t Smisje Calva Reserva

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

I do not understand why this brew is dogged soooo much. This is powerful and perhaps one of the best beers money can buy from belgium. There I said it. The calvados really shows in the afterpalate. So savory. Looks awful for sure but tastes like gold. Mirky like sewer water. Lacy head. Nose is exceedingly sweet and full of yeasty pungency. Flavours of sherry, bourbon, sweet prunes, beef bullion and golden raisins. Simply magnificent. G-rat

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. OMG!! A top 10 brew right here for sure. Beer poured medium brown, head was almost non existent. Big nose of sweet apples, Raisens and other dried fruits. Also some caramel and yeast. A great brew, highly recomended.

Amber-red, slight bronze shine, hazy; yellow-amber head, stable and leaving lace. Sherrywood, lactic acid-like nose and indeed - old harvest apples. Dried fruit (cherries, apples, figs) but not sweet, alleviated as it is by a very restrained but seemingly active lactic acid, and a bitterness that is definitely tannine and a bit spicey. Beer is both incredibly severe and frivolously complex. Something like berries, laid up in alcohol. Very well-bodied, full MF, oily & slick, and infinitely complex. I cannot follow anybody who would look cross at the brewer, because he fills these casks on special demand from the USA. This is an enrichment for Belgian brewing, more power to B. United.

This dark amber beer pours with no head and elicits a fruity alcohol aroma. It starts off tasting a bit like syrupy prune juice, but as it warms one can taste the candy. spice and calvados flavors. By the time I finished, I found this to be a very well-crafted, interesting and tasty beer.

Dark burgundy color, utterly opaque....nestled ’neath a solid, if thinnish cap of tannish foam. Aroma: sweet, tart, pungent, cherryish, lemony, deep, twisted, delicious...love it. Taste it, now: huge presence in the mouth, floods every section of the senses with intense flavors, vast citric feel, sharp, spicy, somewhat sweet taste...brandy and barleywine comes to mind...big plum and grape...a little oaky, but fruit and alcohol reigns supreme. The 12 % abv becomes king in time, but the flavor there remains Lord of All. Wow. If you want a tasty ride for mind and body...grap onto a bottle of this one! ...it’s almost "too strong"..but, then, it’s not...it’s huge, but...I like that!

Poured a medium orangish/golden, cloudy, with tons of sediment, no head, no carbonation. Woody aroma and notes of whisky. Flavors are intense, notes of earth, fruit and sourness, whisky finish, some cheese, and a little bit of alcohol. lots of flavors from start to finish. Very good.

Bottle. A vigorous escape upon opening. Aroma of yeast and fruity esters. Color is ripe apricot and the head is full and slightly rocky off-white. Near full bodied with creamy carbonation. The flavor is quite complex. Fruity, yeasty, malty, vinous. A touch of wood, and some bitter hop. A hint of citrus, could be coriander. Overall it’s really impressive. And not a hint of heat - pretty good for 12%. This may be the beer.