Redoak St Nicholas

Deep amber golden color. A thick, syrupy brew with candy sugar, caramel, hazelnuts, milk chocolate strawberries all over. An absolute splendid Christmas warmer!

Bottle at the Redoak, 9.6%. Had to let this one sit for a good 35min to appreciate its complexity. Poured a deep burgundy with maroon highlights, huge chunks of sediment and a small creamy head which was mostly diminishing. Aroma was complex with vanilla, toffee, currents, some alcoholic notes, malty caramel and hints of cloves. Taste was very smooth and warming (almost whisky like) with alcohol present, vanilla, currents and caramel. Medium to full bodied with a syrupy texture, soft carbonation and a long finish.

Cloudy red colour with small toffee coloured head. Big malty alcohol on nose. Soft mouth feel and hides alcohol really well. Big malts.

Very low carbonation, deep amber colour which is fairly dark for a tripel. Barely a whisper of head. Toasty malt and custard and stewed apple Unibroue-type esters mixed with Leffe-style clean phenolics. Quite a dry, toasty, biscuity malt flavour with a touch of herbal hop and a little bit boozy. Seems to lack the freshness and vibrancy that the best examples have - flavours are fairly dull and muted. Not too bad though, but the low carbonation really hurts the mouthfeel. It’s definitely way better than the gluey train wreck it was last time I had it. Ta Linc.

bottle @ redoak. the guy behind the bar, in typically breathless redoak style, congratulated me for choosing this beer, telling me that it was a magnificent tribute to trappist breweries (combining the best features of four of them, apparently) and that it had, and i quote, an "almost baked beans aftertaste". i blinked. the beer was taken straight out of the 1C fridge and dumped straight into one of their wineglasses-in-disguise, where the lack of carbonation and freezing temp combined to cause chill haze and the barest white rim of a head. he informed me that because of "health regulations" they were obliged to keep their unpasteurised beers heavily refrigerated. i asked whether their beers had bacteria in them. anyway. once i had warmed this beer up in my hands it still failed to let loose any carbonation or head. the aroma was heavy caramel, peaches and coriander - free of fusels at least. in the mouth this was a joke. syruppy, cloying, one dimensional caramel. about the only trappist like this is la trappe tripel. quick finish with slight phenol. no sign of any bitterness at all. and yes it tastes like baked beans!! i couldn’t finish it. i told the guy behind the bar that it was too sweet and he informed me that it was "typical belgium (SIC!!!) style" and i said he should try it side by side with a westmalle. he said he had tried it next to a leffe - case closed buddy. this place does make some good beers but geez they need to get some humility into them. and lose the sweet tooth.