Groot & Sterk
Brouwerij De Molen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Served in a pint glass (picked up the bottle at Ceveceria Esparte-Conil, Spain)

Appearance: Dark amber colored body with slight haze to it. Medium bubbles throughout which creates a oange tinted white head which rose to a notch below a finger's length.

Smell: Smoked wood and charred meat...little hard to get used to.

Taste: Tastes better than it smells but you have to have an open mind. Pulled pork with onions and caramel. Peppery but not as spicy as I expected which wins points in my book.

Mouth: Medium carbonation which is very sticky. Note of barbeque at the end which is adaptable but takes a bit of time.

Overall: This brew was complex, little sweet, spicy and malts. It is another hyrbid beer which I picked up on vacation...nice mix between your rauchbier and american strong ale. The peppers were just a touch...hope you all enjoy and drink up. Salud!

 

 

 

 

 

Pours hazy dark amber with a tiny frothy head.
Bacon shows up first in the smell, then fruity hops, with some orange, berries, plum, with a bit of apple brandy. If you insist on taking a sniff really close in, you get a nice prickly warmth from the chillies.
Well, nothing to worry about, actually. The front has a sticky fruitiness that reminds of a barleywine, with raisin, fig, cherry, orange pulp, even a bit of mango smothered in caramel and brandy. The smoked malts follow on top of that sweetness, hand in the hand with the rye, creating a deeply toasted Russian rye bread feel (even with a pinch of salt). Still fruity towards the end, and this helps quell the rich chilli hotness. No veggie, green pepper peel note, just a constant, but bearable spiciness. You even get some bitter hop in the end.
Aftertaste has that chilli prickle, lingering fruity malt sweetness (citrus peel!) and smoked meat. Medium, bit sticky body, low carbonation. A bit boozy.
A big interesting beer, great smoke, spicy rye and chillies, extremely easy to bear if you're not at your first encounter with a chilli beer (even if we're talking about the famous "scorpion" variety. Great craftmanship.

Dark ruby ​​color, not quite clear.
Weak head slightly beige, the glass is only for a moment.
The aroma of smoke, smoked bacon and background notes of cherries and prunes.
Taste fantastic. First of all, the beer is incredibly greasy and meaty, you can eat them. The dominant taste is of course the smoke from the fire, the taste of smoked, cooked ham and bacon. Drinking it, I felt like I was eating soup with a big fat eyes on the surface.
With every sip feel prunes, cherries and raisins. Finish slightly acidic, dry, guilty. Groot & Sterk is soft, velvety, very smoothly flows into the throat. Alcohol quite strong. Gentian dry and sharp. Beer very good and drinkable, only small criticism is alcohol.