Vleteren Bruin 12° Oak Aged
Brouwerij Deca Services NV

Copenhagen 12/7 2022. 33 cl bottle from Den Belgiske Ølbutik, Jyllingevej, Vanløse. Blue label with a decadent fellow in toga straddling a huge beer barrel while cheering with a mug of beer.

Pours opaque, dark brown with a small off-white head. Very bubbly. Disappears after a few seconds leaving meagre patches of foam behind.No lacing.

Aroma is moderately intense with a sweet and dark malty odor mingling with a tart, sourish, fruity notes. Dark sweet fruits like raisins and plums soaked in alcohol. Woody vibe. Unripe gooseberries, green apples and citrus.

Medium strong carbonation. Slightly thick, oily, a bit greasy, lively and lightly tingling texture.

Flavor is fairly intense with a medium strong sweetness followed and balanced by a medium strong tart sourness. Aftertaste is sweet alcohol with a tart searing undertone. Lingers for a while. Finish is boozy and semi-dry.

Well-balanced combination of the sweet, dark and boozy with tart and fresh fruit.

 

 

just a short review here, but this is a real nice beer, love a good quad, probably my favourite style, and this is quite nice, lovely roasted black bread malt flavour, lots of dark fruit, really boozy, caramel sweetness, vanilla, vinous, floral quality to it, medium bitterness on the finish, full bodied and medium carbonation, lot of warming alcohol, nice stuff, good night cap beer

L- Very deep chestnut red. I'd rested this bottle-conditioned beer hoping to reduce the quantity of sediment I got in the pour, but nope it still poured notably cloudy. That said very heavy sediment was left on the bottom of the bottle, so this has the potential to pour really hazy. It poured with a 5mm off-white head and that is holding well.
S- Rich dark fruits, molasses, liquor-ish ABV% note though quite subtle considering the thumping 12%.
T- Cherry licquer or cherry brandy? A pungent fruit note carried on a wave of nakedly high ABV%. Other taste elements perhaps come rather secondary, are masked, to the show-stopping ABV. Glad I served this well chilled, as as it warms it's getting a bit sweeter than I favour.
F- Rich, pungent, it's beginning to leave a zing down my upper throat as I swallow.
O- I'd be interested to see how my previous ratings correlate with ABV% I think there is a point to which ABV% tends to .... facilitate being more impressed. The whole beers profile and foundations give a broad platform to wow - whereas good luck getting much/any wow out of a say 3.5% beer. But there is a point with ABV% where it begins to smother all else and I think 12% is into the danger zone for that being a near certainty; [this is my 7th beer of 12%ABV/+].
So yes it's interesting to try, but for me it's unbalanced and a clever yet blunt instrument. I wouldn't buy this again, it's 'all a bit OTT' for me.
£4.29 from BeersOfEurope (UK). BB: 08/21 printed on glass at neck of bottle.

 

 

Murky dark brown color with tan head. Aroma has dark fruits, some balsamic vinegar and red wine. Taste starts with dark fruits, brown sugar, some yeast character and slight wood barrel on the finish. Medium to heavy body with quite low carbonation. It's fruity, malty with a hint of caramel but slightly boozy and flat.

 

Bottle. Brown pour with a medium height tan head. Complex smell, with notes including whiskey, grapes, red wine, cherries, oak barrel. The taste is similarly complex, with the same notes as the aroma, plus some coffee, spices, cocoa and molasses. A bit too sweet and boozy for my taste, but other than that quite a beer.

Nice quad, I have never had one oak aged/ barrel aged so I am no expert on this style, but i have had many a great belgian quads and i think think this is a great one too.. Maybe just a little to sweet for me and sweeter than most quads but overall really a pretty decent beer ideal for after dinner or with something sweet to pair with a desert.