20081130 11.2oz bottle and I forget where I got it but it wasn’t local. Maybe Capone’s. Nearly opaque dark maple syrup color with medium, lasting, even head of uniformly sized medium foam. Aroma is rich, spicy (savory), and seasonal with notes of nuts, roasted squash, plump raisin, vanilla, and rum. With the chill and onset of winter, this beer is a fine choice on a dreary day. Flavor is an interesting amalgam of standard Belgie strong ale flavors but also some sweet American influence, with temp perhaps a touch too sweet, and a long savory finish again reminding of caramelized roasted foods. Medium-full palate is fully appropriate and strong alcohol is mostly unnoticed except for the nice buzz. Good beer.

2006 ‘vintage’. Another Struise gusher. Usual tactic of easing the cap off and standing it in a Hoey glass to catch the lava flow of suds. Once poured, wild blossoming yellow head over deep mahogany. Unearthly yellow cloud form foam sculptures collapsing in minutes to a slick, in a variety of glasses. Aroma up-the-nose liquorice stick, cinder toffee, yeast extract, sweet (straw)berryish fruits, plum. Mouth creamy, sticky, slightly burnt once it’s really been standing a while…brazen liquorice, candi sugar, faint cocoa. Not really getting any obvious spicing. Bit of vanilla, stone fruit, prune in the aftertaste. Roasted malt traces, maybe. Alcohol nicely buried by sugar and liquorice. Sweetish and unsubtle, touch of peaty malt. Pretty standard, liquorice-driven Dubbel-like flavours turned up a notch. Missing the bite of hops or yeast, but hugely drinkable. Nice beer but nothing special.

(EBF 2008) Amber color, small head. Yeasty, fruity, nutty aroma, some hops. Hoppy, yeasty flavor with some sweeter notes, some fruit.

Bottle from Hopduvel. Pours dark brown and thick as oil with a small brown head. Kandi sugar nose makes me anticipate a first sip eagerly. Aroma’s are woods, earthy, oily, dark fruits, sweet and roasted licorice. Very complex but very good. Alcohol warming lingers for a while. To be drunk slowly.

Bottle. Deep sweetness. Caramel and toffee with fig notes, pears, and light chocolate. Some alcohol presence. Cloudy mahogany with a patchy off-white head that leaves spotty lacing. Piercing sweetness with good balance. Nice caramel finish, a bit of alcohol and dark fruits. Thin but silky palate. Alcohol shows up more with warmth.