Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8.5

Braxatorium Parcensis, the brewery of the Abdij van 't Park in Heverlee south of Leuven, presents their first oak aged beer with this limited edition (600 bottles only) of Libertus aged in Jim Beam bourbon barrels. Light gusher, so be ware when opening. Yellowish egg-white, initially very thick and foamy but slowly receding, very moussy, large-bubbled but regular head, audibly crackling over a cloudy deep peach blonde beer with rusty-brown tinge, clearly deepened in colour due to the oak barrel treatment. Aroma of strong vanilla-ish oak wood indeed, figs, honey, soggy biscuit, sweet bourbon (clear enough without becoming overly dominant), caramel, dried orange peel, sweet white grape or golden raisin, apple pie, dust, old attic, hints of star anise, sweet cicely, gingerbread, candied peach, ripe pear, dry earth. Sweet onset, lots of lively and stingy carbonation (a bit too much so even), fruity with lots of dried apricot, peach, yellow raisin, baked apple and slight banana, supple body with minerally effects from the (over)carbonation; slender sweet-bready maltiness with caramelly and biscuity side effects, somewhat spicy finish with lingering honeyish sweetness and dried-fruitiness merging with a drying tannic oak wood effect and warming sweet bourbon, even though the alcohol as such remains very tolerable. Orange peel, even slight marmalade notes creep in as well, paired with lingering (fried) apple and raisin aspects but also with a soft floral hop bitterness and pleasantly bready yeastiness. Overcarbonated perhaps, could have been a bit fuller and more layered too I suppose, but in its own modest way, this is actually a very tasty beer, very fruity and elegant with a very pronounced woodiness to it; the bourbon accentuates the fruitiness without pushing itself to the foreground too much. I must admit that I am a bit of a silent fan of this brewery, one of very few in Belgium located within an abbey outside of the trappist breweries: their beers, humble as they may seem, are always flavourful, balanced and very solid, in an earthy, 'Belgian' kind of way; none of them has made a negative impression on me so far so I will surely keep buying one every now and then.

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

330ml bottle, Sophie's Beer Store. Hazy golden appearance, large white head with a fine foam. Sugary sweet aroma. Smooth palate, fine carbonation with a sugary sweet character, sweet Belgian yeast coming through. Unfortunately not much grape influence, but it's generally quite pleasant.

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5

330ml bottle from Chez Sophie in Shrewsbury: BB April 2023. Poured into a Westmalle chalice at home on 28th August 2021. Smooth white head on a misty old golden body. Yeasty nose and taste, dank hops in the aroma too. There is a mild wine like feel to this flavour wise, but not enough to get excited about, just subtle hints. Gets a little hop bitter in the finish, overall an interesting and challenging beer, liked it.

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

C: Small white head over hazy golden beer.
N: Herbal nose, spicy, but sweet malts, bit soapy, already showing. Not very strong nose.
T: Sweet malty being the main taste, the herbal from the nose making a nice lining. Sweetness is delicate, nectar-like.
MF: Quite slick; light to medium bodied, good carbonation. Aftertaste is drier, almost hoppy.
O: Decent, certainly.

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6.5 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

Medium, off-white head over hazy amber-golden beer. Vinous a mile out, but then fading to sweet, caramelly malts, honey, faint alcoholaroma. Quite good balance, really malty yet a fine hoppy bitterness balancing. Has notes of fine green herbs, all caramel covered. In the aftertaste, some resins. Light body, medium to good carbonation, quite slick. Pretty good, actually. I'm favourably inclined towards this newcomer, reviving a long-lost brewery. Maybe Leuven might call itself the beertown with real reason in the future.

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7

'Brown tripel' and therefore a dubbel or quadrupel by definition, from the zealous monks of Leuven's Abdij van Park, brewing on their own premises (watch out trappists - brewing monks will be everywhere in Belgium soon...). Audibly crackling, yellowish-white, creamy, dense, pillowy, stable, sparsely lacing head on a misty caramel-bronze brown beer with deep amber hue, lots of dead yeast dots near the bottom. Aroma of melting caramel, old tea bags, nutmeg, dry birch leaves, green walnuts, unripe banana, 'Babelutten', lightly burnt toast, chewing gum, warm butter, stewed pear, walnut shells, very old brown honey, clove, something rubber-like in the background. Fruity, sweetish onset, some brown sugar 'activity' but certainly not too much, pear, banana and red apple, something bubblegummy below, as well as a very basic and dim sourish touch, moderately carbonated with a slick body (actually feeling thinner than 8.5% ABV). Smooth caramelly maltiness with a brown-bready core and very lightly toasted-bitterish edge in the end, superseded by a brown-honeyish sweetness, also carrying forward the fruity aspects; spicy, clove-like phenols appear in the end, but do not turn 'medicinal' or chemical anywhere, remaining in place like they should. Caramelly and very mildly toasty-bitter malt effects dominate the finish, further adorned by a floral, somewhat leafy hop bitterness and nutmeg- and clove-like spiciness; the bubblegum effect sadly lingers, but the alcohol - not unimportant at this ABV - remains very well hidden, though still providing a 'jenever'-ish warmth in the end, palpably going down the throat. Not a bad effort, in all: sweet, but clearly less so than its macro-brewed congeners (Leffe, Grimbergen, Tongerlo), with some mild phenolic and estery aspects. Still, I cannot help but feeling a little bit disappointed, as the other beers I had from this abbey were considerably more interesting; the bubblegummy, eventually almost glueish aspect began to bother me a bit in the end and the whole feels thinner than it should at this strength. Maybe the Park monks are better at dry, blond beer styles - time will tell. --- Beer merged from original tick of Braxatorium Parcensis 6th Libertus Cuvée on 20 Feb 2021 at 01:29 - Score: Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6. Original review text: 'Brown tripel' and therefore a dubbel or quadrupel by definition, from the zealous monks of Leuven's Abdij van Park, brewing on their own premises (watch out trappists - brewing monks will be everywhere in Belgium soon...). Audibly crackling, yellowish-white, creamy, dense, pillowy, stable, sparsely lacing head on a misty caramel-bronze brown beer with deep amber hue, lots of dead yeast dots near the bottom. Aroma of melting caramel, old tea bags, nutmeg, dry birch leaves, green walnuts, unripe banana, 'Babelutten', lightly burnt toast, chewing gum, warm butter, stewed pear, walnut shells, very old brown honey, clove, something rubber-like in the background. Fruity, sweetish onset, some brown sugar 'activity' but certainly not too much, pear, banana and red apple, something bubblegummy below, as well as a very basic and dim sourish touch, moderately carbonated with a slick body (actually feeling thinner than 8.5% ABV). Smooth caramelly maltiness with a brown-bready core and very lightly toasted-bitterish edge in the end, superseded by a brown-honeyish sweetness, also carrying forward the fruity aspects; spicy, clove-like phenols appear in the end, but do not turn 'medicinal' or chemical anywhere, remaining in place like they should. Caramelly and very mildly toasty-bitter malt effects dominate the finish, further adorned by a floral, somewhat leafy hop bitterness and nutmeg- and clove-like spiciness; the bubblegum effect sadly lingers, but the alcohol - not unimportant at this ABV - remains very well hidden, though still providing a 'jenever'-ish warmth in the end, palpably going down the throat. Not a bad effort, in all: sweet, but clearly less so than its macro-brewed congeners (Leffe, Grimbergen, Tongerlo), with some mild phenolic and estery aspects. Still, I cannot help but feeling a little bit disappointed, as the other beers I had from this abbey were considerably more interesting; the bubblegummy, eventually almost glueish aspect began to bother me a bit in the end and the whole feels thinner than it should at this strength. Maybe the Park monks are better at dry, blond beer styles - time will tell.

gusher

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7

Intended as "the first low alcohol tripel", which is of course a contradictio in terminis, this is one of several beers already developed by the well-known Parkabdij, a norbertine abbey near Leuven which started brewing in their own microbrewery (installed on the abbey's own premises - importantly!) in 2017. Brewed with rye and malted wheat and hopped with Lubelski (a traditional Czech variety), Willamette and Nugget (both American varieties from the seventies and thus among the pioneering New World hops). Initially towering high, foamy head, egg-white, thickly plaster-like lacing and densely mousy, diminishing slowly over a misty deep golden beer with ochre-ish tinge and a whirlwind of sparkles storming through the glass, sustaining this long-lasting head. Aroma of cold camomile tea, lemon zest, green banana, strong minerals (further enhanced by the high degree of carbon dioxide initially), freshly baked white bread, apple peel, dried lemonbalm somewhere, hint of pineapple, some vague soap, green pear, dried thyme. Fruity, very spritzy onset, strong minerality both from the carbon dioxide and from the brewing water itself (carbonated sparkling water effect), banana peel, pear and light pineapple notes but elegantly refraining from too much sweetness; rounded body, not quite betraying its low alcohol volume, with a nice bready malt 'fluffiness', a dim underlying rye spiciness and a soft wheat soapiness, but the latter remains very limited and even if this soapy effect remains noticeable to the finish, it does not become all witbier-like (despite the beer being brewed in the larger historical witbier region - though they can of course brew anything they want there). The banana ester travels along but does not dominate anywhere, while the finish is gently yet confidently bittered by a seemingly 'noble', very floral and spicy hoppiness, blending well with the grainy aspects of the rye, the bready yeastiness and the lingering spicy phenols and fruity esters. Overcarbonated even for what is essentially a below-average-strength Belgian blonde, sure, but the flavours are very well connected and balanced; it does convey a certain tripel-like fullness in spite of its low strength (comparable to e.g. Westmalle Extra), which is a 'tour de force' in its own right. This is my second Braxatorium Parcensis beer and the second time I am pleasantly surprised - this is classic Belgian style brewing (in spite of the American hops) I can certainly appreciate. I would even go as far as to say that this brewery - so far in my limited experience with it - manages to live up to the expectations one would (traditionally) have of brewing in monasteries. I heard that the norbertine monks of Grimbergen are working on a similar project and I would not be surprised if more abbeys follow. The global beer revolution has several effects in Belgium, with American style craft brewing more often than not clashing with the old local traditions, but one of these effects is that we are gradually returning to a situation where every village has its own brewery (as was the case a century and more ago - there were more than 2000 breweries in Belgium in 1920, for instance); if this trend of monks taking up brewing themselves again continues, then this too will, in a way, restitute a historical situation of much more than just a century ago. I can only hope that I will live to tell. --- Beer merged from original tick of Braxatorium Parcensis Quirinus 1st Rogge on 30 Jan 2021 at 15:53 - Score: Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7. Original review text: Intended as the first low alcohol tripel, which is of course a contradictio in terminis, this is one of several beers already developed by the well-known Parkabdij, a norbertine abbey near Leuven which started brewing in their own microbrewery (installed on the abbey's own premises - importantly!) in 2017. Brewed with rye and malted wheat and hopped with Lubelski (a traditional Czech variety), Willamette and Nugget (both American varieties from the seventies and thus among the pioneering New World hops). Initially towering high, foamy head, egg-white, thickly plaster-like lacing and densely mousy, diminishing slowly over a misty deep golden beer with ochre-ish tinge and a whirlwind of sparkles storming through the glass, sustaining this long-lasting head. Aroma of cold camomile tea, lemon zest, green banana, strong minerals (further enhanced by the high degree of carbon dioxide initially), freshly baked white bread, apple peel, dried lemonbalm somewhere, hint of pineapple, some vague soap, green pear, dried thyme. Fruity, very spritzy onset, strong minerality both from the carbon dioxide and from the brewing water itself (carbonated sparkling water effect), banana peel, pear and light pineapple notes but elegantly refraining from too much sweetness; rounded body, not quite betraying its low alcohol volume, with a nice bready malt 'fluffiness', a dim underlying rye spiciness and a soft wheat soapiness, but the latter remains very limited and even if this soapy effect remains noticeable to the finish, it does not become all witbier-like (despite the beer being brewed in the larger historical witbier region - though they can of course brew anything they want there). The banana ester travels along but does not dominate anywhere, while the finish is gently yet confidently bittered by a seemingly 'noble', very floral and spicy hoppiness, blending well with the grainy aspects of the rye, the bready yeastiness and the lingering spicy phenols and fruity esters. Overcarbonated even for what is essentially a below-average-strength Belgian blonde, sure, but the flavours are very well connected and balanced; it does convey a certain tripel-like fullness in spite of its low strength (comparable to e.g. Westmalle Extra), which is a 'tour de force' in its own right. This is my second Braxatorium Parcensis beer and the second time I am pleasantly surprised - this is classic Belgian style brewing (in spite of the American hops) I can certainly appreciate. I would even go as far as to say that this brewery - so far in my limited experience with it - manages to live up to the expectations one would (traditionally) have of brewing in monasteries. I heard that the norbertine monks of Grimbergen are working on a similar project and I would not be surprised if more abbeys follow. The global beer revolution has several effects in Belgium, with American style craft brewing more often than not clashing with the old local traditions, but one of these effects is that we are gradually returning to a situation where every village has its own brewery (as was the case a century and more ago - there were more than 2000 breweries in Belgium in 1920, for instance); if this trend of monks taking up brewing themselves again continues, then this too will, in a way, restitute a historical situation of much more than just a century ago. I can only hope that I will live to tell.