Bottle. Color: Dark copper, thin beige head. Aroma: Dark malt, red fruit, caramel, sourish notes. Taste: Dark malt, dark red fruit, red wine, caramel toffee fudge, bit boozy, wood. Hints of molasses, vanilla. Hints of chocolate. Medium sweet, moderate bitterness. At the same time contrasting but also additional light to moderate sourish notes. Full body, soft carbonation. Very complex, nicely balanced. Another great Alvinne beer.

New version of Cuvée de Mortagne aged on virgin oak barrels; 75 cl bottle (with the new label style) from Etre Gourmet, shared with Goedele. Thick and creamy, cream-pale beige, thickly ‘relief’-lacing, dense and frothy, stable head over an initially clear, beautifully deep dark copper brown beer with bright ruby hue, misty with sediment. Ravishing bouquet of Belgian chocolates, caramel liqueur, stewed plums, candied cherries, fig jam, lots of vanilla-ish oak, freshly painted furniture, tawny port, crème de cassis, hay, brandy. Sweet onset with balancing sourish edge, rich tapestry of estery fruitiness involving blue grape-, plum-, fig- and medlar-like impressions with a blackcurrant edge, softish carb with a smooth, vinous, bit resinous mouthfeel. Rounded, caramelly malt sweet core with subtly bitterish-toasty edges, outspoken candied cherry-like sweetness but balanced not just by the underrunning sourish accent but, in the end, by a strong tannic woodiness, pushing up a vanilla-like oak scent retronasally. A late spicy hop bitterness shows up after all this, but a liqueurish, candied fruitiness paired with this woodiness and highlighted by otherwise well-placed, brandy- and port-like alcohol form the major part of the last stage in this beautiful play. I have often argued in the past two years that Alvinne, even if they had great beers long before (I’ve been following their works since the humble beginnings), has achieved absolute world class status now. This beer amazed me even more than I was expecting; this is a downright superb masterpiece of a quadrupel, with barleywine-esque features and probably an impressive potential of improving by age. Majestic, too bad I only bought one bottle as I’m eager to revisit this. Reminiscent of the best of the blue Chimay Barriques, too, but with that ‘wild’ Alvinne streak to it, even if very subtle in this case; probably the best of non-sour Alvinnes I had to date.

15/06/2018 @home - 75cl bottle from Bierhalle Deconinck. Hazy brown colour, medium light tanned head. Nose is sweet malts, chocolate, caramel, bit wood. Taste is sweet malts, chocolate, caramel, vanilla, Sooo nice.

Young! 😃 --- Beer merged from original tick of Cuvée de Mortagne Virgin Oak on 09 Jun 2018 at 23:07 - Score: 8. Original review text: Young! 😃