Bottle. Murky brown color, small tan head. Aroma of slightly bozy brown bread and bit of vegetables. Taste isoddly vegetal as well. Not sure about this one.

Bottle thanks to the MI crew. Poured a cloudy dark brown with a slight amber hue and a light brown head that dissipated quickly to the edges. Aroma had sweet grains with caramel, light fruit and a hint of a backing sour note. Flavor begins with some dark grains and caramel but ends with an odd red fruit sour note. Seems to be infected.

27th June 2009
2005 Bottle. Cloudy brown beer. Dry semi crisp palate. Sweetish banana and malt that is also dry and tangy. A dry sourish malt finish with a trailing edge of sweet bubblegum. Pretty full on Belgian style ale!

Bottle via a trade. Notes are from a practice BJCP scoring sheet. Scored as an 18E (Belgian Dark Strong). The numbers in this rating reflect ratebeer’s hedonistic scale and not my judging numbers.
Aroma: Grainy, port, plums, brandy with light notes of tea (earl gray). Rich caramelized malty aromas. Melanoidins, rum soaked cake. Light phenols, medium to strong esters. Plum notes abound. Bready/light spice/baked goods. Alcohol is soft. Good.
Appearance: Extremely deep brown to garnet colored. Head is small and tan and fades extremely (too) quick. Leaves flirty lacing.
Flavor. Flavor is extremely bitter (not to style). The bitterness was completely undetected on the aroma. Large fermentation character of esters (fig, plums, pears, dates, dried cherry) abound with hints of marmalade. Yeasty finish. Bitterness detracts from overall enjoyment and adherence to this relatively open style (hop flavor is to style in its absence). Rich, brandy notes and dark fruits in the finish. Very light vegital DMS character that also shows up as a bit grassy (pilsner malt?). Very vinous overall.
Mouthfeel: Significant warmth is acceptable here. Lively carbonation adds a creamy perception. All very much to style. Nearly oily on the palate. Bitterness is unpleasant here. Thankfully it doesn’t last too long in the finish. Dried fruits (noticeably dried cherry) linger.
Overall Impression: A somewhat obviously American take on the style. Very vinous. Malt, yeast and alcohol create rich layers of toffee, plums, dried cherries, and vinous wine like qualities. This complexity pales behind a massive and pervasive bitterness that feels (and is) out of place. I wish the bittering hops were a bit more restrained.

On tap at the brewery. Pours a dark brown with a light tan head. At first it just has kind of a berry aroma, but some more dark fruit starts coming through as it warms. Flavor leads with coffee, yeastiness, and definitely some alcohol. Later, raisin, toffee, and caramel take over pretty strongly. Pretty nice.

Poured up on tap at the Kuhnhenn brewpub with deep dark mahogany body and mocha head. The aroma is rich with crusty dried caramel, dried plum juice, cherries and raisins. The taste is an initial rolling pulse of caramel, malts, prunes, cherries, sugary simmering plums, raisins and dates, yes all that.Wow! This is rich bold and yummy. It ends with a very complimentary roasted malt note.

Reddish brown ale with a thin off white. Sweet caramel and butterscotch, light butter in a pan. In mouth, bouttery mouthfeel, with molasse malt and strong alcohol. Not much else. Mondial 2006.

2005 bottle, a very generous bonus from Mr. Styles, consumed on 12/22/05 with Rastacouere and Siroy. Opening the bottle, there is no gas that seemingly rushes out. Hmmm, not a good sign. But upon pouring, there is a very gentle effervescence, translating in to a small, bubbly/fizzy beige head that is not long retained, and only provides little clumps of lace. Beer is unfiltered, however, and nicely opaque. The nose erupts with a load of strong esters, dunkelweizen-similarity, lots of bananas and cloves, light maple butter as well, and a soft, chewy Belgian yeastiness on the end, lightly drying, with a touch of interesting phenols and a marvelous array of dark fruits (currants, blackberries, cherries, grapes, dates, figs). The flavor is significantly more malty than the nose, with a soft, sensuous caramel and toffee note, plenty of brown sugar and maple cream intersparsed. I don’t get the breadiness hinted at in the commercial description, which is a good thing, I think. Just a sweet, almost creamy-like roundness to the malts. More light fruits on end, with a touch of spicy esters and bits of warming alcohol. Though the alcohol, overall, is tremendously well-hidden. Very low carbonation, right on the border of being a little bit tired and it does contribute to a bit of wateriness. But then, when you think of a similarly aged sample of, say, Westmalle dubbel, the texture/body doesnt seem so out of place at all (and carbonation has never been very important to me). Certainly gentle and nearly creamy, were it not for the light prevalence of wetness on the palate. Finishes with clove and cinnamon notes, backed by bananas, chewy yeast and maple-toffee-cream. The alcohol warming serves to dry the flavor out gently.

Sampled at the Ohio Labor Day tasting, provided by Styles and pailhead. Hazy red body, thin/non-existant off-white head in an Orval glass. Butterscotch, plum, and caramel aroma. Flavor of sharp candies (butterscotch), cherries, prune, caramel, and Halloween candy corn. Decent complexity.

Bottle Pours a murky redish brown with no head and only a trace of lacing. Aroma os appled cider, cinimon, apricots and alcohol. Flavor is a nice spicy musty combo. Some apple butter and cinimon. Moderately heavy feel and the alcohol comes through much more now on later sips. Darn near flat and a slightly bitter woody aftertaste. Thanks to Pailhead for this one