De Molen Lang & Kaal (Tall and Bald)

Brewed by Brouwerij de Molen
Style: Barley Wine
Bodegraven, Netherlands

Bottled at Monks Café, Wallingatan, Stockholm. Pours out in a shady reddish mahogany colour with a small white foam. Rich, dense and compact aroma of prunes, fudge, sweet licorice, wood, cognac, red berries, white pepper and almonds. Full-bodied with strong chewy malty notes of pine-apples, prunes, wood, cognac, brown sugar, red apples and roasted almonds. Really thick and viscous mouthfeel with nearly no carbonation. Long chewy and a bit sticky finish of caramelized sugar, prunes, white pepper and cognac. Quite a astonishing dessert sipper, this. Another five years or so would do wonders.

Pours dark amber red with no head. Huge sweet nose of caramel, honey, candied and brown sugar. Same in the flavor with some heat. Syrupy sweet with an incredible mouthfeel.

Date: July 11, 2009
Mode: Bottle
Source: RBSG 2009
Appearance: clear amber, wispy head
Aroma: sweet caramel aroma, light spicyness
Body: big thick body
Flavor: sweet caramel flavor, vanilla sweetness, honey sweetness, just a hint of bitterness
Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 8/10; Overall: 15/20
Rating: 3.5/5.0
Drinkability: 6/10
Score: **4

Thanks to Jens for sharing at the RBSG 2009. Very sweet tasting with a scant amount of carbonation, I enjoyed drinking this beer. As others noted, it’s a sipper, thick, complex and not for the feint of heart.

Thanks Patrik! Hazy dark amber. Crazy aroma - lots of wood, complex cognac that is deeply vinous, sultanas...gorgeous. Very sweet, syrupy, but very soft. Sultana palate with almost rummy cognac notes. It’s a little bit stiff in the finish, but remains soft, balanced and complex. Rich brown sugars - might be the most complex of the superheavyweight sipping beers. Indeed, this category has come a long way since SA Triple Bock - we are seeing real creativity and quality these days. Fantastic stuff.

Bottle thanks to oh6gdx (Patrik) for sharing! Flat, deep amber. Heavy, hot aroma is grape brandy to the max and hurts the brain to inhale. I take that as a warning that the beer is strong. Flat, thick, oily, viscous and nice palate. The fruit is intense and hot with a panoply of sweet strawberry and vanilla. Lots of different fruits then boom,big vanilla. Finishes clean. Tiramisu beer.

2009-05-16, draught at Københavnske Øldage 2009, 7-4-9-4-16=40
Cloudy amber color, no head. Syrupy aroma, light cognac, malt. Strong body, strong candy-like sweetness, very malty, with the nice cognac touch (not quite like vanilla). Round; complete. I love these sweet Barley Wines; great!

Handbottle, 10 days later, 7-4-10-4-18=43
Hazy dark amber color, almost flat. The aroma is not so strong, it has caramel and fudge. Good body strength, bold but not too thick, a bit syrupy, clearly sweet; there is flavor of plums, raisins, toffee and fudge; giant! lovely! Correct bitterness (meaning: strong), warming but well hiding the alcohol and well balanced, with an intense fudge final.
Surely a different one, great malts.

Bottle at the RBSG tasting, thanks to Ungstrup I think. Copper with a smallish head. Sweet oak and brandy aroma with caramel and dried fruit. The flavor is sweet and oaky with the cognac showing as well. Very syrupy and full bodied. Nice aroma, but the flavor became a little too over the top sweet for me, and the body was just a tad too sticky. I had no idea this was this strong though and have to cut it some slack is the sweet/sticky department.