“Apples, raisins and cinnamon are the main ingredients for the famous Austrian dessert Apfelstrudel. Combine these ingredients with a De Molen style quadrupel and you get a beautiful dessert beer. Full, sweet and heartwarming. The perfect beer for the holidays.”

Glassware: Trappist goblet.

Appearance: Muddy dark brown complexion capped off by a short tan head which quickly forms a collar. Scarce lacing as it subsides.

Aroma: Super rich and sweet. It kinda has this grape-flavoured Hubba Bubba quality to it. As we delve deeper it becomes far more complex. We get stewed apples, lots of warm spices like cinnamon, star anise and nutmeg, juicy raisin, flaky pastry, Christmas cake, Carribbean rum, candi sugars and toffee apple. This would be an absolute pearler in the middle of winter next to a roaring fire.

Flavour: Ooft, unbelievably sweet. Almost to the point of being cloying but thankfully there’s enough depth to save it. The apfelstrudel component is integrated well…just the slightest hint of tartness from the apples but the caramelised malts and spicy notes balance it out well. Uber rich sugars and dark fruits then set up for a boozy, sweet and spicy finish which draws out nicely.

Mouthfeel: Oily and gelatinous texture with medium body. Low-ish Co2 and the 9.3% ABV is well behaved.

Overall: It’s an absolute bummer that De Molen is set to shut their doors after 22 years in operation. The upside is that a lot of their beers (like this one) are well suited for the cellar so they can be enjoyed long after they shut up shop.