Just like Hoegaarden Grand Cru, I like this beer. Shoot me.

Pour is a dark burgundy body, with a resplendent head, that takes on a light tan hue, and a lovely, “noisy”, pitted, dense look. This looks great.

Right out the bottle there is plenty of banana sweetness in the nose. The tastes continue to bring the same, and we get some really nice dry alcohol soaked dried fruits. More banana based yeast, and then some more vinous notes. There’s a fruity, jammy, red wine based element in there, and a little alcohol in the back end. A slightly drying sweetener-like finish doesn’t do the beer any great favors if I’m honest, but it’s pretty slight. Malt based caramel, and some yeasty, bubblegum raisins. There’s a lot going on here, and it’s all Belgian, it’s all sweet, and it’s all fruit.

Not that big in the mouth, which makes it very drinkable, but might be a (slight) criticism if you were looking for something more in your face and huge.

Belgian Strong Dark, coupled with some fruity notes, and a surprisingly dry, late finish and aftertaste. Even though the alcohol makes an appearance, it’s never really that apparent at 8.5.

Drinkability is huge for me, and before I know it, it’s gone. This is a beer that I have to get from Belgium, but on just about every other shipment I throw a bottle in. There might be a nostalgic element from back in the day, and I acknowledge that, but this is still a very solid beer that never fails to satisfy me. Time for another order I guess.