330mL capped bottle poured into St. Augustine goblet glass. As is typical for Smisje beers, great deal of sediment that I tried to separate and pour into a beer shot glass. Still at thick glowing amber gold color with a strong and thick foamy head. Aroma is thick Belgian pie crust with light pear syrup. Aroma is very much the house character. Flavor is a looser and lighter Belgian ale - dough with spritzy herbalness. Then there is a shot of bitter herbal hops. No matter how hard this brewer tries the American level of hoppiness never comes off well. I would so much prefer the beer without the hoppy stab but still a lovely Belgian ale otherwise. Of course, I have a bias for this brewery, their yeast speaks to my inner beer soul.

11.2oz bottle. Cap is stamped with Lot 087, not sure what, if anything, that means. I must admit that I am biased when rating this beer. I am a big fan of Regenboog, which I guess is now Smisje. I think I’ve only had one of their beers since the change but if this is any indication not much has changed. This beer, as is norm for Regenboog/Smisje, pours with a muddy, dirty ruby hued brown. No clarity and full of yeast byproduct. At first a foamy and bubbly head that fades rather quickly and loudly. Aroma is full with plummy, raisiny, fruit-rum cake-y mix of alcohol, yeast, and malt. Strong and sweet but not sugary or too much alcohol. The dominant house yeast is present and lots of fruitiness but well balanced by the strength. Flavor has the same characteristics but a slight addition of hoppiness. We aren’t talking about American level of hoppiness but more than one sees in a traditional Belgian Strong. Non-astringent cherry fruitiness and a light paperiness finishes the flavor. The "paper" aspect, I am hesitant to call it cardboard, is interesting. I don;t know if this is an old bottle, I’ve never seen Smiske in the USA before nowadays who knows. Or this brewery always seems have that character, which may be a byproduct of a bit too much oxygen exposure during brewing. But I think it actually accentuates the beer and helps balance the strong and sweet characters. Either way, I’ve been drinking a lot of bad beer recently, I am happy to finally sit down with a beer that makes me happy. I hope to see more Smiske beers in the US.

33cl bottle shared with Kermis. Thin white head. Clloudy amber pour. Not great. A bit sour,

21/08/2016 @home - 33cl bottle from a trade with jerre. Thick purple brown colour with sticky, creamy tanned head. Nose is dark malts and caramel. Taste is dark malts, caramel, licorice, bit roast, lots of spices.

Imported from my RateBeer account as Smiske Vario 2016 (by Brouwerij Smisje):
Aroma: 7/10, Appearance: 4/5, Taste: 6/10, Palate: 3/5, Overall: 11/20, MyTotalScore: 3.1/5

13/VIII/16 - 33cl bottle from Geers (Oostakker) @ home - BB: III/2019 (2016-839)

clear dark purple brown beer, big creamy crackling beige head, pretty stable, adhesive, leaving a nice lacing in the glass. Aroma: lots of caramel, sugary, some dried fruits, overripe banana, spicy. MF: lively carbon, medium body. Taste: pretty spicy start, liquorish, star anise, sweet caramel. Aftertaste: pretty spicy, hoppy bitterness, soft roast, lots of overripe banana, aniseed, some chocolate, sugary.

Bottle shared thanks to Mrk. Slight gusher. Golden with lots of tiny things floating around and short lasting big fizzy white head. Lots of grains and bread, sugar, rye bread, some hay. This basically tastes like liquid bread. Medium sweet. Medium bodied. Pretty bad.