750 mL (plastic) corked, caged and silver foiled affair. Green’s on Ponce, Atlanta, GA, USA. I wish there was a real cork. This one has been in the cellar for a few months.
Dark brown pour with a lovely head and that classic, spotty, creamy quad lace on the surface of the beer and on the glass. Into the Ommegang chalice.
Wow, what a combo. Close to perfect in terms of the style, taste, mouthfeel and nose.
Creamy body with very light and fine carbonation. Nose and tastes combine to give the magical touch of high alcohol, deep fig and date type fruits, alcoholic esters and light burn. Sherry after-notes linger and the beer pulls it all together in the aftertaste. It is possible that the hop presence is about a tenth of a notch above where it should be, but that would be typical of Mikkeller when they mimic styles from other countries. In some instances they have got that wrong, but here it works well and is so close to the original style that it matters little anyway.
It’s a beer of Westvleteren 12 quality which should tell you all you need to know.
High drinkability and high quality are the main points here. I’d like to sip this one over a two hour period before dinner, in the Spring, outside a typical cafe in Bruges or Lille. Delicious.