Swaf Brune (formerly Vervifontaine)

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

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.

Red highlights in dark amber-brown beer. Creamy yellow-brown head, leaving lace. Spicey nose, wood, green-dark leaves, undergrowth, nearly earthy, bit of ginger (or is this ginseng?). Meaty, estery taste, and a little bit of oxydized malts. Finish is again spicey, peppery. Medium bodied, quite some alcohol there, but very much hidden. Nowhere bad, just not very original. Somehow, I would think Vervifontaine might have made more out of this.

Bottle. Golden colour with a medium mostly lasting creamy head. Aroma and taste of malts, ginger, fruits and spices. Nice palate.

(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.

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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A dark brown ale with a thick froathy light moka head, and small floaties. Light caramel malt aroma, no spices, maybe a light coriander aroma. In mouth, a decent belgian dubbel, with good burned caramel, some coriander, bitter chocolate, stewed fruits and the light ginger notes found in the 2 other Swafs. This is my favorite of the 3. Bieropholie private imports. BB 07-07-07.

Aroma:cocoa-nutty... Appearance:Dark brown,huge head...Flavor:cocoa,nutty,light copper-oxydation.....

Orange brown color. Mint and orange in the aroma. Mint, yeast and orange in the flavor. Not too sweet. Just a bit alcoholic. Touch of chocolate. Spicy aftertaste. Not bad.