Finally, only fourteen days late, we get to my last Advent Beer. It poured a jet black in the glass, with a monster dark tan head. The cork came out of the bottle with a very loud pop and for a moment, I thought I had another bottle bomb on my hands. It turned out to just be a bit lively and required a bit of a careful pour to get it all in the glass and jug. The head on the glass dropped to a very impressive finger thick, luscious lump of foam that lasted for ages and ages.

It was a tale of two beers though, as the first and second glasses, both smelt and tasted different. The first had far less woody character than the second, where as the second had hardly any head and looked pretty flat in the glass.

The nose was very complex, with lots of dark chocolate, wood and vinous notes. Similarly the taste was pretty full on to, and as I alluded to with the pour, the taste of the two glasses were quite different too. The first was all dark chocolate, with hints of coffee and not much in the way of barrel aging. The second glass was all wood, wood and booze, with chocolate fleeting round the edges.

• De Molen
• List & Bedrog, 11.9%, 750ml

It was very nice, very nice indeed.

De Molen’s’ Ruig & Rood is supposed to be an Irish Red Ale, what ever one of those is. It poured a real orangey amber colour, with a nice thick off white head. The head wasn’t quite white and wasn’t quite tan coloured, it was somewhere in between. It was also quite slow in forming and it took a bit of an energetic pour to really get going, but the head that formed was worth it. I was a bit worried that it would be another dud bottle, as there wasn’t really much of a phzzzt when I opened it, however, it turned out to be perfectly conditioned, which was a nice change.

It was full bodied, but didn’t quite feel like it was nine odd percent, even though it felt quite large, it still felt easy to drink. When I first tried some, I thought there was a fleeting hint of smoke, it wasn’t here on the next mouthful thought, so I thought I might have imagined it. For the vast majority of the bottle I didn’t taste it again, except for another couple of fleeting moments. I’m not sure if it was supposed to be there or not, but it did add a bit of an extra dimension when it appeared.

Mainly thought, it was just sweet, malty, juicy orangy type flavours, that lingered and lingered. I didn’t really know what to expect, but it was a very nice beer and didn’t really get boring, even thought it really was, just all sweet orangy flavours.

• De Molen
• Ruig & Rood, 9.5%, 750ml

All the Advent Beer blogs should have been up before Christmas, but shit happens, quite literally. I had my car broken into while I was out Christmas shopping in Cambridge after work one evening last week. They stole my work laptop, but left the three bags and box of world class beer that were on the back seat, small mercies. To be honest though, I just ran out of time, too much to do at work and around the house. I’ve also been ill all this week, today is the first day that I’m actually thinking I might fancy a beer later. So the final few Advent Beer blogs will hopefully be appearing sporadically over the next few days.

I’d been pre-warned that this bottle of De Molen SSS might be a bit on the lively side, so I was prepared with extra jigs and a big pan. I undid the cage and the cork pushed itself out about half way before I managed to clamp my hand over it and stop it popping off completely. It was foaming really badly during the pour, which meant I’d filled one jug and my glass and only dispensed about half the bottle. When I put the bottle down, foam was still coming out the top of it, so I had to pour the rest into another jug.

It was a really dark brown colour, so it sat black in the glass and, amazingly enough, had a huge tan coloured head. The second glass didn’t really have a head though, as it dropped to a ring round the edge of the glass fairly sharpish. The nose was a bit confused, with musty dark chocolate notes and some yeast. I can’t help thinking what it would have smelt like, if it hadn’t been an over carbonated bottle.

In the mouth it was amazingly smooth for a beer that was so desperate to redecorate my kitchen. I was expecting far more of a carbonic mouth prickle, or at least each mouthful to turn to foam the moment it hit my tongue. Mainly though, there was just a musty yeasty taste to the whole thing, which was really disappointing and annoying. You could tell that there was a cracking beer just wanting to flaunt all it’s dark chocolate and subtle coffee flavours, but it couldn’t, because it all just tasted of yeast.

• De Molen
• 1914 Triple Stout SSS, 9.99%, 750ml

As I said at the start, I’d been pre-warned by a mate that the bottle might be lively, but we’re not the only ones who’ve had the same issue.

@RecentlyDrunk had one last week. Would have been better if we hadn’t lost 3/4 of the bottle when we opened the fucking thing

2011/12/21 22:38 via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@TheBlackIsleBoy

Chris

It doesn’t really reflect well on De Molen that they keep producing bottle bombs…

This was the second big bottle of Advent Beer that I had on Sunday night, well, it was actually Monday morning as I opened it at five minutes past midnight. See, I said I went a bit mental and on a school night too. I think I ended up going to bed at about five to three; I was a wreck at work yesterday. These notes were all written in the early hours while drinking the beer, so they may not make a lot of sense, or be particularly detailed.

Mooi & Meedogenloos poured a seriously dark brown, so it looked black in the glass. It appeared to be a bit over carbonated, as the head got massive during the pour. In fact, I had to pour into three vessels as the head got so big in the first jug, I needed a second to hold the second half of the bottle. The head on the first glass actually got bigger over the first twenty minutes or so after the pour as well, so it was a bit on the lively side. The nose was all dark and mysterious, with subtle coffee and chocolate notes.

In the mouth is wasn’t as lively as the head generation indicated, that might have been due to me leaving it for a bit to settle down, and writing all of this while drinking the second glass. I do find that leaving a lively beer in a jug, in the fridge, does calm it down a bit once it hits the glass.

This beer was all about chocolate, right from the get go, till the last of the lingering after taste, it was all chocolate, with just a bit of smoke to keep it interesting. I was quite surprised by the woody, smoky edge as the bottle didn’t give any hint of barrel ageing or smoked malt. I didn’t find it distracting, quite the opposite, I actually like it, for a change. It worked really well with all the subtle, soft, dark chocolate.

• De Molen
• Mooi & Meedogenloos, 10.2%, 750ml

This was a really, really nice beer, especially as it wasn’t a bottle bomb. Definitely one I’d buy again, but maybe I’d open it and drink it before midnight next time…