t Smisje Calva Reserva

Brewed by Brouwerij De Regenboog
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Assebroek-Brugge, Belgium

Bottle. hazy chestnut color with minimal head. Strong aroma of alcohol, raisins, apple and oak. The initial portion of the first sip is sweet, then replaced by warming alcohol. Some alcohol and sugar noticible in the finish. smooth and with very little carbonation. interesting, but I think the calvados overwhelms the beer.

BottleThanks to Kkearns. Poured a cludy brown body with little to no head. Aroma is of dark fruit, wood - oak, and a strong liquor. Taste is dry sweet with a heavy alcohol burn. Sweetened with a nice malty mouthfeel and ending in a somewhat gentle burn. As it warmed it felt alot smoother than before. Definately a sipper.

250ml bottle, cloudy dark brown hue, with a small beige head, leaving a ring a foam and some laces, sweet toasted malt nose, with a vanilla oakiness, a raisiny and date fruitiness, with some alcoholic effluvia, candy sugar, a subtle spiciness in the aroma follows through on a medium-bodied palate with a raw maltiness character, notes of brown sugar, molasses, dark dried fruit accents of raisins, dates, plums, with a warmth alcoholic mouthfeel, spicy vanilla, from the calvados cask used, leading towards a sweet malty, raisiny, alcoholic finish.

Thanks to Lars Adalberth Petersen, Belgisk Ølimport, for this one. It’s a dark brown beer with a nice head. The aroma has notes of candy sugar and coriander. The flavour is sweet with a lot of candy sugar notes, dark fruit, nuts and coriander. There is a very nice balance between the sweetness and the lightly sour finish. In spite of the 12%, I do not feel the alcohol in an unpleasant way, more like in a Calvados.

Flat brackish brown cidery liquid with not even a hint of head or carbonation. I regard this product suspiciously as it has the sweet and sour from two-feet aroma of several other products I have found to be in violation of my palate. And to be sure, its taste is not pleasant, but I have had far worse than this flat, woody, wormy apple product. Alcohol is rather apparent. $5/11.2

(Bottled @ room temp, same batch, 6 months after the previous rating) Opaque dark reddish brown with a smallish-medium, partly lasting head. Strongly plummy, dark-fruity, port-wineous aroma with rye-puddingy malt with caramel and warming alcohol touch. Intensely malty, syrupy, very licoricey, ultra-smooth flavor with vanilla and oaky notes. Very close to full-bodied, liquourish palate with low carbonation. This one really needs time to mature, and room temperature to give its best. Really, really good stuff! (Bottled, was 7-3-7-3-14=3.5) Very hazy reddish brown color with a smallish, mostly fading head. A typical (very yeasty) Regenboog aroma, but this time with dried fruit, rhum, port, apples and alcohol. Quite malty, sweet-syrupy and alcoholic flavor with a long, liquourish finish, and bitter-acidic apples in the end. Medium to full-bodied, syrupy-alcoholic, low-carbonated palate. If you like ’t Smisje brews and calvados, you’ll worship this. Otherwise you might be slightly - but not completely - disappointed. An interesting brew, but should hide the alcohol better. Maybe needs aging to really shine. Not cheap even in Belgium with a price tag of about 4.5 Eur.

Thank’s to Beermouth. Copper/mahogny with and a fine white head. Aroma is full of preserved apples, oak and spices. Taste is medium bitterness, light sweetness.

[Sampled the sediments after beermouths and cabs weekdayparty.] A true taste of something aged in oakbarrels. Aroma of fruit and spices with flavornotes of similar ingredients. Must taste more than just the sediments another day at Carlsens.