Struise Pannepot Reserva

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

This is due for a re-rate, let me say that up front. I had only a very small sample, but I have another bottle which I will drink all to myself to properly assess this beer, hopefully within the next month. Has a woody, sweet aroma, cinnamon, pineapple, pine tar, resinous, with a sweet finish. Tobacco flavor is present but subtle, but palate is a bit thin and doesn’t offer the wonderfully refined sweetness of its brother. I look forward to having more than a few ounces of this. 7/4/7/4/3.9

update 6/30/08: Drank this alongside normal pannepot and pannepot GR. Man, what a beer. Pours a beautiful dark brown with an unbelievable head. Though the sweetness is not as complex as its unaged brethren, it has a light but beautiful sourness and wonderful tobacco notes. The body is extremely soft and an absolute delight to drink. A fantastic beer. 8/5/8/5/4.3

Some years ago Struise was rather unknown in Belgium. Within the last couple of years they have grown to be one of the best and the most innovative Belgian brewery. This beer shows why!
Hazy dark brown with a tall beige head that last. Powerful aroma of sweet malt, barrel, spices. Very complex and extremely inviting. Flavor is sweet with a lovely dryness from the barrel aging. Soft and smooth, with millions of subflavors. No doubt a world class brew, I can’t wait to taste the Grand Reserva!

Bottle thanks puzzl! Pours a beautiful deep brown/burgundy with a creamy khaki head. The nose has an ideal oak presence. Soft pine-wood notes, as well as some sweet Belgian malt notes of toasted brown sugar. Nice creamy carbonation. The flavor has mild oak notes, with a perfect presence. Nice soft Belgian malts play an important role in the flavor, supplying subtle sweet and toasted notes. Creamy and smooth. A delicious Belgian Ale.

Bottle courtesy of Immy on 07/18/2009. Clear dark brown body with ruby highlights and a medium creamy tan head. Sweet spicy, fruity, belgian aroma, some slight tartness. Big fruity flavor, lots of spice, belgian notes, light fruit. Medium body with moderately high carbonation.

750 shared by Jason. The beer pours to a really hazy unfiltered dark brown body with a dense tan head. Nice sheet lacing. The aroma is very strong with spicy fruit cake, white pepper, caramel, spices, cinnamon, candied cherries, and oak. Very complex and quite nice. The flavors are sweet malts, nicely blended spices of cinnamon, nutmeg, fruit cake, candied pineapple, and maraschino cherries. Ultra complex. Oak. The palate is delicate, nicely textured, warming, spiced, and slick.

A careful pour into my 25cl tulip glass produces a three finger thick, lightly amber tinged, tan colored head that forms a fluffy, textured surface and leaves lots of lace on the sides of the glass as it slowly subsides. The aroma smells of tart raisins, prunes and figs that lie on top of a dense, toasted grain, molasses spice cake note. Hints of spicy and toasted oak character lightly scent the beer, but play a subdued role in the nose. There are also red wine like notes (rich, tannic berry notes) and a concentrated tamarind note. Once you dig around and explore enough here you notice a funky, musty mushroom note that becomes noticeable in the finish; it reminds me a bit of a musky blankey that has is scented with dried sweat. Other aromatic notes of light chocolate, earthy coriander, cherry pits, and quite a fully malty note are noticeable here as well; this last contributes a dark toasted, though not roasted, deeply caramelized, and brown malt character. The concentrated fruit and malt in the nose take on a sort of smoky quality at times. The nose on this beer is incredibly complex, it is very intriguing and worth exploring in detail.

The beer is full bodied as it first hits my tongue, but has a prickly effervescent carbonation that struggles free of the viscous heft. The beer tastes lightly sweet, but is still significantly savory. The beer has a sort of has a dark honey flavor to it, but without that cloying sweetness that honey has. Notes of molasses, tart-concentrated fruit (prune and fig as well as a touch of raisin that seems to get a bit bigger as the beer warms) and some dark cocoa notes in the finish start to come out after a couple sips. This is quite rich and satiating, but not overly sweet; in fact the tart and sweet notes are in such a good balance that neither is overtly noticeable. The malt character is concentrated and brooding with lots of Maillard browning flavors, a molasses character, some notes of dark caramel, savory complex sugars, plus some toasted / caramelized dark bread crust flavors. There is a nice spiciness here that, again, is not a note that is overtly noticeable; it provides a touch of clove flavor, earthy coriander notes, an oaky spiciness (this is the most noticeable spice note, but still is fairly subtle), a touch of ginger, a peppery piquancy in the finish, a richly integrated anise note (though more like one that has been cooked for a long time), a definite note of mahleb (if you consider this a spice), mellow vanilla, hints of mace and a wisp of cardamom.

This is possibly the most balanced strong beer I have ever had; this shows a finesse that is rarely achieved, it has a melding of sweet & tart, malt / fruit & spice, oak & base beer as well as earthy & bright notes. Definitely a tour de force, it takes what can be a phenomenal base beer and adds a couple more layers, as well as a melding process that integrates everything together as a whole. I like that this has lost the sweetness of the base beer (though even the 2006 Pannepot I had last night was not aggressively sweet).

25 oz bottle, 2005 Vintage. Pours a mostly clear dark amber body with a one finger fizzy off-white head that had nice retention. Huge fruity nose, lots of yeast, light alcohol, just a light barrel character. Overall, it smells like this is to be a little drier than the regular version. The flavor is yeasty, very fruity with lots of fig, plummy, and caramel notes. Moderate but not overpowering alcohol, and surprisingly not a whole lot of oakiness. I was expecting this to be much more about the barrel. Still overall pretty sweet, but not so much as the regular. Pretty full bodied with a bit of sticky caramel, but it seems like this is a little thinned by the alcohol. A little too much overly fizzy and frothy carbonation keeps this from being better. Decent, but not as good as the regular version.

750mL bottle, courtesy of fonefan. Thanks, Jan! Pours a very dark, blackish-mahogany color; enormous, light tan head with excellent retention and lacing. Dense, dried dark fruits, cherry syrup, and charred oak in the aroma; cola and slightly tannic. Full mouthfeel: intense dried fruits, brown sugar, and toasted oak; syrupy, slightly medicinal malt core (layered and somewhat fruity); has the same excellent viscosity and chewiness as regular Pannepot, with a charred oak / tannic character that adds some astringency. Medium, brown sugar and toasty oak finish, with some alcoholic warmth.