Grimbergen Optimo Bruno

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

Another Grimbergen I have tried and it is good. I am a fan of this family of beers. Certainly has a malty and dried fruits. This beer goes down very easy with a sweet and very distinct Grimbergen flavor. Very strong and a tad hot. I liked it, but I like the dubbel more.

Bottle. Sour caramel malt and alcohol aroma. Reddish brown color with moderate head. Toffee malt and astringent alcohol. Easy drinking - just not very complex.

The pour reveals a clear brown color with a thick, diminishing, offwhite head. Interesting aroma of raisins, dates with toasted malt, smells a lot like a fruit cake. Good flavor of raisins, dates and toasted malt with a sweet finish. The body has a light to medium thickness with a liquorous texture and moderate carbonation. An interesting beer, I think that Optimo Bruno has seen better days but it’s still an enjoyable beer.

Sweet, fruity and malty aroma. Nice dark brown colour with a lasting head. Taste is malty, sweet and very fruity with some hints of spices, quite okay. Moderate bitter palate.

bbf 06-09. clear dark brown, small yellowishbrown head. aroma is sour, and acid. strange... flavor is your typical real good belgian quad, add a few spoons of vinagre.. strange... i guess the sourheads will praise this one, if it is intended to be like this. nuts, sweet brown sugar, dark fruits (delicate), sour notes (hence the vinagra). half a drop of tabasco for bitterness. if this beer had not been sour it woul’ve been very very good.

Clear mahogany body topped by a small off-white head leaving good lacing. Candy aroma. Overall the beer is rather crisp with a taste that is mainly that of hard-candies, the sweet ones and the spicy ones. Light fruity notes of dried candied fruits (orange and others). Well malted (bready malts) and well hopped (generic Belgian hops). Really feels like drinking a spicy dessert. Well put together beer but a bit too sweet/sugary for my taste. Some similarities with my beloved but far superior Maudite. I’m both stunned and happy to learn that this is a 10% beer. Stunned because the alcohol is exceptionally well hidden and happy cause that gives me a good excuse for my behaviour.

Gust of marmite-sodden yeastiness from beneath the freshly-prised cap. An aroma that should be awarded an ABV. Marmite AND strawberries?? Apparently so. Deep red resolving into a swirly beige scum, clumped with dense patches of foam. Sweet malty strawberry finishing with a pleasing lactose-stouty sourness (Mackeson?). Yep, incredibly, that’s what it reminds me of. Lovely stuff, but should be illegal. (Re-rate 01/06/07 Odd but not unpleasant balsamic chip shop batter nose. Orange, liquorice, brown sugar. Stirred with a Twiglet. Good, but nothing like as good as it seemed a year ago.

33 cl Bottle. No yeast in bottom. Reddish brown colour with a fizzy white head. Sweet aroma with notes of malt and sourness. Also sweet and sour flavour with notes of malt and dried fruit, becomes sticky and alcoholic.