Bottle from BXL Beer Fest. Hazy dark brown colour, white head. Nose of plums, red fruit, sweet malts, little sourish. Medium carbonation. Not the best Flemish red but not bad at all.

Thiriez' one-off edition of their Vieille Brune, made only for the six-bottles-pack of this year's first BXL Beerfest edition and the only difference with the regular Vieille Brune being that this one was aged on oak barrels for six months instead of three. Huge thanks again to Filip for sharing this bottle. Medium thick, egg-white, irregularly lacing head captured after some gushing, over a very dark chocolate brown beer with ruddy-mahogany hue. Aroma of soggy brown bread, dried blackberries, blue grape juice, damp soil, dried dates, pear syrup, old thyme, cloves, beef stock, caramel, plum, wet wood but subtly so, fermenting tree leaves, even some manure. Fruity-estery onset, blue plum, fig, pear, sweet in its core but with a light elderberry-like sourness to it - yet nowhere near the tartness of an 'oud bruin', with which this beer is easily confused regarding the name. Medium to sharpish carbo, caramelly malt core with lightly nutty edges, very bready too, becoming phenolic and 'dirty' in the end, very earthy, with a late earthy hop bitterishness in the end; fruity esters linger and the wood effect, though noticeable in its drying 'tannicness', remains too understated to clean up the yeasty dirtiness in this beer. Not very impressed actually - feels like an ordinary Belgian artisanal dubbel or something alike, though drinkable enough as such apart from some off-notes in the nose. Brewing in France, even if pushed forward by a relatively progressive brewery like Thiriez, still has a long way ahead to become a significant player on the international 'craft' beer scene.

Bottle 750ml. @ [ Pre-Borefts 2017 Tasting ] - @ Brouwerij Kwartje, Frederikstraat 837, 2514LZ Den Haag, Netherlands. [ As Thiriez Vieille Brune (BXL Beerfest) ].Clear dark red brown colour with a small to average, frothy - fizzy and open, good lacing, mostly diminishing, off-white head. Aroma is moderate malty, dark malt, sour, wood, light funky. Flavor is moderate sweet and light acidic with a average to long duration, tart, wood, berries, dark malt. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is soft. [20170920] 7-3-7-3-15

At Pre-Borefts tasting. Aroma of malt, ripe fruit and yeast. Flavor has malt, ripe fruit, yeast and mild sourness. Too mild.

Bottle. Murky dark brown color with beige ring. Aroma is chocolate, roasted malts, vanilla. Taste is chocolate, vanilla, wood, a touch cherry. Medium carbonation. Good one!

Sampled from bottle at pre-borefts tasting. Dark brown with thin offwhite head. Sweet malts, light sour. Medium body and soft carbonation. --- Beer merged from original tick of Vieille Brune (BXL Beerfest) on 25 Dec 2017 at 21:40 - Score: 6. Original review text: 3.3

Shared at pre-Borefts tasting, thanks for sharing everybody! Very dark reddish brown with small off white head. Some cocoa, dust, twigs, dry old woody notes, dust. Light sweet and bitter with long lasting tannic bitter finish. Medium bodied with dry finish. Not very good. 3 Update: some more berries now, light sourness developed. Bit better.

Bottle at the pre borefts tasting. Pours deep brown, nose is light funk, balsamic, wood, taste is sweet, wood, toffee.

7 3 7 3 14 Bottle shared at Pre-Borefts Tasting, The Hague '17. Brown with a ring tan head. Aroma of overripe dark fruits, malt, slight woody notes. Flavour is moderate sweet and bitter. Medium bodied with soft carbonation.

Gusher! Dark brown pour with a tan head. Notes of oak, chocolate, roasted malts, caramel, toffee, subtle vanilla. The aroma suggests this is a Flanders Bruin, but there is no sourness in the taste whatsoever, just a mild vinegar/grape bitterness and some oxidized apples.