t Smisje Grande Reserva
Whiskey cask matured ’t Smisje Kerst ale brewed with spices (corriander and Grains of Paradise).
3.5
154 reviews
Mater, Belgium
Community reviews
26th November 2010
Cloudy brown beer, decent tan head. Toffee cream nose. Light dry palate. Toffee cream. Subtle sour and spice. Light whisky. Nice woody tones with a trace of vanilla and aniseed. Very light on it it’s toes for an 11.0% beer.
Bottle thanks to thirdeye11. Great aroma of yeast, spice, and caramel. Excellent cloudy orange pour with a thin vanilla top. Tastes like u scraped ur arm on a dirty stick then put a band-aid on ur arm then licked the band-aid. Good carbonation. If ur into kinda thing, then I would highly recommend this brew.
(33cl bottle) cloudy orange, wispy offwhite bubbles. Nose of moss, caramel, alcohol, corn, Caramel, rich, light cellar floor. Taste of band aid, caramel, moss, toasty, orange, woody, force carbonation, smells and tastes aged, maybe past its prime but no idea of the age.
Muddy read medium creamy head; tobacco and boozy and red wine aromas; stout like in the nose after a swallow... Much like a stout in finish with a tart edge. Very complex but I won't come back to it again with its price.
Pours reddish copper with a small white head. Aroma is caramel, red apple and yeast. Flavour is caramel, sweet, red apple, yeast and light whisky notes.
Pours an unclear brown beer. The aroma is malt, caramel, dried fruit, notes of nut and whisky. The flavor follows the nose with additional sweetness. The palate is sweetness. Overall a good beer.
Bottle. Brown beer with a tan head. Whiskey and light caramel aroma with dark fruit. Whiskey and light smoke flavor with dark fruit. Medium bodied. Whiskey and dark fruit lingers with light yeast and light smoke.
Bottle. Moderate aromas of cereal, caramel for the malt, cooked orange for the the hops, dough for the yeast with raisin, date, butterscotch, brown sugar nutmeg and tobacco. Head is average size, fizzy, off-white with some slippery lacing and is mostly diminishing. Color si murky medium brown with some tiny particles at the bottom. Flavor starts moderately sweet and lightly acidic, then finishes lightly to moderate acidic, sour and has a long heavily to harshly bitter aftertaste like burnt coffee. Palate is medium to full, creamy with a soft carbonation and a moderately alcoholic and lightly astringent and dry finish. A very nice smelling Belgian Strong Ale with some heady aromas, but the flavor is a bit harsh.
Pours hazy deep copper with 3-finger khaki head. Nose is huge vinous fruit (merlot, cabernet), fuselly whiskey, honey, mead, hops, spices. Tastes rich, hot, very fruity, with notes of merlot, oaky whiskey, fructosy syrupy molasses, and even some smoked malt/peaty/cognacy flavors late. This one is very complec and very delicious.
11.2oz bottle. Pours murky dark reddish brown with large chunks of sediment, and a small beige head. Aromas of sweet plum and raisin, cherry, alcohol, and cocoa, with some tart fruit and orange as well. The flavor is sweet and tart red fruit with oak at first, moving to peaty, smoky whiskey and oak. The finish is tart, with smoky, charred wood. Low/medium carbonation and medium body, slightly dry, and lightly warming. Pretty good; a very smoky profile. [1025]
Bottle. Brown color with medium head. Smells skunky with sour fruits. Tastes like skunky fruits. Not good. I hope this bottle is bad.
Bottle @ Odense Late March Tasting, 2012. Pours dark ruby amber with a small creamy white head. Nose is yeast, spices and vague whisky. Sweet and inviting. Sweet flavor with a warmth from alcohol, mild -very mild peated whisky, fruit , caramel and alcohol. Sweet - yet balanced and enjoyable. Hides the alcohol well.
Odense spring time specialties night at Dolle. Aroma of caramel, brown sugar, raisins, peppery spice. Sweet brown sugar and caramel flavour with spice, dried fruits, and a touch of boozy alcohol.
Caramel and oak come off the nose with hints of mild funkiness. Pours a dark amber almost brown with a thin white head. Smokey whiskey, peaty with corriander and white pepper notes, caramel malts with malty fruitiness in the background. It finishes with more peaty scotch. Not bad but I was not expecting so much smoke and peat.
Caramel aromas. Flavors of caramel and damp wood. Overall a very interesting beer.
brown coloured body with a little white head a spicy alcholic hoppy aroma a spicy alcholic sweet fruity malty taste with a alcholic sweet bitter finish
Bottle @ Kerstbierfestival Essen. Brown coloured beer with almost no carbonation and a short off white head (diminishing). Rather light aroma with a short alcoholic and slightly fruity touch. Medium to full light creamy palate. Finish is sweet apple fruity very soft/ smouth only short alcoholic hinted. Very smouth. Nice.
Dark clear amber coloured beer with a red shine, small off-white head and no carbonation. Soft liqor aroma with some malty sweet fruity hints. Full sweet slight sparkling palate. Finish is sweet bitter fruity (pineapple?). Ok.
33 cl. bottle sampled @ Kerstbierfestival 2011: same as with his sibling beer – never even heard of this one, didn’t know it existed – A: clear red amber with an off-white red head – T: very sweet, even sweeter than the Calve Reserva but in a good way, candy sugar, syrup, strong caramel, wood, small hint of spices in the finish, overpowered by a small touch of whiskey – B: oily & slightly sticky, better than Calve Reserva, definitely good but still cannot play in the big boys league as far as BA beers are concerned
11.2 oz bottle from WestLakeview Liquors. This one is hot!!! Poured a deeper and cloudy amber color with a huge sized off white head. Aromas of fruitiness, wood, vanilla, light whiskey and light spices. Tastes of whiskey, vanilla, wood, fruity, caramel, yeasty, and citrus. Heavy alcohol burn.
Bottle. [thanks after4ever]
Hazy dark red-brown with a lovely, staying, creamy, almost white head. Nice lacing. Complex aroma, lots of tartish oak, plums, red apple, anise, coriander, caramel. A bit of vanilla and a slight red wine character. Medium carbonation, fabulous oily palate. Flavour is also very complex, but very nice. Oak, red wine, some mild smoke, toasted caramel, anise, heather, cranberries, red currants, very fruity dry. Mild vinious. Soft, elegant and a very nice beer.
Bottle. Pours amber brown with a small off-white head that left spotty lacing. Malty aroma of caramel, toffee, light yeast and dark fruit. Flavor was moderately sweet with raisins, caramel, toffee, prunes and some notes of whiskey with a nice sticky warming finish.
Not my favorite. Poured this shit down the drain. Tastes like a barleywine beer. Fruity citrus sour. Not good. I find that the taste is off and the palate simply is offensive. This reminds me of a bad can of pop.
Initially a large head that dissipated to medium, but stayed. A friend of mine hyped this one up and I have to say I’m not disappointed. On the nose I get raisins and orange peel with a bit of caramel. The taste is sweet malts and spicy with a slight coppery taste, but not unpleasant. Medium carbonation. On my palate the raisins come through, but the orange peel seems to become lemony. This is a great beer from a brewery that is very hit and miss.
A mahogany colored beer with a small tan head that lasts nicely. The aroma is complex fruit but a variety that I cannot identify. Toffee is also noted. An aggressive beginning to the flavor profile. Sticky malt that is prunes and raisins, toffee and plenty of sweetness. Alcohol is not tasted as much as expected. This beer comes at you but is not over the top at all. Very tasty and nicely done.
Aroma of Orange peel. Looks bright amber in color with a medium head. Tastes of Orange zest and sour. Tasty but very tart overall.
Rerate +9 from a three year old bottle. Very sugary with peat, brown sugar and rum notes.
330ml bottle (no best before date) @ Christmas tasting on 28 December 2010. Not sure how old this bottle was but it certainly had a few years on it. I would have expected a beer of this strength to have held up well, even acquired some interesting aged characteristic. Unfortunately it mainly seemed a bit past it with signs of oxidation. Musty and quite woody - seemed more like the age than the barrel. Just a hint of fruit but it’s well-faded. Drinkable but not in great nick.
Bottle shared by bmanning.
Pours a murky light brown with quite a bit of haze and sediment. Small, tight head. No lacing. Nose is something else, with a weird nutty character permeating everything else. Hints of toffee and dark fruits in the back. Taste is dark fruits, toffee, caramel, and a strong nutty presence. A bit of something else is off, though it is hard to place. Feel is creamy and nutty with almost no carbonation. Really bad. Overall, just not a good beer with some seriously strange flavors.
Serving type: bottle
Reviewed on: 10-18-2010
Appearance: clear with the colors of toffee, treacle, and brown leather with some faint garnet highlights. Tannish khaki head is small and minor, leaving only a thin collar and a thin bubbly film in its wake. Does swirl with lace all around.
Nose: malty sweet with caramelized sugars mixed in with plums, raisins, and the essence of fruitcake. Spices in the back; coriander, grains of paradise, ginger. Green bananas, plantains, mango, and papaya – more of a tropical essence of these fruits unripe and still clinging desperately to their trees. Cotton candy, maraschino cherries, and more candied sugars.
Palate: full, creamy, and meaty – raisins, prunes, fruitcake, raisin bread. Plums and black cherries for a bit more stone fruit sweetness. Candied breads in the back and lingering in the finish. Tannic bitterness also in the back and along the edges; fruit skins. Brown sugar and spice mingle with a sense of old wood barrels steeped in burgundies and ports. Coriander and grains of paradise underneath and along the edges of my taste perception. About halfway through starts to grow a subtle warmth in the chest. Warm spicy sweetness in breath. Dryness of wood atop tongue.
Final Thoughts: overall good but somehow lacked the oomph and pow I was expecting given her circumstance. A fuller mouthfeel and richness to the flavors, all of them, would have taken her that one last step over the edge from really good to mind-blowing tastetastic.
Bottle 330ml. @ ChrisOs - Christmas Tasting.
Clear medium amber color with a small, frothy, fair lacing, mostly diminishing, off-white to white head. Aroma is moderate malty, caramel, oxidide, moderate yeasty, light coriander, light whisky notes. Flavor is moderate to heavy sweet and light bitter with a average to long duration, overriped berries, oxidide. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is soft. [20101228]