Swaf Brune (formerly Vervifontaine)

Brewed by Brasserie de l’Abbaye du Val-Dieu
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Aubel, Belgium

Bottled. Dark amber coloured, beigeish brown head. Strong aroma and flavour of toothpaste (anise, fluor etc). Also some hints of soap and licorace. Strange sweetness present all the time (most likely from the ginseng).

How could Brasserie de Vervifontaine go out of business when they’d been producing gems like this? Why, the photo of Pierre and Rene, two of the most jovial drinkers I’ve ever seen, should be worth the price of the bottle on its own! Truth to tell, it’s a bit lopsided of a drink, although enjoyable in its own way. It pours an deep, old coffee brown body with an initially tall tan head. The aroma has candy sweet malt at its base, but then you get blasted by an intense black licorice smell. It reminded me of someone’s breath after sucking on a Smith Brothers’ cough drop because it has an additional medicinal quality. The flavor seems to be the result of the infusion of licorice as well as every spice on the rack - mint, clove, pepper, bay leaf, nutmeg... an endless list. The finish is spicy bitter, lingeringly so... almost too much so.

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Bottled
Beautiful, very dark ruby colour, big foamy and cloudy brown head, some lace. Aroma of anise, beauty soap and licorice. Strange herbal flavor with licore and spicey hoppy bitterness. Gives a bitter, spicey aftertaste, maybe it is from ginseng. Real on-off beer.

(Bottled) Very dark brown color with a large, beige, foamy and lasting head. Strange aroma of mint, anise and sweetish malt. Licorice, malt and tooth-paste flavor with a quite bitter, hoppy finish. Medium-bodied, foamy but smooth-carbonated palate. A decently enjoyable, but quite strange brew. In small doses, thank you.

Head is initially large, frothy, light brown, mostly lasting. Body is hazy dark orange-brown, bottle conditioned. Aroma is moderately malty (caramel, chocolate, toasted grain), lightly yeasty (cobwebs, barnyard), with notes of anise, basil, clove, tobacco, mint, charcoal, etc. Flavor is moderately sweet, moderately acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, moderately acidic, moderately bitter. Medium body, velvety texture, lively carbonation, lightly alcoholic. Wow, this is almost straight outta Dany Prignon’s workshop! Lots of spice but well-balanced with the base ingredients, which features some very nifty yeast! There’s a fair bit of sourness to go with the bitterness, and in a dark saison-ish beer (kinda along the lines of Dany’s BBB Dark), that just doesn’t work that well for me. But geez, the aroma is fantastic! I can’t wait to try the blonde and amber.

dark red-brown colour with a fine creamy head, strong herbal and medicinal aroma, very creamy mouthfeel, very bitter, medium to full body, long bitter ginseng aftertaste - my cough is getting much better, thank you ...