Bottleworks Van den Vern Grand Cru

Brewed by De Proefbrouwerij
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Lochristi, Belgium

Big cherry, oaky nose. Cherries and oak, malty, unbalanced mouth. Not sour. Too young. All over the place. It burns.... If a college kid was experimenting with homebrew and was trying to make a wild Belgian style, I would say he this was a good effort.

Bottle labeled bottled in 2004. Poured a medium to darker brownish color with an averaged sized off white head. Aromas of dark cherries, brown sugary, caramel, and light alcohol. Tastes of cherries, caramel, and other dark fruits. On the sweeter and a little syrupy.

Thanks hopdog. Yeasty, copper-brown body with a sudsy beige head. Aroma of sweet unattenuated malt, molasses, vanilla, and some sharp alcohol. Nice flavor suggesting sweet port, plums, and cherries. Syrupy texture. A nice sipper.

Poured a hazy amber color with a small, soapy, off white head that left nice lacing on the glass. Aroma of nuts, caramel malts, yeast, and some spices. Taste of caramel malts, green apples, sour cherries, dried fruits, and light alcohol. Creamy mouthfeel.

Thanks to hopdog. Pours an orange amber with small floaties and an average off white lacing head. Aroma of caramel and just an overall sweetness/brown sugar. Flavor of caramel, maybe some citrus and various fruits.

I wasn’t sure of it was supposed to be a dark strong or a flemish sour, but it was enjoyable anyway. There are plums and prunes and dates in here, along with strong whiffs of cherry and plenty or biscuits drizzled with warm brown sugar and maple syrup. The swallow goes sweet fruit-sweet malt-mild tart-dough aftertaste, with the two constants through the swallow being the soft yeast and the cherries. Quite nice, but could have done without the dusty/sharp phenol note that cropped up from time to time.

Pours a really cool looking brown with ruby and purpleish tinges to it. A nice auburn head lays on top, rather thick. The stuff really packs the sediment, so much that much of it remained stuck to the inside of the bottle. Nose is a dry dark fruit variety, livend up a bit with some subtle warm spicing and yeastiness. Moderatelt sweet to start, a nice malt base is accentuated with some fine dark fruits and a pepperiness that livens up the tongue. Brown sugar and barnyard are also there. Finishes kind of dry, with some banana and coriander. Rather complex. Not bad at all. Alcohol hidden well, with just a slight warming in the esophagus.

2004 bottle. Pours brown with large, chunky floaters and a big rocky, off-white head. The aroma is caramel, candi sugar and a whiff of cherries. The flavor is candi sugar, plums, cookie dough and yeasty with a bit of tartness at the end. The mouthfeel is lovely, rich and creamy. Good stuff.