trevor211 (81), Seattle, Washington, USA
Jun 1, 2008
Pours a light brown with an unbelievable amount of sediment and a good, thick beige head. No kidding - there were dark spots on top of the head where it actually held up some of the sediment as it poured. Smells like a dream. Sweet and tart fruits - apples, plums, golden raisins, figs and a bit of not-quite-ripe strawberry. Yeast, light malts (much like light molasses), and baking spices - cloves and allspice. One last thing in the aroma that took a while to pick out - honest to God, it smells a bit like one of those strawberry shortcake ice cream bars. Flavor isn’t quite as complex as the nose. The yeast comes through heavily (could have guessed from the floaties), and it’s a little more tart than sweet. The darker of the fruits still show through, and the taste does round out as it warms, adding toasted almonds (they were right on about that). This one is fantastically complex - the best I’ve had from Abbaye des Rocs.
machfive55 (39), Mountville, Pennsylvania, USA
Aug 21, 2008 My beer poured cloudy with chunks of something in it...probably yeast. I’m sure I got a bottle that was mishandled somewhere along the way. Despite this however, the beer was excellent and had a great flavor and aroma, but I found it tough to drink because I couldn’t get by the chunks floating in it. So, that said, I’m going to rate this pretty good, as the beer tasted great, it just looked bad...I’m giving it a 1 on appearance. If I ever get the opportunity to re-rate, I’ll certainly change things.
 HughConway (259), USA
Aug 13, 2008 Bottle. Pours deep brown with pleasing head. Strong fruit nicely complex aroma. Taste is spicy, fruity, thickly body. Excellent.
A_R (293), Georgia, USA
Aug 9, 2008 This beer had a nice aroma with a large head forming in the tulip glass. It is hearty and flavorful, with a mix of dark fruit flavors. Very smooth and complex with a long-lingering aftertaste.
KnN (253), Greenbelt, Maryland, USA
Aug 5, 2008 Pours a nice dark brown to ruby with almost no head, but some good carbonation. Big strong ale with a huge fruit aroma. Like toffee cherries and raisins mixed into a can of malt or something. Huge nose on this.
Flavor is more of the same with a lot of nice undertones, caramel, dark fruit, cherries. All of this and it’s not overly sweet which is very nice. This skates a thin line very well.
afireinside96 (390), Mountville, Pennsylvania, USA
Jul 29, 2008 Hazy brown pour with a creamy tan head. Smells of raisin, brown sugar, dried dates, and doughy yeast. Complex fruity flavor with notes of caramel, brown sugar, allspice, and biscuit. Prickly feeling carbonation helps remove the slightly cloying finish. Slightly warming as well. Damn good.
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