Witches Brew

Brewed by Brouwerij Van Steenberge
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Ertvelde, Belgium

Bottle. Pours hazy golden with thin white head. Aroma of Belgian yeast and dough. Taste medium sweetness, with sugary spices. Medium body that is oily and has a long finish. Decent.

25 and 2/5 ounce bottle, $9.99, from Beverages & More! Fairway. Pours a clear orange with a medium sized egg white head which leaves a cakey lacing on the trappist glass. Aroma is spicy with bitter oily hop notes. Straightforward aroma, but pleasant. Flavor is quite sweet throughout - very much like it has corn sugars and has been lagered, or so one would imagine. There is a little fruit in there as well, but that is the only other flavor characteristic. The body is too thin for this level of sweetness I’m afraid. I was expecting something more conventional; this is just too outrageously sweet, even for someone who usually doesn’t mind a little cloying sweetness. Overall, fair.

Bottled. Clear golden pour, off-white, rocky head. Yeasty, citrusy nose. Sweet candy sugar and citrus taste. Slight alcohol and hops in finish.

Bottle. Pours a hazy honey gold with a massive lively white head that takes eons to settle and leaves lots of lace. Sweet spicy aroma, soft bready toffee and fruit. Sweet palate, with honey-kissed malts, spices, and fruity notes of banana and apricot. Well balanced and very drinkable, hiding its 9.3% ABV.

750 mL bottle, corked & caged: clear gold straw...generous frothy, off-white head...too quickly diminishing and more bubbly than creamy. Strong, fruity aroma... cloy and artificial, with sharp bits of alcohol that sting my nose hairs...underlying overripe banana esters and uncooked, over yested dough. Slight tingle on the tip of the tongue, but slightly gritty (opposed to lively and well carbonated). Thick, gooey palate, that cakes onto the inside of the mouth and resembles mushy bananas in flavour and texture in the finish. Not really an interesting beer for me...but the alcohol sure makes one of the first cold nights of the winter a touch warmer.

Lightly hazy golden in color with a medium-large off white head. Aroma of belgian yeast, light banana, apple, with some sweet pale malts. Taste: Estery with apple and light banana, sweet and full bodied with a pale malt and honey sweetness, with a touch of spice and a very light hop bitterness in the finish.

750 ml bottle into a large snifter. Nice golden pour with a fluffy white meringie like head. Gentle nose of sweet spices, bananas, hops and alcohol. A bit too fizzy on the palate at first but it gives way to pleasant bitter hop aftertaste that lingers. Overall a very good triple.

Has the beer/white wine smell that I can’t quite put my finger on. Reddish hued golden lager, pours with a nice head, dissipates though. Tastes starts of mellow enough then builds and builds some more, sweet and tangy, it doesn’t really taste like malt OR hops though. It’s a bit too smooth ie: dull, and theres no aftertaste, no after tingle, no nothing going on in the mouth afterwards. A bit boring right after such a flavour buzz. All in all pretty good, but it seems like it was engineer to hide a high % behind a crazy fizz/tang buzz that doesn’t last, and keeps you going back for another hit. The lack of bottle fermentation is this beers downfall.