Piraat 10.5%

Brewed by Brouwerij Van Steenberge
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Ertvelde, Belgium

33 cl import bottle, part of a sampler pack of Belgians from Foremost, Oak Forest. Smells of basic Belgian malts with a sugar component. Pour kicks up a big white head with more Belgian smell, some heady alcohol semaphores a warning to take this carefully. Head retreats enough to show a burnished brass color beneath. Taste starts with warming alcohol and doesn’t let go. Adds in touches of vanilla and, somehow, a note of chocolate liqueur. Very strange. Mind must be playing tricks on me. Grassy hop traces, some pomegranate fruitiness, as in a touch of tartness. Flowery notes actually keep the sugar and alcohol in check, but as I write this, I’m feeling it in my system. Fine example of a popular Belgian beer.

750ml. The commercial description is pretty accurate. Pretty much just a tripel with some more caramel malt throughout. Rather sweet and fairly light and easy to drink given the ABV. Decent and solid beer.

$3 330mL bottle from BevMo. Pours a light yellow amber with a soapy looking mixed bubble head that fades fast to thin mixed bubble layer. Initial aroma is a little bit of skunk or Saaz hops..BMCish, but then a few seconds later the aroma becomes very nice malty hints of banana and bread dough like the description, a bit of orange and maybe a bit of corriander. A bit of a plastic Brett phenolic as well. Very powerful aroma. Taste is dry, maybe a hint of sour. My first guess was the taste would be sweet until I detected the plastic brett phenolic, which then made me think it would be dry. I’m not sure if there really is brett in it, but I guess not, because the carbonation is a little low, but it sure is dry and a hint of sour. Not really my thing. Meh.

Copper color with a hazy look. Big bubbly off white head. Smell is sweet, fruity, some alcohol, candi sugar, and corn. Taste is some alcohol, sweetness, and fruit.

Unusual beer. Pours from the bottle into a snifter, hazy golden and hints of orange, with an absolutely enormous, fluffy head. Nose is orange and pineapple candy...Turkish Delight comes to mind! Taste is similar, a bit biscuity in texture, very mellow yet distinguishable citrus notes. Finish is clean. A bit sweet at first, but it definitely mellows as you get into it.

Massive foamy white head. Golden in color. Aroma of bread and alcohol. Initiallly sweet with a alcohol burn in the finish. At times the alcohol was a little too prevelant. Overall not a bad beer but was extremely expensive.

This beer pours a light amber/gold with a medium tan head. aroma is light banana and alcohol/yeast. This is also in the flavor. Not a very bad beer, but could have been so much better. Cheers

Pours a deep amber with a decent sized of white head. Aroma of banana, alchohol. Taste is the same with some other things in there I can’t quite put my finger on it. Not my style, but nice complexity.