t Smisje Great Reserva

Brewed by Brouwerij De Regenboog
Style: Imperial Stout
Assebroek-Brugge, Belgium

Pours a deep amber with a compact tan head that lasts nicely. Ignore the word "stout" here - it just isn’t. Very inviting aroma of dark fruits with a touch of molasses and dark caramel. Flavor matches - a real bomb of raisins, caramel, dark fruit, and more molasses. Sort of like an old fashioned caramel chew. Wonderful malt depth here. There is something liquor-like going on here, but don’t think I would have picked out the Cognac barrels from the flavor - which is a good thing, in that they got the balance right. Really nice tootsie roll flavor on the finish. Good stuff.

11.2oz grenade bottle. Thick brown, with a big, luscious head. The aroma lets you know something different is going on, but it mixes quite well with the Belgian yeast/sugar sweetness. Smooth and quite nice, this one ups the original. One of the best Belgian stouts for sure.

Pours a hazy brown into my Dogfish Head snifter with a huge light brown head. Lots of carbonation in this one and nice lacing on side of glass. Aroma is yeasts, dark fruits, rasins, candi sugar, wood, brandy. Flavor is barrel, dark fruits, belgian yeasts, tobacco, candi sugar, dark malts, esthers, spices, slightly earthy. Finishes with some barrely, spicy, bitterness and a nice tingly carbonated mouthfeel. Nicely integrated too, as the brandy barrel does not kill the other flavors like many BA brews.

They call it an imperial stout but I am rating it on belief that it is a Belgian strong ale. On that idea, it is a beautiful strong ale with hints of caramel and raisin. Did not really notice the cognac flavors until I read that it was aged in it. Try it if you can get your hands on it.

Aroma is yeasty, slightly sour, dark fruits, cocoa, estery. HUGE rocky white/yellow head that never goes away. Pours a rich mahogany color. Taste is loads of rum and raisin, touches of sulphur (although it dissipates pretty quickly), some alcohol, caramel. Finish is slightly hoppy, sweet, slightly fizzy, like flattening soda, and long, slightly oaked. Wow, this is pretty solid. Very interesting. Doesn’t quite taste like an Imperial Stout and doesn’t drink at all like the 10 percent quoted, but it is quite warming. Final notes: Lots of rum coming out of this; chewy caramel, yeasty, some esters, a barrel character to the finish which dries it out just short of being cloying. Seems a little watery, which docks some points on flavor and palate, but overall is very complex and very good, even if it doesn’t fit the style traditionally.

Red copper with a creamy tan head. Nice musty sweet chocolate oak cognac vanilla and roasted coconut aroma and taste. Mellow and quite good. Alcohol warmth to the finish.

Bottle. Fermented fruits, brandy and wood for aroma. Murky dark brown with foamy tan head and quality lace. Good fruity flavor along with some mild notes of coco, pepper and bitter. Musty fermentataion of the fruits that ligers on the palate. Good brew.

Hazy brown-amber ale with a small cream-beige head, fading. Strange musk-like smell, nearly animal, with whiffs of black chocolate and cardamom. But the meaty/estery, musky smell keeps determinant. Vinous warming up. Bitter tasting, hoppy and burnt, with bitter chocolate flavours and a backthroat spirit flavour, that is strangely more Bourbon- or whiskylike than brandyish. Peanuts flavour and more meaty esters warming up. Thinned by the alcohol, I think, but the base seems pretty rich. The alcohol peeps out, warming, after some time getting sharper. Quite good balance, much better than the original Catherine. Aftertaste gets finally something sweetish warming up. Very good one, and another proof for my pet idea, that Belgian brewers really should look more into barrel-aging. And fast, too.