Brewery: De Struise Brouwers
Country: Belgium
ABV: 10.1%
Style: Belgian Strong Dark Ale
Other Notes: 27 IBUs. Cask strength limited edition with low carbonation
Brewer Description: (from bottle) Our barrel room is housing more barrels each year. As our team does not grow as quick as our barrel total, it is needless to say our barrel aged beers are also aging longer. This batch has already 4 years of bourbon barrel aging, and we’re very happy with the outcome. Enjoy!
My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.84
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.6
Intro: A 375ml bottle, 2012 vintage, bottled on 25th February 2016. Poured into a De Struise tulip glass.
Appearance: Dark brown in colour with pretty much no head and no lacing.
Aroma: Sweet-ish dried fruit, dark fruit, plum, prunes, raisin, bourbon, brown sugar, red wine grape, slightly vinous, oak, with notes of chocolate and toffee.
Taste: Sweet dark fruit, very lightly tart, plum, prunes, raisin, light bourbon, oak, with chocolate and caramel notes and a very slight char like bitterness on the finish.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with extremely low to no carbonation.
Overall: For 4 years in a bourbon barrel, I was hoping for stronger barrel character. I also prefer having some carbonation, and I know the bottle says it has ‘low carbonation’ but actually my feeling is that it’s pretty much next to no carbonation.