Struise Pannepot Grand Reserva

Brewed by De Struise Brouwers
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Oostvleteren, Belgium

Bottle shared @ jbrus’s place. Aroma has oak, a hint of smoke and calvados. Sweet flavor with caramel, candy sugar, oak, dried fruit and mustard. Vinous aftertaste with porto. An amazing complexity in this great beer.

Botella. Vintage 2005. Hazy deep dark brown colour with a small steady creamy beige head. Aroma of dark fruits, alcohol, good bitterness and toasty malt. The flavour is bitter-sweet with caramel, toasty malt, yeast, alcohol a pleasant tartness and spices.

Beer No. 4000 and our third big milestone celebrated with a Struise beer.
A Sim rate: This is one of the most amazing aromas I’ve ever smelled. It’s sour apple jolly ranchers and pear jelly bellies. It’s the sweetest red wine vinegar...with truffle. Different every time. Grapes, strawberry. A fruit salad marinated in brandy, just how my dad makes it. And the cream whipped with vanilla essence just to finish it off. The first sip hits you like a rush of brandy. It’s tingling on the back of the tongue and hot going down. The flavours aren’t quite as light and fruity as the aroma. They’re darker, deeper: red wine and dark cherry chocolate liqeurs. Sneaky brazil nuts usurp the finish. I could drink this all night. Sadly, I only have half a bottle to myself. I’m sure that there will be a time and place where I can enjoy more ;) Absolutely delightful.

Mes’s notes:
I have had many bottles of this, mainly thanks to Urbain and Carlo but I also have to thank Brad and this one that my lovely Mrs and I are finally getting round to rating at home is thanks to Craig. This is a beautiful looking beer. It’s that sort of vampyr black / purple with glorious condition and a good beige head that is a clear trademark of my favourite brewer. When swilled you can see the head seeping into the darkness and it looks amazing, something that would not work quite so well if it were pitch black. Ok, there may be swearing ahead folks, I apologise. Fanfuckingtastic aroma. It’s close to a 10. The calvados and wood is clear as day but it dances back and forth like a flirty little tart with nail polish (a smell I love dearly), vintage perfume, cherries, plums and luscious thick alcohol. There is definite Coca Cola in there too. Bollocks to it, thats a 10. Yeah, that’s the aroma done I think. The flavour is not quite so good. Don’t get me wrong it’s still bloody excellent but it’s a little too sugary, the tartness of the Calvados shows a little too clearly and I just can never get into dried fruity notes too much. All that aside, the base of the Pannepot is still evident and that can never be a bad thing. The balance of the sourness against the thick and chewy sweet malt flavours is just excellent. The finish is huge and develops beautifully. There is a huge hit of alcohol too but the rest of the beer is so powerful it carries it really well. This is not my favourite from Struise but is still worthy of a huge score. Struise seriously rock.
Numbers: 10/5/8/4/17

Incidentally, we had a tasting at the Farm once and Urbain opened about 5 bottles of this, maybe more. As we were all going mad and drinking Mikkeller Black, Peche Mortel, Dirty Horse, Aardnon, etc. etc the 5 PGRs were left on the table (oh the decadence) Sim, good little sport that she is, bravely polished them all off and had nothing more than a sip of everything else. It made for a most entertaining ride home...

Bottle.
[shared with BierKönig and sk8viking, thank you for opening one, Jeppe!]
Pours a deep brown with a medium light brown head. Very creamy texture and good lacing (even on a plastic glass). Aroma is lightly sour, wood, caramel, prunes, plums, raisins and some apple notes. Wonderful creamy mouthfeel. Flavour is surprisingly soft, very well-rounded. There is a touch of woody cherries, a touch of chocolate, some roasted caramel. Good viniousness with lots of dried fruits. Wonderful balance.

330cl bottle labeled BB 30/11/2012. Poured a dark brown color with an averaged sized off white head. Aromas of wood/oak, spices, dark fruits, and chocolate. Tastes of wood, dark fruits (plums and raisins), chocolate, and vanilla. Light tartness. On the sweet side with the alcohol content hidden.

Bottle thanks to cgarvieuk. Aroma is sweet, fruity, rich malts, candy sugar, nutmeg, hints of spice and quite a noteable bit of apple. Taste is nice and tasty sweet and drinkable, very good mouthfeel. This is a hot beer man, but like the ordinary pannepot is soo vasty superior(and also better than the reserva), im hazarding a guess that this beer surely is best as it comes and not barrel aged, which in turn reinforses my idea that 99.999999999999% of beers out there are very much unsuited to barrel aging. Im glad i have another 2 bottles as i think i’ll age one and have the other with some friends. Im thinking also now that this may infact be more drinkable, in that it slips down very easy, compaired with the regural pannepot, but the complexity of the spice and malty sweetness is missing.

Bottle… GIABMISGFAB… Cloudy prune-colored ale with a small, creamy, khaki head. Fantastic retention. The aroma is subdued, but I sense notes of wood, dark fruits and brown sugar. Full-bodied and a touch biting with medium carbonation. The flavor provides nice balance between acidity and sweetness with offerings of Calvados, caramel and more dark fruit. Tangy, fruity, and then dry finish. Thanks go out to Marsiblursi for shipping this one across the pond!

(Bottle, 2005 vintage) Pours a dark brown body with a small tight creamy beige head. Aroma of dates, molasses, apple, watermelon, caramel, brandy, and raisins. Flavor of burnt molasses, toasted marshmallow, vinous, toffee, caramel malt, anise, baked apple, and pear with a smooth mouthfeel and a dry oak finish.