t Smisje Calva Reserva

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

2006 bottle. Hazy brown, small head. Nose is chocolate, woody, sweet, with alcohol very present. Taste is overt chocolate, caramel, sweet, woody, very warming. Body is viscous and sticky but drinkable. Overall a decent beer-maybe a bit old though.

Bottle. Capital Ale House - Innsbrook on 08/27/08. Very murky orange body with a small off-white head. Big spice, wood, caramel, and fruit aroma. Very sweet, candi sugar, caramel, spices, wood, light fruit flavors. Medium light body with moderate carbonation.

Pours a dark amber color with light tan head. This beer is really, really sweet. Dark dried fruits, brown sugar, caramel, tobacco. and maple. I don’t like it that much, the sweetness is very cloying.

Bottle. Poured a slightly hazy dark orange-light brown color. The head was fizzy and one finger high, but retained its short stature pretty well. Strong aroma of soy sauce, tobacco, booze, dark fruits, and molasses. Full bodied and sweet with modest carbonation. I tasted distinct brown sugar that lingered and was supported by apple, nonspecific spices, and burnt caramel. A real sipper best shared with friends (despite the small bottle). There is a lot going on in this one.

Pours a brown amber nectar with no head. Sweet bourbon light wood with a dry finish. Dark fruit, candi sugar, sugar and maple. The calvados cask gives this beer an awesome character.

In short: An extra-sweet uninteresting Belgian Ale. Unrefined. Half-bland, half-unpleasant
How: Bottle 330ml, age unknown, probably around 6 months old
The look: Partly cloudy orangy copper body with almost no head
In long: Nose is sweet cooked fruits, like a backed fruits pudding of something. Taste is sweet, too sweet. This is a sipper but not because of the alcohol, there’s and intensity in the fruity sweetness of this beer that makes it only drinkable very slowly. Candy sugar, red fruits of all kinds and red liquorice are the dominant flavours. Alcohol becomes more and more apparent as the beer warms up and the biting on the tongue really gets annoying. Lack of hops, very unbalanced. A bad beer. I’m rarely disappointing by a Smisje beer, although I should specify that it’s probably because I expect bad beers from them.

33cl, exclusive brew, from the brewery, complex brew, balanced, yet too heavy, cloudy, small head, very good brew, but too expensive

Muddy with tiny off white head. Sweet vinious aroma with caramel, calvados, plums and wood. Sweet and somewhat boozy flavor with overripe fruits, caramel and roasted malt. Ends with warming alcohol.