I must admit, I fucked this one up.  I was so excited that the moment I walked in the door from purchasing it, I opened it.  Which means that the yeast (it’s belgian afterall, of course they bottle conditioned it) are nicely suspended all through the beer.  My impression of everything will thus be based on suspended yeast.  balls.

So for me, this beer poured a coppery color, though opaque because of the suspended yeast.  It smells estery and sweet, like if you were to put orange juice and banana bread in a blender and whip it up real good.  There is also a hint of alcohol, as there damn well should be at 11.5% by volume.

As for the taste, it depends on the mouthful.  A big swig will get you alcohol, a complex array of malts and esters.  However, with a small sip, it’s almost like black licorice.  Really an interesting character.  The longer it’s sat at room temp, or given an opportunity to warm to the ambient temp, as I’m sitting outside, some of the flavors really open up in a way I wasn’t expecting.

As for the quality of this beer?  Well… for 5 dollars a 12 oz bottle, it’s really a bit on the steep side.  And I know more than a few beers at that price that top this.  However, it is interesting, and I’m glad I purchased it this once.

overall, 6/10.  5 bones is steep for above average.