From the cellar: Lefebvre Barbãr Bok

Lefebvre Barbãr (Winter) Bok

ABV: 8%
Origin: Quenast, Brabant-Wallonie, Wallonia
Website: www.brasserielefebvre.be
First published: 5 February 2001

Another review from the archive written for the pioneering Oxford Bottled Beer Database (OBBD). I’ve left it uncorrected — so please read it in that historical spirit. At the time the beer was was 8% ABV, and also known as Barbãr de Noël: it’s now 8.5% and simply known as Bok, and though available for a longer season is still a winter speciality.

This is the dark, winter version of Lefebvre’s bottle-conditioned honey beer Barbãr, brewed from October to February and described on the bottle as ‘the winter sleep of the warrior’. The gravity is enough to send anyone to sleep unless treated with care, even the stylised prehistoric warrior queen figure depicted on the label.

The beer is almost black, with a nice rich head, and a very scented, honeysuckle-like, slightly phenolic aroma, perhaps with some Styrian hops. The texture is smooth and honeyed, and the floweriness continues into the taste, which has hints of dandelion and burdock and rich liquorice flavours.

A splash of sweetness then develops, followed by a quite citric hoppiness and a slightly chocolatey finish. It’s a pleasant and perilously drinkable beer that somewhat resembles Hoegaarden’s Verboden Vrucht, though without the latter’s complexity, length and marmaladey denseness.