Grimbergen Cuvée Spéciale

Brewed by Brasserie Union (Alken-Maes / Heineken)
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Jumet, Belgium

From an eight year old keg at Lucky Baldwin’s. A nice mellow flavor - zero bite. Initial aroma and flavor is reminiscent of a dry apple bread pudding: very floury and baked. Caramelized notes as well. A noble elixir.

(Bottle 33 cl) Brasserie Union is best known for their Grimbergen-range and their "Cuvée de l’Ermitage". Here the two seem to have melted together. Reddish amber with a nice but not very lasting head. Extremely full-bodied, sweetish caramel with a lightly burned edge and a pronounced bitterness. But excellent indeed. 051099

Bottle at the de Garre in Brugge, Belgium. Uncarbonated and transparent appearance with a red brown hue. Fair lacing. Aroma was malty and fruity as was the flavor. Fairly smooth mouthfeel. Fair lacing.

The DM & Hotstuff’s European Honeymoon trip beer number 30. This bottled brew from the De Garre pub in Brugge poured a small head of fine to medium sized off-white colored long lasting bubbles that left behind a good lacing. The aroma was mildly malted and almost non-existent. The mouth feel was thick malty tingly and very bubbly. The flavor was malty with a good caramel note.

(Seriously aged sample - found it in the cellar, not realising this constituted a blank on the database). Clear, dark amber-red; slim, irregular cream-yellowish head. Dark malts, fruity nose as from ripe apples or apple-ester, bubblegum. Bitterish - acorn-like, harsh taste, superimposed on a sweet base. Fruity, very slight liquorice, lots of bubblegum and even a bit banana or grapes. Thick mouthfeel, nearly chewy, some alcoholburn. Long fruity aftertaste. I would really like this beer, if it weren’t for the horribly harsh initial bitterness. It wears of after some time, but having spoiled a great deal. Surprisingly, virtually no signs of oxidation - young it is still harsher, I seem to recall.