04/08 (Almost two year old bottle)
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Purchased at Kybecca, Fredericksburg, VA, USA. $7+ for the last bottle in the cooler.
Poured in to the Val-Dieu goblet. Still has the dark, dark brown almost black body. Very thin spotty head despite the aggressive pour. Some flakes and floaties in the body of the pour.
Aroma is deeper now than I remember from a couple of years ago. Mouthfeel is still creamy.
The taste really doesn’t seemed to have mellowed out much – a tad disappointing. It certainly maintains that aniseed bitterness that I thought might have been tempered down somewhat.
Still enjoyed it, but I am a little surprised that this had not changed more. Still a bit edgy – I’d like to see a mellower Belgian.
07/06 (Original Review, fresh bottle)
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22oz bomber. Thanks to BA Boolshot for a great trade.
Dark, dark brown in the Chimay chalice. Tan head that is not very impressive, somewhat thin and leaves a little spottiness on the surface. Alcohol in the nose with some typical Belgian sugar, spice and yeast notes.
As others have observed there is a definite aniseed taste in there somewhere. It manifests itself in some bitterness which seems a little out of place. Mouthfeel is luxurious and delicious. Outside of that it’s typically spiced Belgian but with an unusual dark chocolate taste mixed in. Very nice.
The finish is too bitter in my opinion and lacks subtlety. I wouldn’t be surprised if this mellowed over time and if it does, this beer would have improved a great deal. Despite all of that I found myself drinking this very quickly so it’s obviously not all that bad!