A fellow brewer at Hof ten Dormaal and good friend, asked me if I would be interested in used gin barrels from Filliers. Blonde beer and gin have been a tasty match for centuries, so interest? Yes indeed! So it was immediately clear which base beer would be aged on the gin barrels, the blonde Noblesse. A fairly hoppy beer of 5.5 vol%. With a little challenge to overcome, because usually heavy, and often dark beers are aged on wood and Noblesse is a lower alcohol beer. However, since the barrels come directly from the distillery, are freshly emptied and thus sterile, there is little risk of any wild yeast infections, and I dared the challenge. Fortunately, because Noblesse VSOP is a beneficial and wonderful beer; fresh, smooth and full-bodied, with a very clear influence of the gin. Delicious as an aperitif, with some olives or, as already mentioned, with Dutch new. Along with Finesse Pure Oak and L'ensemble di Montalcino, our Barrel-aged runners-up.