Flossmoor Station Ovation

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

Pours a murky dark brown. Nose is spicy, dark fruits, cherries, oak, and wood. Taste is just weird, way too much spice thrown in, cherry medicinal notes, oak, vanilla, raisin, sweet, and just weird.

Bomber split shortly after release, courtesy of BeerBunker. Million thanks, as I was suffering a dental emergency, and could not purchase my own allotment 11/14/09. A - Smells of sour, funky grape. Wine like fruitiness. Vanilla eminating from pour. Toasty caramel, and spirit. Belgian sugary sweetness. A - Caramel colored pour, sitting a murky brown in glass. Tan head. F - Initially sour and tart fruit. Raisin? Some vanilla, malt, oaky bourbon character. Yeastiness mid way. P - Not overly boozy in mouth. Though finishes warming alcoholic. Thin. Sour fruit, wet oak and vanilla linger. O - I am generally a fan of barrel aged beer. This just didn’t woo me. Not very reminiscent of the base, or general profile I expected. Became more pleasant as warmed. Pricetag not bad for a <200 bottle run. $15-18? Especially since Wooden Hell is a Gem. Probably no cheap task for a small brewer, either. And its I had to try this, but I wouldn’t consider seeking a bottle for myself. Maybe with time.

Date: December 04, 2009
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting
Appearance: clear dark brown with ruby edges, frothy beige head, bits of lace
Aroma: sweet caramel and chocolate aroma, lots of fruity spicyness
Flavor: sweet fruity flavor, nice spicyness, balancing tartness
Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 5/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 10/20
Rating: 2.8/5.0
Drinkability: 6/10
Score: ** /4

Bottle brought back from the Station. Pours dark amber with a trim beige head. Smells a lot like Cantillon Iris -- the soapy flower aroma is noticeable from across the table. Very cloying up front with this flavor, but quickly moves into a really enjoyable combination of sour cherries, honey, bourbon, and caramel. Certainly an ambitious, if not strange, brew that I would welcome trying again.

Sample from bottle shared by nbutler. Aroma of oak wood and some sweet honey. Black body with dirty white head. Flavor of sweet raisons and that sweetness was left on palate which wasn’t exactly good. But did have some pale ale handy for cleaner.

bottle shared by nbutler pours a brown with a white head. aroma is jasmine caramel oak the perfume of a french whore malt. flavor is the same. thanks nick.

Very dark brown pour (though retains some translucency) and a small apologetic off-white head. The first whiff is of sweet dark fruits, plums, prunes, dark cherries...and wine. Flavors likewise seem skewed towards the darker sweet fruits aforementioned...in addition to a vinous sour note, which seems like more of a wine barrel type addition...(are we sure about the bourbon here...I don’t see, smell, or taste a bit of it!). Very interesting as both it and I warm up. Flavors seem to meld seemlessly. Vinous alcoholic sour touches liven up a tad in the finish. Very, very different than I recall the base beer, which I was not knocked out by.

Thanks to RAYBOY01 splitting one of his bottles with me. It poured a dark brown body, clear around the edges, with a short-lived off-white head. Black licorice was the first scent to reach my nose, followed by plum jam, dark cherries, damp wood, and a whiff of alcohol. The flavor had a light winey sourness (actually reminding me of days of yore when I took communion), was full of dark fruit, was lightly spiced but with an aniseed whack, had a splash of thinned molasses and an oaken touch, and had plenty of warming alcohol. The finish was a quiet dark wine sourness. This one grew on me as it warmed... and as the alcohol (listed at 11% on the bottle if not on this beer’s page) warmed me.