REVIEW #69: Pannepot 2010 Vintage (De Struise Brouwers)

Pours dark bromine red with a foamy, milky-coffee head. Indistinct grape, sherry, candy sugar and a sour note come together in the nose; beguiling! This beer is incredibly complex... Strong dubbel style flavours occur initially; dates, dried stone fruits and very port-like. What follows is a smooth, well-rounded, bitter, herbal, warm alcohol-filled long meander of a finish. And even then its not truly finished as up pops an aftertaste smacking of fresh elderberry's and creamy, mellow oaky vanilla notes. Very full bodied. Its a beer to sip and savour and to keep you warm when out at sea in your pannepot.

De Struise have bowled me over for a second time. In fact Pannepot (which is the term for a fishing boat in the village of De Panne) impresses me more than Black Albert, which was merely an excellent imperial Russian stout. This is without doubt a world class Belgian strong dark ale; I guess, technically speaking, its too strong to be called a dubbel. Both Untappd and BeerAdvocate call it a quadrupel. But surely its the wrong colour? Hmm... lets not get into semantics! The maturation process has done wonders for the complexity of this vintage. Its a beer brewed at the Deca brewery in Vleteren, just down the road from St. Sixtus Abbey, wherein is brewed perhaps the most coveted of all Trappist ales (certainly the scarcest), Westvleteren (Blonde, 8 & 12). Anyway, getting back to Pannepot, I recommend you source a bottle ASAP. Its the single most delicious dark Belgian beer I've tried. I hear older editions go for silly money on beer auction sites, so I'm glad I got this 2010 vintage for a reasonable price. [UPDATE 16/3/2012: Managed to get a 2008 vintage entitled 'grand reserva'; review pending!]

• MALTS: ?

• HOPS: BRAMLING CROSS, HALLERTAUER MITTELFREUH
• IBU: 27
• O.G: 1100
• f.g: 1025
• ABV: 10%`
• bottle-conditioned, unfiltered, unpasteurised, added spices.

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