De Molen Cuvée

Brewed by Brouwerij de Molen
Style: American Strong Ale
Bodegraven, Netherlands

Black with a lasting off-white head, leaving some lace. Roast aroma with oak at the front, backed up by licorice and chocolate notes. Smooth chocolate flavour with tannins and oak flavours, and a note of charcoal roastedness. The oak impression is really smooth fresh wood, but with a good tannin bite. Soft carbonation and a full body makes it a wonderful beer to sip

Draught at EBF 2008. Pitch black coloured with a medium sized lacing beige head. Sweet and light roasted aroma of red wine, oak, vanilla and caramel with notes of coffee. Light roasted flavour of coffee, red wine, oak and hops with notes of alcohol. Roasted, hoppy and warming alcoholic finish. Combines the best from a sour ale with the best from an imperiial stout.

Oak Barrel [EBF @ Copenhagen, September 2008] Thanks to the brewer for a very enjoyable festival. Average rocky off-white head that mostly lasted. Good display of lacework. Dark mahogany best describe the color. Aroma was explosive and very complex with notes of oak, vanilla, vinous, plums, raisins, candy sugar, berries, fruit, and spice. Over the palate came strong malty base of caramel, toasted malt. Mild hops could also be detected. Very full bodied with an average carbonation and thick mild alcoholic dry texture. Heavy sweet flavor well balanced with some bitterness. Lingering dried fruity and mild floral finish. Excellent brew and a very unique and different experience.

(Wooden cask) Almost black with a tanned, lacy head. Very intense aroma of caramely, griny malt, strong, woody notes, some alcohol, port-wineous. Strong oaky woodiness also in the flavor, with caramely malt, well hidden alcohol, (dryish) port feel. Full body with very little carbonation. Intense, balanced, and totally awesome even as young.

Sample from a bottle @ De Molen. Soft but persistant vinous aroma with licorice and pepper. Vinous flavor, strong notes of claret. Oak, hints of pepper. Flowery, earthy and citrus notes. Just a bit of tartness caused by the Bordeaux yeast. Some butter in the aftertaste. Rodenbach Grand Cru meets Imperial Stout, I’d say. An amazing complexity and softness in this world class beer.

Cask Deep brown, with almost no head. Cognac, cherry, alcohol, wood, fruity, and fusels, and wow. Beautiful balance of alcohol, fusels, wood, fruity esters, dark fruit. Vinous². Viscous, oily MF, just sliding down in a lethal way - perfect balance. Effectively the best Dutch beer ever tasted, genuine masterpiece, whatever mixing it required.

Bottle@Home. Very complex aroma with vanilla, bourbon, dried dark berries and some red peppers. Dark ruby color, light brown head, good lace. Very sweet, very bitter, light fruity sourness underneath, chocolate, coffee, very complex. Heavy flavors, yummy.

Tap @ EBF, 2008, Carlsberg.
Pours deep red-brown with a wonderful, creamy, yellow-beige head. Super complexity in the aroma. Grapes, chocolate, raisins, spice, vanilla, prunes, ginger, cocoa... more? Super, oily mouthfeel. The flavour equals the complexity of the aroma. Berries, quite vinious without ever going overboard. The chocolate peeps in again, lightly roasted and a wonderful light fruity tartness with grapes and raisins. Some blueberries and milky chocolate in the long lingering finish that resembles some port. Truly the star of the show (that is, EBF). Why, oh, why, is this not bottled?

And now, duly corrected, the beer is bottled. Thanks bierkoning and Menno :o)