Flossmoor Station Collaborative Evil 2008

Brewed by Flossmoor Station Restaurant & Brewery
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Flossmoor, Illinois USA

This poured a barely translucent brown (root beer) in color with a thin off-white to beige head. The nose immediately showed the wealth of spices followed by the sweet honey, herbs (some eucalyptus) and finally dark fruit. In the mouth it was medium to full-bodied and concentrated with a smooth and rich mouthfeel. Though there is also some bitterness of the finish and refreshing carbonation throughout keeping this very well-balanced. Due to this wonderful balance it completely hides the 10% alcohol. As others said, this is very spicy but that is something I love so it really hits a sweet spot for me.

Looks, smells, and tastes like an overly spiced Christmas ale... ’’ten cups of honey, nine raisins floating, eight candi sugars, seven anise starlets, cardamon aplenty, two Belgian yeasts, and a used Dr. Scholls insert...’’ 10%abv...almost completey invisible. OK

Thanks to hopheap84 for bringing this to Lost Abbey. Dark Amber color. Wonderful very spicy aroma with lots of cardamon and cloves. Sweetish. Very good. I think I’ve tried another version of this from another brewery: Fiftyfifty.

Bottle shared by Shane at the dinner provided by the Lost Abbey for the Sinner’s. Very spice filled aroma that I enjoyed. Flavor was not as spicy but still very good.

Shared by Shane at the Sinner’s Party at Lost Abbey. What a crazy nose. So much spice. So much aromas. Flavor was similar, but I would have just rather smelled it all night long. I really like these spicy beers. Very good.

Bottle @ Lost Abbey taste from wetherel via shane. Overall tasty with notes of spice and clove, thin on the mouth but strangely strong and spicy in the taste.

Courtesy of Shane. Thanks! Brown with a fizzy white head. Amazing sweet spicy aroma!!! Great taste of raisin, honey dominate, and earthy/sweet spices. Excellent.

Sampled GABF 2008
This has a frothy, dark tan colored head that sits on top of a murky, amber tinged, dark brown colored beer. Wow, this smells strongly of cardamom with a mix of aromatic notes of cola, clove, an at times green herbaceous note and even a distinct hemp like notes. The aroma is also quite herbal, and I was actually a bit surprised by how spicy this was.

The herbal / hemp flavor continues on in the flavor, but there is also lots of expressive cardamom character as well as a clove-like finish to the beer. This is fairly sweet and has a chewy, rich, viscous bodied, amply maltiness to it as well. The herbal notes are interesting in their intensity; at times it is mint-like and at others more menthol oriented, but both are probably a result of the dominant cardamom character. Underneath all the spice character, and accentuated by the rich malt character, is a hidden, rich, fruity backdrop that adds notes of raisins and figs.

Once tasted, I realized this was obviously quite amply spiced. This will most definitely age quite well for quite some time, especially since the spice character is fairly intense. It is not spiced to overwhelming levels though and, despite all my focus / complaining, is even fairly enjoyable fresh, but I definitely prefer a much more subtle approach to spicing beers.