Bottle, vintage 2003
Light hazy amber, lowish head. Barrique, orangepeel and light brett aroma. Full chewy fruit base (strawberries, oranges). Herbal and citric notes, a hint barn. Quite full body, oily mouthfeel, fusel alcohol notes peek through here, and there, relatively dry aftertaste. Thanks a lot Otje!

50cl. From the brewery De Hemel in Nijmegen, Netherlands. Originally this was their summer beer but is now avaliable all year. Golden with parfume and fruits. White head. Sweet and comftable. Perfect for a hot summer day. The best from the Netherlands yet!

Tap, PRZH Winterbierfestival. Hazy orange golden color, short head. Aroma is spicy, typical De Hemel, maybe it’s the yeast, some caramel malt, some orange. Bit sweet and sirupy, some spices, orange again. Nice brew.

Hazy amber with lots of suspended white flecks of yeast - slight tartness in the aroma, with apples, yeast, musty/cobweb/earth tones, funky/cheese smells - apples and pears up front, with a gradual swelling alcohol burn, followed by caramel, vanilla, maybe even a hint of scotch - alcohol mellows as it warms - fairly well-balanced and quite flavorful - a tad pricey, but good stuff.

(Bottle 50 cl) Only 6% in my version. Holy smoke! This truly is....smoked. Well, sorry for the bad joke, but I was truly surprised suddenly to encounter a Dutch smoked - that’s a first. Very red and slightly hazy with a decent, light brown head. Sweetish - a bit odd for a smoked - with a good hop bite in the finish. A beer with personality. 060404

Bottle, especially brewed for the 2000th anniversary of the city of Nijmegen. Cloudy orange amber color, big off-white head. Aroma of typical de Hemel spices, some orange. Taste is bitter, fruity and bit caramel malty. Most de Hemel brews are quite alike and this one’s not very special, though good brewed.

A dark orange beer with a huge off-white head. The aroma is very yeasty and very sweet with notes of berries and spices especially coriander. The flavor is very sweet and spicy - again with coriander standing out, but also contains notes of peach and something I can’t figure out. The mouthfeel is smooth and the end is dry and sweet.

2004 bottle (waxed cap!) shared at the 4/17/05 Montreal tasting. Light-brown, amber-bronze, hazy with good reddish-brown tinges on the edges of a, mainly, bronze colored body. Small white head is gone quickly, with minimal lace. I really enjoyed the fruity aroma, apples, mushy pears, sweet cherries, blueberries and some caramel/toffee on the end. Pungent yeast adds a little plastic/rubber astringency. Flavor begins with raisins soaked in brandy, plenty of full fruitiness, dry yeast, almost an oily, slick mouthfeel with a medium body, very low carbonation. Alcohol warmth quite evident on the end, with notes of plum brandy, some chewy yeast and light cinnamon. Somehow the raisins stay with me throughout the flavor. As Tiggmtl notes, this would be much more enjoyable did it not have a mouthfeel reminiscent of Gale’s Prize old ale (mostly flat).

Cloudy orange color, large off-white head. Aroma of some yeast, mandarin and orange, typical de Hemel spices, coriander. Watery and sirupy taste, but in a very good balance, and exactly in the way i like these beers to be. It reminded me a bit of de Smisje Triple, but then its younger brother (or sister). Very nice brew.