Abbaye des Rocs Grand Cru

Bottle at Beer Bistro, Toronto, August 2007. Poured deep red into a tulip glass, with mid sized chunks of sediment, some floating in the glass. The aroma is complex: I picked out some dried fruits, raisin, cherry, brown sugar, caramel. I taste plums, cherry, some apricot and caramel finish.

11.2 oz. bottle poured into a tulip glass has a red amber color and a thin off white head. aroma is rich in the fruit with cherry, plumb, raisin, dark dried fruit, and light sweetness. light alcohol surfaces but not what was expected from a 9.5%, and there is light barrel wood. mouth feel is medium with light carbonation. flavor is loaded on fruit with a great sweetness level, rich malt base, and the alcohol just disappears. amazingly smooth, cherry, toffee, raisin, light molasses, and caramel touches. sweet and fruity but not too much in either direction, finishing with dark fruit and bitterness that creeps in. there is a slight chocolate hit in there that sneaks in on you. bottle has sat with me for a few months and who knows how long in the store.

Big Bottle! Pours with a nice fluffy head that fades to a thin layer of creamy off white. Aroma of dark fruit and belgian yeast. Flavor is of dark fruit, honey, and a nicely balanced bitterness that keeps sweetness from bogging everything down. The aftertaste is at first much like the primary taste but then a surge of chocolate with a hint of coffee comes from nowhere and lasts for a while. The palate is velvety and smooth with a medium to full body. Very nice.

Pours a hazy reddish-brown color, some floaties, with a lasting frothy head which produces some nice lacing. Aroma is tart cherries, yeast and darker fruits, such as plums. Nice carbonation. The flavor is fruity, apples, cherries, plums and grapes that are both sweet and tart. As expected there’s a nice dose of yeast in the flavor with some brown sugary notes as well. Well-rounded taste. Finishes a bit puckery with light bitterness. Good beer.

Pours a dark reddish brown color with a big foamy, beige head that shows good retention. The head slowly recedes and leaves swirly lacing behind. There is a lot of yeast settlement that floats around as well. The aroms shows notes of plums, raisins, figs, and sweet caramel malt. The flavor is full of dark fruits dipped in caramel with some candied sugar, raisins and a hint of chocolate. This one has a nice sweet fruity flavor to it. Medium-full bodied and smooth on the palate with a sweet, fruity finish. This is a solid blegian ale and one that is very nice to drink.