Tik
Brouwerij De Molen

This beer pours a brown amber color with a small head and some visible carbonation.

Smell is caramellic and candy sugar. Slightly alcoholic or boozy, with some yeasty notes and a good bitterness.

Taste is roasted with candy sugar and hopbitter, also from the dark malts. The beer makes a boozy, alcoholic impression. Mouthfeel is sweet and sticky. I get the feeling that a lot of sugar has been used, a bit too much. The body is too thin and the beer is unbalanced. Too bad, not the best beer from De Molen.

 

Purchased at the foreign beer bar, London Drinker's beerfest., Apr. 2006. Bottle-conditioned in a 750ml straight brown bottle, corked and caged. BB 24/11/2006, served lightly-chilled in a large Burgundy bulb wine glass.

A: bright russett colour, coming with a very restrained layer of beige beer head, settling fast to just a rim of foam... very fine carbonation underneath, with microscopic fizziness.
S: slightly damp yeasty upfront, with fast-prevailing aroma of sour-sweet fruitiness, like ripe red pears+cherry preserve+dried dates, plus a touch of banana-ish, perfumy yeastiness; the mildly fragrant fruit-esters are backed by an undercurrent of maltiness, with hints of brown sugar, and slightly chewy in texture. Interestingly, the whole aroma reminds me of Hog's Back barley wine/strong ale series big time~~
T: brown-sugary and candyish Munich malts and caramel malts abounds, backed by sweet fruity hints of dried berries+dried longan-fruits with a faintly sour edge, before a slightly dryish, grassy and a little bitter touch of (Saaz?) hops expands at the back of the palate, leaving an interesting, tangy mouthfeel; a mildly alc. warming touch creeps down the throat, similar to a barley wine. No undesirable syrupy or cloying aftertaste is left at the tail, good! Actually, the whole palate is even a bit "winey", like some botrytis muscat wine~~
M&D: pretty smooth on the mouthfeel without falling fizzy nor flatly cloying like many other examples, thanks to a healthy condition of carbonation; the full-body is also lifted up a bit due to a somewhat balance reached b/w sour fruitiness and rich maltiness. The flavour profile is quite pleasant and shows an evolving structure, but not as complex as I'd expect from a 9.5%abv. strong pale ale. As a result, the whole 750ml bottle proves rather heavy for me to finish it all by myself; but considering that all the fizziness will certainly be gone if I leave it (vacuumed) overnight, I simply got to fight on...

BB 24-11-06. Not that much but well lasting head and a foggy amber beer. Nose is very yeast fruity and alcoholic with caramellic hint and good maltyness. Taste is sweet, bitter and alcoholic. Good but very strong and IMO too bombastic/ Still good mouthfeel and low carbonisation fits brew. Well drinkable though nothing reel special as I more or less expected paying 2 euro's for a 33 cl botle.