Tournay Royale Réserve 11° - 3/4L

Tournay Royale Réserve 11° - 3/4L

Tournay Noire aged for 20months in oak barrel. Limited to 400 bottles Thin, loosely structured, yellowish beige head consisting of small bubbles which fizz away like the head on a glass of coke, leaving behind only a wafer-thin moussy rim but completely vanishing in the end, on top of a very, very dark bronze-brown beer, practically black in general appearance, but with translucent chestnut edges, revealing a refined ’edge carbonation’.

Almost vaguely oud bruin-like, quite deep aroma of toasted bread, walnut liqueur, dry sherry, dry tree leaves, brown rum of high standard, oak furniture (quite pronounced), dried plums, maracuja, old red wine, dusty old shelves, treacle, caramel sauce, dried blackcurrants, hazelnuts, fig, butterscotch, bayleaf, candied pear, dried sage, vague vanilla (the oak again, no doubt), dry leather, old cloves, toasted peanuts, molasses, tree bark. Lots of dried fruits in the onset, candied sweetness but in a noble, restrained kind of way, dried fig and dried berries, raisins and dried banana slices, sweetish and sourish in balance but still the sweetishness of almost muscovado-like brown sugariness elegantly prevails; thick and near to syrupy, ’clean’, very smooth, gently carbonated mouthfeel, very filling but not thoroughly oily or viscous. Lovely smooth, almost resinous caramelly malt body, thick and mouth-filling, beautiful sweetish (cashew- or hazel-)nuttiness, light dark ’fondant’ chocolate accents here and there, all drenched in this beautiful dried fruit sweetishness and sourishness, until, at some point before the finish, the wood sets in and provides not just a tannic, almost ’dusty’ dryness, but also very elegant retronasal oakiness, vanilla-ish but ’palpably’ woody as well. The nuttiness and toastiness of the malts travel even a little bit beyond this very pronounced woodiness, connecting beginning and end, with a trace of the treacle- or molasses-like dark sugariness to it as well, leaving a delicate sweetness behind at the back of the mouth; some earthy hops and a well-positioned afterglow of rum-like, but otherwise not too outspoken alcohol do the rest.

This is a beautiful creation, all of Cazeau’s beers are of high quality level .