Notes from 3/8/14
On the bottle: Cellar release 4-2012
It states on the bottle that the brew is not released from a cellar until it's matured for 3 months, putting this beer at about 26 months old (more aging than the brewery suggests, but how bad could it really be?).
A lively yellow-golden appearance with an incredibly active flow of carbonation bubbles, which doesn't let up even after several minutes. Egg white head. Spice in the nose. Lemon, yeast, grass, banana and pineapple. The aroma is complex.
Spicy with an underlying sweetness in the taste: black pepper, cinnamon and ginger-like flavors. The hop bite and bitterness is toned down overall, which is undoubtedly due to the extended aging. As good as this beer is, I probably should have opened it before the year ended.
As it warms, a pronounced yeast flavor and aroma is steering my senses toward the hefeweizen style. A light-medium bodied beer with complex flavors and aromas. At 7% ABV, a sipper that's strikingly drinkable and highly recommended!
Thanks to my friend, Ricky, for the Belgian beer.
Note: the bottle was signed by the brewmaster; the signature looks like Jef Versele.