank it too young and should have cellared it for years to come - experience has amply shown that all the dark Chimay beers only improve with age, even though their quality has steadily declined in the past few decades (an ongoing saga, as we all know). I honestly expected more - this is one of the poorest versions so far for me, though still a rich beer deserving of a decent score.