The monthly beer tasting at De Groote Weiver was happening again yesterday. I reserved two tickets, but went for just one in the end. The misses didn’t really feel like drinking five really dark and heavy Belgian beers. Luckily for some other guy, since it was fully sold out. That was a good sign!

The theme was Dark & Heavy, with some quite wintry beers from Belgium. It varied from well to lesser known products, but the lesser known ones are a bit easier to get now that one of the guys who hosts it works at a beer importer. Quite practical for some inside knowledge!

Gouden Carolus Ambrio
A dark reddish brown beer with a slightly metallic taste. A little yeasty with some malt and minerals on the palate.

Watou Kapittel Prior
This one had much more character. A bit more sweet with some acidity as well. The flavour is thick but somewhat lighter than I expected. It has a certain crispness to it and a little savoury note. After a couple of minutes it becomes more chocolaty.

Urthel Samaranth
A quadrupel beer with a massive hit of alcohol, so it fits right in the theme. Toffee and sweet malty cookie dough. It has some brown sugary notes as well. Slightly bitter with some sweet vanilla.

Straffe Hendrik Quadrupel 11
Another quadrupel, so I’m getting close to hammered now. This one a bit more beery than the last one, with more bitterness. Heavy, almost like a barley wine. Barley, thick, heavy, sweet…

The fifth beer I didn’t try. I was more or less done and thought about taking it home. That wasn’t possible since it was a beer to share. Big 750ml bottles for 2 people. In the end the tasting was nice, with a couple of friends and such. The beers were not too terrific, but that might be me not really liking the style… Poured a Black Jack Porter (Left Hand Brewing) when I got home and that was the best beer of the day… Before I went to the tasting I poured a Innis & Gunn Rum Cask but that went down the drain before the 2nd sip. Disgusting beer, overly sweet, rotting wood.

Ratings? All 3 star beers apart from the first one, that’s going at 2 stars.