Vunderland
Marble Brewery

a spiced winter dark ale, i feel like it starts off really well, or rather has a nice foundation, but the finishing elements arent quite there, and this one under delivers a little bit for me. its nice and dark on the pour, with some viscosity to it but not the kind of head i look for in a belgian style, a little flat there. it smells nice, but the proportions of the spices are off a little in the flavor, especially the ginger, which i think is a bit over the top. the clove and nutmeg its made with give it a warming holiday vibe which i really enjoy, excellent with the dark grain in here, which is a step short of darkly roasted but has nice depth to it, also warming and sort of baked, comforting almost. the orange pushes it right into a christmas ale, super festive, bitter and essential oily, distinct. its sweet from the grain, and i think its sweet from the honey too, this could be dried out a little more. the missing element for me is the yeast, sold as a belgian dark, i dont really get much belgian yeast character, and if i do, its really obscured by the added spices, almost frustratingly so, like a nice rich flavorful abbey yeast would really set this off. subtle leather and tobacco and dried apples at the end. good, but just a few tweaks away from where i would like it to be...