Strong ale by Huisbrouwerij Den Tseut, aged on oak chips - and raisins. Comes from a 75 cl bottle with crown cap and neckfoil, bought at De Hopduvel in Ghent. Slow gusher, but manageable. Eggshell-white, bit irregular, frothy and pillowy, tightly papery lacing head on a lightly hazy deep orangey-amber beer with enthusiastic sparkling throughout, turning into a misty, slightly brownish-tinged amber with sediment. Aroma of toasted peanuts, dried rosemary, dried apple peel, brandy, indeed old oak wood, orange peel, brown soap, young 'jenever', bitter tree leaves, subtle hints of pan-fried potatoes, toasted pumpkin seeds, roasted carrots, persimmon, multi-grain bread crust, wood glue, black radish peel, plastic. Fruity, spritzy onset, lively carbonated with minerally effects, hints of peach, red apple, persimmon and some slight bubblegummy banana; full, soft mouthfeel, a bit vinous from the considerable alcohol level. Soggy toast-, rusk- and bread crust-like maltiness with a peanutty edge as well as a light streak of caramel but not much residual sweetness, rather dryish in fact, with a phenolic spicy effect in the end distracting a bit from the oak chips and the raisins (the latter only being noticeable in a very 'distorted' way that I would never recognize as such - they do not even add sweetness, only a rather frugal dried fruit accent). A somewhat wry yeast bitterness is highlighted less by the oak effect (though woody tannins are present) and more by a heating, strong, 'jenever'- to brandy-like alcohol effect in the end, with rather wry impressions of old potato peel, nutmeg, dried bitter herbs and even plastic lingering, distracting from the nevertheless elegant vanilla-like scent provided retronasally by the oak chips. Rather crude, boozy and unrefined, clearly an attempt at a more 'up-market' luxury beer, but in need of a lot of finetuning, if e.g. recent editions of Dolle's Stille Nacht Special Reserva or even Bush Prestige are to be seen as leading examples in this particular segment of 'wood-aged' Belgian style barleywines. Honorable attempt, but not worth its price tag - yet.

Lourde en bouche, sans grande complexité et des arômes peu emballants de miel, céréales et pomme de terre j'ai eu du mal à m'emballer pour cette triple. En verre, nous avons un blond doré limpide avec une joli mousse blanche nappant la surface. Attention tout de même de ne pas faire tomber le houblon dans votre verre, et ce au sens propre du terme (c'est la première fois que je vois cela, mais ne pense pas que ce soit voulu). Le nez est sur le miel, les céréales et la pomme de terre…cocktail morose qui accompagne par la suite toute la dégustation. Avec sa sucrosité, l'alcool à 10 % ne se fait pas ressentir mais donne à la fois du corps et de la chaleur. Mais il aurait surtout fallu une amertume un peu plus poussée pour rehausser tout cela et donner un peu de flamboyance. Au lieu de cela on s'ennuie et ce ne sont pas longueur et corpulence, bonnes, qui y changeront quoi que ce soit. Triple ennuyeuse.

Den Tseut's first attempt at a non-Belgian beer style, tasted at Maldegems Bierfestival in spring; unfortunately I seem to have lost my notes, so this one is from sheer memory. Mousy, medium thick, regular, lacing, pale beige head on a black beer with thin mahogany edges. Aroma of roasted walnuts, coffee grounds, bitter chocolate, dried figs, tea, toasted brown bread, nutmeg, cloves, light bubblegum. Clean onset, fruity hints of fig and fried banana, medium fizz, slick and oily mouthfeel, tad bubblegummy, toasted-nutty, somewhat caramelly and bitter-chocolatey malt profile with a coffeeish roasted bitter finish, under which a sourish undertone runs; herbal and spicy hop bitterish notes in the end along with mild phenolic effects and lingering dark, bitter maltiness. This creation has apparently only been sold at a handful of beer festivals so far, but the brewery told me that they have intentions to further finetune this beer and eventually release it under another name - at which point this entry will become an alias. Frankly, I was not expecting Den Tseut to come up with a stout as clean and to the point as this one; a basic dry stout it is, opening possibilities for further elaborations. Well done and unexpected, I was pleasantly surprised by this un-Tseut-like beer and I hope to encounter it again in its final form; I would even recommend the brewer to further elaborate on it and create a bunch of different stouts based on this progenitor, that would certainly draw more attention to them from the beer geek community (if that is indeed what they are after by creating this beer).

Bottle. Amber color. Yeasty aroma with a hint of red berries. Alcoholic flavor with some citrus notes. Hint of toffee. Not outstanding in any way.

Bottle. Pale golden color, hazy. Pineapple aroma. Pineapple, citrus and earthy hops and melon in the flavor. Alcoholic. Some oily hops coming up in the finish, next to the fruit. Thinnish.

Bottle. Amber color, cloudy. Pear and pineapple in the aroma. Tropical fruit, pear and yeast in the flavor. Sticky mouthfeel, tart notes. Mint in the aftertaste. Fairly pleasant brew.

Bottle. Orange golden color, hazy. White pepper in the aroma. White pepper, toffee and a hint of tangerine in the flavor. Notes of yeast. Thinnish. OK, nothing more.

Bottle. Orange blonde color. Cloudy. Hint of orange in the aroma. Soft fruity flavor. Citrus and mango. Fairly dry. Hints of alcohol. Pleasant fruity blonde ale.

Bottle. Blonde. Soft floral citric aroma. Floral citris, slightly alcoholic flavor. Somewhat perfumed. Sweet with some tropical fruit. Not unpleasant