JP (2012)
The Emerson Brewing Company

Pours copper with a large fading head.
Nose shows prunes, milk chocolate, soft coffee notes, dried fruit, and more chocolate. Pretty amazing-smelling.
More coffee and cocoa as flavours along with hot booze, almost cognac-like, and some golden syrup..
Carbonation is insanely high.

500ml bottle from Slowbeer in Melbourne. Vintage 2012 and C591 printed on the bottle.

This really sits somewhere between a pale and a dark, but the standard Belgian pale is certainly a lot lighter than this, which is a deep amber colour, somewhat hazed. Head is frothy, but full: indeed it frothed very marginally over the lid when uncapped. Plenty of fine carbonation, which does a pretty reasonable job of preserving the head. Body is quite light. Looks good.

Nose is smooth and rounded, with a decent vanilla orchid note, and a light hint of sweet citrus. Some peppery notes, and a very pleasant caramel depth to it. Hints of caraway and sweet bread. It's quite complex, and very pleasant.

Taste is sharper and spicier, with a noticeable booze, and a slightly astringent character through the centre of the palate. This takes the place of the purported caramel sweetness on the nose: there's still the sharpness, the spice and the peppery characters. It even has the fragrant vanilla, but still none of the sweetness.

Slightly light and sharp mouthfeel. Pleasant enough.

It's a very decent drop: it does somewhat fall into the classic Belgian-style-not-from-Belgian trap of being too boozy and sharp for what it can support. But it has lots of complexities to explore and some very decent flavours overall. Nice stuff.