Barrel-Aged Project Brew No. 3 - Madeira - Brouwerij Hof Ten Dormaal

UCLABrewN84

California

3.6/5  rDev -1.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

On tap at Beachwood BBQ & Brewing in Long Beach, CA.

Pours a hazy orange with a foamy beige head that settles to a partial film on top of the beer. Small dots of lace form around the glass on the drink down. Smell is of malt, honey, fruit, and madeira wine. Taste is much the same with a honey and fruit flavors on the finish. There is a mild amount of woody bitterness on the palate with each sip. This beer has a lower level of carbonation with a slightly crisp and medium bodied mouthfeel. Overall, this is a pretty good beer but it smells much better than it tastes in my opinion.

Serving type: on-tap

04-23-2013 02:19:05 | More by UCLABrewN84

thagr81us

South Carolina

3.5/5  rDev -4.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Big thanks goes out to funkydelic for sharing this one at a past Random Sunday Tasting! Served from bottle into a Mikkeller taster flute. Poured yellow-orange with a one finger off-white head that subsided to a minimal amount very slowly. Maintained nice lacing throughout the glass. The aroma was comprised of sweet malt, earth, spice, fruit, and banana. The flavor was of sweet malt, earth, spice, banana, fruit, wood, and earthy funk. It had a light feel on the palate with high carbonation. Overall this was a decent brew. I truly went into this one expecting good things based on what I was reading on the box and bottle. However while everything was good, there wasn’t really any aspect that stood out on this one that made it jump out at me. All of the right flavors were there for the style and even the barrel treatment was there, it just didn’t ‘pop’ so to say. Glad I got the chance to try it, but just wish that it would have brought a little more to the table.

Serving type: bottle

01-15-2013 11:59:52 | More by thagr81us

LiquidAmber

Washington

3.95/5  rDev +7.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Poured into a Gouyasse tulip glass. Pours a hazy caramel orange amber with tons of white particles in rapid agitation. When the cork popped, there was a peaceful moment, then the bottle gushered like Oklahoma black gold. 2/3 of a glass of fine light tan head that slowly dissipated leaving lots of heavy lacing. Although I attempted an easy pour, the massive carbonation stirred up the sediment, which at least put on a good show in the glass. Aroma of Belgian yeast, sweet apple and pear with a sharp mineral element. Flavor is pleasant orange, peach and apricot, dried dark fruit, toffee, well integrated. Finishes mellow with sweet fruit and hints of fortified wine and wood; slight diacetyl. I'm not completely familiar with Madeira, but can appreciate the flavors that it provided to this ale, and they worked nicely. Medium bodied with active carbonation. The gusher worried me at first, but I enjoyed this very much. I like the base Belgian blonde this is built on and appreciate the changes the barreling produced.

Serving type: bottle

01-03-2013 04:11:48 | More by LiquidAmber

writerLJBerg

Oregon

3.35/5  rDev -8.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3

First review for this one. Score! Wait, no.

750mL bottle shipped from Belgium. Split 6 ways.

A: Clear copper with a thin lacing.

N: Peppery and earthy. Biscuit, honeydew.

T: Lots of butter. Some pepper and earth. Lots of butter. Fairly hot. Sugary sweet.

M: Medium heavy body.

O: The barrel aging has a minor effect, but these are very similar because of the power of the base beer. So when I say Madeira stands out, it’s damning with faint praise.

Serving type: bottle

10-18-2012 19:27:34 | More by writerLJBerg