Heil & Zegen
Brouwerij De Molen

Heil & Zegen, bottled on May 8 2009 and consumed on July 6 2016 in Madrid. Surprisingly lively, full-bodied, hoppy and carbonated for a seven-year-old brew. Sweet but not overwhelmingly so. Toffee, caramel, brown butter... all the flavors you expect from a barleywine. Not sure why this was entered on BA as a Double IPA.

I got this bottle from morningstorm a few weeks ago in a trade. Thanks Roel! Opened on a friday night, weekend!

Poured in my Struise glass off course the beers looks wonderfull, cloudy darkdarkbrown fluid with a lightbrown head.

Smell is superb with hopnotes and boozeyness.

taste stays a bit behind but still a good one in this style.

Thanks to someone for sharing at bu11zeye's 10,000th rating tasting.

The beer pours a brownish-amber color with a few white bubbles but no real head. The aroma has a lot of toffee and alcohol in it, but there is also a little bit of cherry. The flavor is similar. The toffee is complimented by some tobacco and leather notes, as well as some cherries. Medium mouthfeel and medium carbonation.

I quite enjoyed this beer although it doesnt seem to be entirely true to style - The taste and smell are sweeter than expected but there is still strong hoppiness present.

There is a bit of an unpleasant aftertaste - maybe the way it is hopped but that iis the only stain I could come up with...

Would have it again if I could find another one...

Purchased at the BSF bar, GBBF 2009; this bottle-conditioned ale comes in a 330ml slim brown bottle, capped and sealed with some wax (but the wax was semi-broken upon purchase anyway); served faintly chilled in Tripel Karmeliet's long-stemmed tulip-shaped goblet. NOTE: the "laboratory-briefing" like front label provides the following info. - Brewed on 5 Apr. 2009, Bottled on 13 May 2009; EBC 123, EBU 92.6; Bitter-ing hops: Amarillo + as final-hops: Czech Saaz + Dry-hopping: Amarillo; this bottle is No. 542 from the batch of 840 (330ml) bottles.

A: pours a mildly carbonated, deeply dark russet brown hue with mahogany glows when seen against light; the dark beige frothy head builds up with patience, into a huge spongy rock with very good retention.
S: unlike the brewery's another take on the American IPA style - Vuur & Vlam, the aroma here is deeply hoppy and malty without considerable interference of Belgian/Dutch exotic yeasts - the aroma features overripe-fruity notes of esters, crystal/caramel malts, caramel or melted brown sugar, piney hops with resinous perfume, dried berry fruits like raisins, blueberry jam plus almonds... The overall impression supports the reported 10.8%abv., that it's thick & rich in body with apparent hint of alc., but in a really robust and pleasant way.
T: a pretty thick but quiet swallow of overripe fruits & dried fruits (reminder of an estery typical strong ale) is slowly followed by an aromatic mouthful of piney, lychee-ish and longan-fruity mixture of US hops and cara-malts; the level of hop bitterness is "well hidden" (or, under-represented), though, not at all like the quote, "EBU 92.6", prepares one for. That said, the finish is still full of hop aroma and residual fruitiness, balanced by a reasonable amount of sourness.
M&D: with a smooth and mildly carbonated palate against a medium-plus body (as far as the high alc. level is concerned), this ale is surprisingly easy to drink and retains many a delicious characters from the hops and malts, while a healthy balance is also retained, vividly demonstrated from the beginning to the end of each sip. In many ways this ale is not like an American DIPA that showcases a more concentrated hop profile (both lively hoppiness and bitterness), but it's still effortlessly delicious in its own way, IMO.

Brought a bottle back that I picked up at the Alvinne bottle shop in Belgium. Hopped with Amarillo and Czech Saaz. It was bottled on February 2nd, 2009.
Bottle # 311

A - Pours pretty dark stream with hardly a single bubble of carbonation. EBC - 123

S - The hops have definitely faded but there is still a hint of the citrus bite behind what is a large carmel malt smell.

T - This is hopefully just a fraction of what this beer was fresh. Almost all hops are gone, just leaving a light bittering. The malt bill has turned this into a barleywine. This reminds me of a 1yr old flat SN Bigfoot.

M/D - This is one of the flatest beers I've had in a long time (I've never had a flat lost abbey, yet). The lack of carbonation makes me wish they called this a barleywine, because then it would be someone acceptable. Still, it was a task to try and finish this beer.