Bottle, RBESG 2005 Grand Tasting. Strong aroma, verging on the unpleasant, with notes of oak, brown sugar, lime and molasses. Flavour is oaky, alcoholic and too sweet, with notes of lime and lemongrass in the background. Not a love affair for me this one.

Bottled @RBESG’05
Pale hoppy yellow, small white head. Citrusy, apricot nose. Medium to full-bodied. Sweetish grassy, some licorice there too.

Bomber from Belgianhomebrew, thanks man! Shared with Eyedrinkale on 8/5/2005. Served chilled, to start, in a corsendonk tulip.
Smells quite yeasty, though rather a meaty/heavy yeastiness. Sherry, marzipan and the gang are all present as well. Some wet, rotting flower petals. Maybe a hint of lavendar. Pineapple and old spoiling peaches as well. Color is a hazy peach, slight rust tones and copper-gold hues throughout. Respectable white head is dense and creamy, but quite small. It does retain well at a small covering and there is some spotty lacing. Handful of bubbles rise, slowly, every couple of seconds. The sediment is suspended throughout the beer. Flavor begins with caramel and taffee (sort of a chewy, vanilla and cream flavor). Peppery notes arise quickly to balance the sweetness, but it dosent take much, as this is quite well-attenuated. On the finish, there is a whiskeyish element, though I know this wasnt barrel aged. Could just be the pepperiness mixed with slight fruity esters. Sweet peaches and light clementines. Great palate is immediately noticeable. Low carbonation, small, expansive bubbles. No thinning or wateriness in this sample. Every sip I’m getting vanilla and pepper. Finishes with caramel and almost a nutmeg flavor. VERY Drinkable, I’m enjoying it almost too much for how analytical/observational I’m trying to be. Pepperiness never leaves, and the body holds to the end, as well. A soft and gentle, almost session like ale. Medium body overall, with the yeast not meaty like the aroma would suggest. I can taste similarities to the 050505’s yeast profile, but it’s not fuelic or crude. There just isn’t as much yeast pumped in to it. Dulls towards the end of the glass with some candi-like sugariness and almost a mineralesque yeastiness. No alcohol noted anywhere. Good stuff!

Interesting, a nice smoky character, were the oak chips smoked or charred? Because I got alot more smoke than wood. Also, a fairly sweet beer, a good dose of caramel malting up front, and all around. In fact, this beer was somewhat surprisingly two dimensional with just the smoke and caramel notes dominating. I was left wanting more complexity, and surpisingly, more hops in the finish. Perhaps its not a good candidate for aging, as in, I sampled it at 1 year’s age and I could possibly guess it was more vibrant when younger. Attractive deep rubyish color, large creamy head. Very smooth palate and easily quaffable. Distinctly potable.

(Bottle 65 cl) Vintage 2005 - 11,26% ABV in this version. Beautiful deep amber, small off-white head. Pronounced alcoholic nose. Sweet caramel, very spicy with a pronounced bitterness - if not exactly suffocating. 170705

(Bottle 65 cl) Nice, clear amber colour with a small, white head. Lovely spicy nose - ginger? Spicy flavors with lots of sweet caramel and hops - loads of them. Pronounced alcohol - almost grappa-like. Very unusual, but very delicate. Oh, did I forget to mention, that this is quite a bitter beer also?

Bottle. Very dark amber-mahogony beer with a nioce beige head. Rich malt aroma with some fruit and cola. Rich fruity/malty flavor - sweet malt, dates, raisins, yeasty spiciness. Full bodied. Easy to drink - hides alcohol well. Some cocoa and roastiness. What keeps this from being a great beer is that it misses the rich aftertaste. The flavor just sort of peters out without giving you enough satisfaction.