t Smisje Calva Reserva

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

11.2 oz bottle: Pours a ruddy brown/mahogany hue. Small sticky beige head, leaving small lace. Sweet cider, calvados, spice, pear, fig, alcohol, brandy nose. Palate starts sweet, fruit, apple, firm malt presence, pleasantly carbonated, faintly syrupy, hot alcohol swooms in, brandy, calvados, spice, finishing with peppery spice, alcoholic heat. A nice drinker, despite its weight. Its defiinately sweet, but the calvados influence and spice combination create a nicely balanced beer. I also enjoy this malt combination which adds nice body and firm backbone for this brew.

Pours an opaque light mahogany with a light tan head. The aroma is fairly muted, but I make out stewed fruits, spice, and cedar. Very bold on the palate compared to the nose. Caramel and stewed fruit at first followed by burnt toffee, hops, and wood on the finish, a long finish. Very soft, broad mouthfeel on this one. The burnt toffee hoppy taste sticks out the most. Almost reminds of the finish on some scotches. Very nice.

11.2 oz bottle. Poured a hazy autumn brown, capped by only a shallow pool of headage... rather ugly, but had a cool copper shimmer off the surface. Huge nose of apple brandy, caramel, brown sugar, and a pinch of coriander. Flavors are also great, however the process of getting them to the tastebuds was taxing and unpleasant... flat and slow entry to the mouth, and it just seeped across the palate from there. Flavor picked up much more of the apple brandy, sticky brown sugar, spices, vanilla, oak, and a bit of a cider aspect. Tasty and olfactory-pleasing, but the look and feel of this one were just abysmal.

Burgundy color, with a lasting film of large bubbles. Expressive apple brandy, soaked oak and brown sugar in the aroma, with hints of caramel and cider. Flavor is rich, supple and very well balanced. The attributes of the original beer integrate well with the barrel, giving hints of soft caramel, apple skins, toffee and vanilla. It’s delicious, no doubt, yet, unfortunately, the front palate to the mid-palate shows a completely flat body and it only improves a little and becomes very slightly chewy on the finish. Could easily be a 4.3+ if I didn’t score the mouthfeel a 1. Too bad.

bottle from chevy chase liquors. aroma is big: booze, malt, sweet fruits. looks: clear dark amber, zero carbonation (old bottle? loose cap?). Flavor is downright awful: way too much booze, too much spice, too sweet, and far too much boozy character from the casks. I rarely throw beer away, but this one got dumped after a few sips.

Bottle at Kerstbierfestival 2005, Essen, Belgium
Clear, brown body. Virtually no head. Looks like cognac or something like that. Nose of honey, pears, port, cask wood, ... Lightly sweet, lightly bitter initial flavour. Lightly sweet, moderately bitter finish. Nice, but nothing special. Probably too much alcohol.

Kerstbierfestival Essen. Sweet aroma of rasin, salmiak and spices. Sweetcaramelly taste, again salmiak-like, which is well-integrated in this brew. Long, chewy finish.

@11th Kerstbierenfestival Belgium. brown beer with a small disappearing head. aromas of licorice, raisins, bit fruity, bit chocolate and some spices. taste: woody, liquor. spicy, sweetish and dark fruit. finishes sourrish, alcoholic (sweetness), tart and dry. somehow i expected more...