Grottenbier Bruin

Brewed by St. Bernard Brouwerij
Style: Abbey Dubbel
Watou, Belgium

Bottle from Super Saver. Turbid brown pour with a 2-finger off-white clingy head. Complex aroma of caramel malts, brown sugar, yeasty spices, toffee, some nuts, cabernet, funky peaty notes, and port. The flavor was on the tart side, with a firm caramel malty and brown sugar type base, plus some cabernet, nuts, peaty yeasty funk, and hopcitrus. I enjoyed this one a great deal.

wow! HUGE head that will propably take the next century to calm down. Dark ruby brown. Palate is nothing compared to what I expected, very watery before I put the yeast in. It get´s much more interesting and gains much higher balance with the bottom yeast in the glass. Taste is very yeasty, very murky, some spicy undertones, malt, tiny bit of smoke, coriander, lemon with a little grain. This is a very delicate and crafty brew. I think if I would rerate this sometime it would score higher, I´m gonna need more time with this....

A very nice beer, but not overly impressive. Poured a nice brown to ruby color with a very generous head (but tame), that sat there for my long savoring of this one. The lacing was also nice. The aroma was spicey, yeasty, and somewhat sweet (candi sugarish). The flavor was an interesting and complex blend of yeast (somewhat bitter), flowers, musty and earthiness, spices (again, somewhat bitter), grapes, and caramel malts. The finish was a bit too bitter for my liking (and because the flavor base wasn’t really rich or overly sweet) and the mouthfeel a bit thin (although smooth) and highly carbonated. However, the complexity is worth a long article of commentary for those that can do it.... and for me, a higher rating than it would have otherwise received. Nice job.

A dark brown coloured beer, with an average off-white head. Very heavy sweet spicy and malty aroma, with some light hints of yeast and caramel. Full creamy body with a intensive bitter spicy and malty finish. Little roasted and a long aftertaste. Not bad.

dark brown to mahogany color with impressive thick head. Yeast and spice comes through with a slight fruit aroma. medium body, very drinkable but not remarkable.

Bottle. Pours a dark mahogany color with a thick beige head that never goes away. Thin, sticky lacing. The aroma consists of yeast, spices and some fruitiness. Medium-bodied with flavors of fruit (cherry mostly), yeast, spices and a bit of alcohol. There is also a bit of tartness going on. The finish is relatively smooth.

I have to say that I was REALLY unimpressed with this beer. With the reputation that Mr. Celis has I was looking forward to the tasting but it was...underwhelming. Aroma was fairly weak but what I could pick-up was corn syrup or a candy sugar. Appearance was a dark, murky brown. Mouthfeel was above average but nothing exciting. Flavors were just too average for my liking, balancing on the edge between boring and bland. I could get some yeast, some malt but it was all just too boring. I will revist this beer at some time because I’m thinking the bottle I got was bad somehow.

Poured a rich reddish copper with a thick, firm tan head and wonderful lacing. Aromas are of candied fruit, sweet malt, and an earthy character. Falvors are full and malty, caramel, bread, a light amount of fruits namely cherry, raspberry, and apricot. A hint of bitterness and hops balance the finish and helps dry out what started as a sweet malt beer. Full and sweet without being cloying are sticky.