Belgian Dark Strong
Tonewood Brewing - Barrington

 

Tonewood Brewing "Belgian Dark Strong"
$10/32 fl. oz. crowler fresh from the brewery

Notes via stream of consciousness: A nice "gluey" pour from the can delivers a three-finger thick head of creamy light tan atop a hazy very dark mahogany brown body. Held to the light it displays some reddish color along with sides of the glass where the light can get through. The head retention seems to be excellent as it doesn't seem to have dropped at all since I've poured it. Let me time out what's left... 3 minutes not including what I missed while I was writing this before it dropped to the point that the beer started showing through the creamy surface - not bad! The lacing so far, however, is not as good, but that may be due to alcohol - how strong is this? 9.4%? Yeah, that'll do it. The aroma is malty with dark skinned fruits and a bit of light spice. I'm finding some dark caramel, white sugar, raisins, plum, fig, and a suggestion of clove and anise. Let's see how the flavor compares... similar but not the same. The nose is fairly sugary but the flavor is less so, and it's balanced by some additional yeasty pepperiness and a firm bitterness that leads to a dry and spicy finish with bitterness lingering amidst soft raisin and a light bit of cocoa. Nicely done! In the mouth it's medium-light in body and gently effervescent with a light caress on the tongue before warming to become smoother and creamier.