t Smisje Calva Reserva

Brewed by Brouwerij De Regenboog
Style: Barley Wine
Assebroek-Brugge, Belgium

Pours a hazy copper amber, topped by several inches of frothy sudsy tan foam. Great head retention, good lacing. Strong sweet apple-fruit aroma was noticeable even as the beer was being poured. Wow - intense! Smelling the beer, there is a thick and full caramel aroma. The flavor is also full of thick caramel up front, but this is balanced by a very dry apple, oak, and alcohol finish. Very interesting transition of flavor. A little tangy hop presence, a bit of earthy spice, oak, and a nice brandy character in the aftertaste. The alcohol is warming and pleasant. Full body, soft carbonation, and a smooth sipper. This beer is a gem.

Bottle. Poured very dark brown, almost a chocolate color with no head at all. Caramel aroma. Smells very sweet. No carbonation. Overpowering sweet taste. Reminds me of fall tih the hint of apple and caramel.

Bottle.

Pours brown and hazy with a small off-white head. The aroma is intense and entracing and very different -- warm apple butter and rich caramel. The taste carries both of these, and also a slightly greasy flavor - but unfortunately it also comes through very hollow, missing something the way that bread misses salt if baked without. Lactic tones, and the finish is rich with oak and returning apple; very woody. The oils come back on the long end of the aftertaste with a vengence like rancid butter. The texture is relatively thin if oily, though carrying plenty of heat.

It’s an interesting beer to experience, but I’m not overly impressed with one as something to drink much of or to drink often.

Pours a murky dark brown with fine lacing. Tastes slightly drier than it smells but it still has a good measure of sweetness. Flavor is tinged with calvados, but it finishes a bit woody. Not bad but not great.

Bottle. Purchased at the Holliday Wine Cellar in Escondido, CA. Saw the label and it looked appealing. In addition I saw that the beer is made in Brugge and I had a damn good time there this past summer so I though why not give this a shot. Pours murky brown with a half-finger off white head. The aroma is far more complex then I had expected, very sweet with hints of caramel, alchol, and something I can’t put my finger on. It does not smell like a typical Belgian Strong. The taste really evokes a barley wine quality, its sweet, very very strong and has the taste of caramel and toffee. There is cetainly a noticeably edge of calvados here, but I would say in agreement with bb, that the calvados used is likely not up to snuff in comparison to JW Lees, it feels of lesser quality. For that reason the calvados comes through with less quality and more alchol punch. I personally enjoy barley wines that warm the throat like a brandy would, but this brew burns a little too much.

Pours a hazy orange brown hue with a slight off-white head. Aromas of caramel, apples, smoke, oak, rum and toffee. medium bodied with roasted oats, nuts, and a little fig.

Bottle. Mahogony beer with a thin light beige head. Big apple, malty aroma with some oak, spice, and alcohol. Malty, toffee flavor with lots of apple and some oak backing. Lingering malty, apple flavor with a bit of brown sugar. Medium body. Alcohol doesn’t seem to be 12%. Nice complexity and apple fruitiness. Doesn’t have the richness and depth of a JW Lees harvest in Calvados, but very tasty.

After a gentle pour, there formed a slight wisp & halo above a murky, ruby-tinted amber body... rather brandy-like but for its opacity. Sweet, fruity esters in a nose that finds a wealth of cherry, plum and peach underscored by caramely malts and an odd nippletwist of beef broth. Mouthfeel has a potency and soft warmth that wraps the tongue lovingly like a tiny, polar fleece sweater. A cornucopia of thick, fruit flavors lingers for a short while before a shrapnel grenade of alcohol is dispersed in all directions... leading to a dry finish in which the flavors readily fade. Most excellent.

<font size=-4>I can’t remember where we picked this up, but it was probably Sam’s.</font>