Struise Pannepot Grand Reserva

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

Case from Roland and Russell. Pours dark colour with dark red highlights and lots of lace, off-white head. Aroma: sherry, ok, manipulated yeast, rich. Mouthfeelis on creamy side, it tastes creamy and a bit sour and oaked, and finsihes magnificantly satisfied. Deep and soulful.

Bottle. Dark brown colour with a huge mostly lasting light brown creamy head. Complex aroma and taset of sweet malts, fruits, plum and licorice. Lasting finish.

Very complex and surpisingly fresh aroma of apples, dried fruit, hints of roasted malt and a slight whisk of hops. The flavour is a subtle combination af esters, calvados, chocolate, oak and sweet malt, ending in a unique combination of calvados, hops and a bit sourness and salt. Fantastic beer!

<b>In short: </b>A fruity and vinous Belgian Strong dark ale
<b>How: </b>Bottle 330ml, vintage 2005. Compared side-by-side with regular Pannepot
<b>The look: </b>Cloudy burgundy topped by a small persistent tan head
<b>In long: </b>Nose is a lot less spicy than the regular Pannepot with a much stronger dark fruits presence. Not much barrels/oak on the nose, this beer smells like some classic ABTs. Taste has cake malts and a lot of dark grapes, fresh dark fruits and even gets rather vinous and somewhat sticky. The floral finish of the regular Pannepot is translates tobacco with the Grand Reserva. A light herbal spiciness but far from the level of the regular Pannepot. Very smooth and round. The vinous & fruit concentrate character of the beer makes it a bit heavy and detracts from the drinkability. The regular Pannepot is indubitably more drinkable. Like with the regular Pannepot there was no alcohol presence whatsoever. I slightly prefer the regular Pannepot but only slightly and the Reserva is the best of the three. However the Grand Reserva really has a personality of its own and is the best of the three to accompany a meal. With a basic beer as good as the Pannepot all aging experiments will yield good results. A Special Reserva aged in MartinT’s dirty socks with Rastacouere’s post-jogging sweat could even potentially be drinkable.

330 ml bottle. Dark brown body with a beige head. Aroma is sweet malty, caramel, brown sugar, dry fruit, spices with a hint of vanilla and smoke. Flavor lives up to the expectations of the aroma. Sweet malty, caramel, mild smoke, vanilla, dry fruit, syrup, liquorices and a tiny hint of acidulous that just suits this beer perfect. A classic.

Courtesy hopscotch. Thanks for sharing Eric!! POurs a fairly clear maroon copper color, with a small swirly light brown head. Smells of sweet apples and dark fruits, along with dark malts, grapes, and a touch of brandy and oak as well. The flavor is of bigger sweet apples, along with the more profound oak and dark malty characters. Almost more subtle and less intense than the other Pannepots, but this had a pleasant calmness about it that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Bottle, vintage 2005. Very dark brown with a small stable, creamy beige head. Vinous, roasted coffee and chocolate aroma, vanilla oak in rich portions. Vinous flavours, good roasted bitterness, tart fruit, some chocolate. State of the art.

Bottle. Dark with big, brownish head. Sweet caramel aroma with elements of molasses and dark fruit. Fruity flavour consisting mainly of dark, ripe fruits bu also with a slight hint of peaches. Heavy dosage of caramel, molasses, brown sugar and plain ol’ sweet malt as well. I like it a lot as I like all incarnations of this truly great classic. Thx J & M (and C & U).