Style: Belgian dark strong ale
Brewery: Brouwerij De Brabandere
Origin: Belgium
Size: 33cl
Alcohol: 8.5%
Price: 52kr
Systembolaget: 88374
Brabandere was founded in 1894 and remains as one of Belgium’s biggest family-owned independent breweries to this day. This beer won a silver medal at the 2019 World beer awards. It has been brewed using 6 different malts, before flavoured with cherry and chocolate. Adding nitrogen to a beer gives it a creamy, silky body due to the smaller bubbles and being less soluble than carbon dioxide. As this was rather dark and fruity, I wanted something creamy to counterbalance these notes, so I went for a slice of vanilla cheesecake to pair.
This had a light chocolate brown to ruby red colour, with a thin head that disappeared rather rapidly. The body seemed to be rather thick and oily, probably due to the cherry juice used in the making of the beer. The big red fruit notes came through directly in the aroma, with the sweet cherry dominating the chocolate notes. The taste was more balanced, with both the chocolate and cherry fighting for place on the palate. The carbonation seemed surprisingly low, and I think a touch more would have elevated the flavours slightly. The aftertaste was sticky and sweet but rather short. Even though it was 8.5%, the alcohol was hidden well by the cherry. The nitro element of the beer was also quite lacking, as I felt it didn’t really add to the creaminess of the beer.
This was a nice beer but lacked depth. I liked the cherry, but this is the kind of beer where a small amount goes a long way. If you like fruity, sweet beers, this would be a good choice to go for.