Leireken Dark (Buckwheat Bruin Ale)

Brewed by Brouwerij Strubbe
Style: Specialty Grain
Ichtegem, Belgium

25 cl bottle. Dark brown color, frothy beige head. Aroma is malt, fruit, some sourness. Flavor is fruity with sourness, sweet malt. Very carbonated.

Fruity aroma almost bubble gummy. Pours cloudy dark brown with a thick tan head. Dry, cereal grains, there’s a slight tartness in the middle, then stale cereal finish. Not great. the aroma is better than the flavor.

750 ml. bottle, overflowing head with a wheaty bread nose, buckwheat soba noodle and soy flavor is overwhelming with fizzy thin finish, pretty one dimensional

750ml. Thought this was an OK drinker — different and surprising but not something I’d hunt for again. Long-lasting, off-white head. Cloudy, dark ice-tea body. The moderate aroma is tart with notes of lemon and rye bread and a hint of sugar. The flavor is lightly to moderately sweet and moderately tart (sour cherry) and dry in the finish. The buckwheat (I assume that’s what the grainy, slightly spicy taste is) lingers in the finish. Light to medium body with a watery texture. Lively carbonation.

750ml bottle - MJ Rare Beer Club: Deep brown pour with orange highlights and a soda pop head that fizzles. The nose is tart with lemon zest and peach esthers. Mild brown sugar and dough base. The tartness hits the sides of the tongue immediately, opening the way for the mostly esther driven brew. More apple, cherry and peach are noted, with little of the malt described by other raters. Hmm, interesting but not quite what I was expecting. Maybe the buckwheat is adding this sharp note. I wonder how long MJRBC had this laying around before shipping it out...

Michael Jackson Rare Beer Club selection. Pours a chalky brown color with an initially aggressive beige head of large bubbles that settles down into a manageable cap of froth. Aromas offer some fruit, some powdered cocoa, and some bready desserts. Flavors are smooth with just a hint of chalkiness. Spicing is full-on. Roasty wheatiness is a novel characteristic for me. Rather drinkable, as two 750’s are downed tonight while watching baseball.

Bottle 75cl @ Zythos Bier Festival 2008, Sint Niklaas, Belgium. Clear medium brown color with a average, frothy, good lacing, mostly diminishing, light beige head. Aroma is moderate malty, caramel, wheat, fruit. Flavor is moderate sweet and light bitter with a average duration. Body is light to medium, texture is watery, carbonation is soft. (010308)

750 ml bottle poiured a clear dark reddish brown with a small lasting tan head. Aromas of carmel, fruittiness, yeast, light spice and a hint ofd cocoa. Palate was light to medium bodied and smooth. Flavors of wheat, carmel, fruitttiness, yeast and light spice with a smooth lingering spiced finish.