De Molen Lang & Kaal (Tall and Bald)

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

33 cl bottle. Clear amber with some bubbles around the edge. Nose is honey, vanilla, plum brandy and grassy alcohol. Smooth medium body; sticky with a trace of carb. Taste is very sweet caramel, apple and honey; quite like a mead. Cognac adds some complexity but doesn’t dominate. Finishes with melon and citrus peel.

33cl Bottle from Bert’s Bierhuis. Slightly hazy nutty amber colour, no head. Aroma of full on very sweet malts and lots of fruits like prunes, white raisins, alcohol. Flavour is very sweet, too sweet imo, very fruity and malty, light cognac feel in the finish, but I’d like that to be more pronounced. Fullbodied, but no carbonation at all, and I strongly dislike that, a beer should have at least some bubbles imo. It’s also way too sweet for my liking. It’s a well-crafted brew, but just not for me.

Poured hazy amber, sweet white grapes, caramel malts, wood, vanilla, little nutty, slight licorice.

Bottled 33cl 416/1134, bottled 10.4.2009
Dark amber-brown color, tiny white head. Sticky sweet aroma: molasses, prune, fig, grapes. Full-bodied. Very sticky, very sweet, very liquerish. Vanilla, oak, sugar, fark fruits in the flavor. Sweetness is covering the alcohol totally. Dessert beer. 33cl is too much!

Shiny copper color with no head - just some disparate airy bubbles that quickly fades away. Raisins, lots of cognac, rum-soaked fruits (plums) in the nose. Actually, here’s quite a lot of fruits. Malty aromas of caramel. Quite a lot of alcohol as well, but the alcohol is nicely integrated and is reminiscent of fine spirits. Although the smell seems slightly muted due to the obvious lack of carbonation, it’s still very impressive and powerful. The taste is malty and very sweet. Lots of fruit here as well (grapes, plums, apples, raisins), but the fruity aromas are not as liqueur-like as in the smell. Notes of cognac, nuts, caramel and fudge. A hint of oak. Perhaps I pick up a hint of vanilla. The taste is not overly powerful, but very nice. The finish is mildly bitter with some leafy and spicy hop notes (more than expected), quite a lot of alcohol and lingering cognac flavors. The alcohol is impressively well hidden. Full-bodied with a fat and chewy texture. No carbonation at all. D: A very delightful and potent beer. Balanced. But some carbonation would have been nice. Definitely recommended. Serving type: bottle (Copy of old Beer Advocate review)

2009 bottle#0733. Hazy amber with no head. Big pit fruit, toasted oak, brandy, spicy aromas. Medium body with little carbonation. Big candi sugar sweet flavors with vanilla, brown sugar, mild brandy and oak. Very little bitterness,booze is well hidden. Thanks Ken for this bottle.

Bottle. Rich aroma with plums, grapes. nuts. oak and portwine. Deep redbown colour with no head. Very sweet flavour which ends up like portwine and wood. Surprisingly low bitterness despite high IBU 62.