Grimbergen Optimo Bruno

Brewed by Brasserie Union (Alken-Maes / Heineken)
Style: Abt/Quadrupel
Jumet, Belgium

Bottle from Uto. Blood orange in colour with thick malty off white head. Forget lacing - a practical fortress of malt envelopes the glass. Nose of walnuts, brown sugar, orange, oak, grass and spices. Taste to match with a punch of alcohol. Very similar to spiced rum. Long, sharp cheese finish with sweet top notes. Amazing stuff!

Much better than the dubbel and blonde. No estery fruitiness (banana, melon). Liqourice, maybe some anis. Quite nice, altho I drank this propably too cold.

Pretty red amber colour. Aroma with caramel and interesting fruits (grapes and strawberry?). Very sweet flavour with an alcoholic bitter finish. Quite interesting, but simply too sweet for me!

Rated:21.06.2007
Bottle brown, 330 ml
Appearance:Haed is very ceramy, thick, nice lacing, quite regular in structure but not like in stouts, head is cappuccino-like but is bigger than of Grimbergen Cuvee de l’Ermitage, dirty white, mellow, full body, colour of body is of dark fruity chockolate, deep dark amber, cloudy, opaque.
Aroma:Very prominent, very complex, some grains of malted barley, a lot of yeast of very good quality(nobel quality), some cognac aroma, very fresh and fruity,bready, malted barley, dark braed with a lot of grains, very natural, some notes of alcohol but well build as for that kind of beer, aroma of some barley wine.
Flavour:Caeamel, cherry, strong alcohol in the background, very essencial, a lot of extract from malts, toasted,the bitterness is rather from burned malts and is quite harsh on palate giving the impression together with sparkling carbonation on palate. Very grainy, malty, toasty, harsh alcoholic, accidic, tongy, not smooth and not oily, some hints of essencial dark chockolate or cacao and coffee, hints of very intense bitterness on palate, cognac and on the other hand fruitiness and even hints of roastiness.
Palate:Body is full, texture is smooth and creamy, carbonation on palate is soft to medium, finish feel is slightly bitter with gentle, aromatic- alcoholic hoppy nose and gentle alcoholic warmth on palate.

Nice look to it... brown and has off-white head... lighter than would be expected for a brown beer. Dark fruit and yeast aroma. Taste is relatively free from alcohol and quite smooth. Sweet taste of dark fruits and a lot of malts to back it up.

Dark brown-red. Begie small head. Way to sweet! Burnt sugar and malty. Dark toffee. Some dark fruits.

Tasted 09/12/2005. 330ml bottle from Regional Wines. Pours a reddish-brown with a light-tan head, that rears up a little and then fades away. Nose has a hint of spice but is mostly sweet malt and cognac-like alcohol. Sweet caramel and toffee in the mouth with some hints of port. Verging towards cloying. Warming, as you’d expect. Short and rather one-dimensional for such a strong beer. Followed this with the more complex and balanced Emerson’s Old 95, which blew it away totally.

Orange-bronz color with light colored head. Sweet fruity aroma’s and outspoken hints of ripe stone fruits like apricot and peaches. Pesent yeasty accent, some flowers and hints of cakes. The taste is round, warm, fruit-tart like with a fait sourish accent int the finish. This beer is ending with a flowery bitterness and some alcohol sweertness.