AleSmith Grand Cru

Brewed by AleSmith Brewing Company
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
San Diego, California USA

Great Belgian Strong Ale. Nice color, aroma and flavor. Caramel, molasses, dark fruit. Great lacing on the surface. A good option if you like Chimay Blue. This one is better.

750 ml. bottle picked up at John’s Marketplace in Portland, Oregon. Not really much head on this one. I tried to agitate it and still it didn’t produce that much head. Dark brown, fairly translucent. Not really what I was expecting in terms of appearance. Buttery toffee aroma? WTF? Slight nut aroma as well. Sweet aroma that is very subtle at first, but when it warms up it becomes fairly sweet smelling. An odd aroma that I wasn’t expecting. Not overly pungent. Sweet beer with a fruit/roast/toffee flavor. The subtle roast comes in later, and allows the beer to finish well. Sweet flavor is nice, but this isn’t what I was expecting out of a Belgian strong. Not as carbonated, which for me is nice. Overall, not a bad Belgian.

Bottle that I brought to Springslicker’s Fish Fry. Pours a hazy dark amber with a beige head. Lots of fruit and toffee in the aroma. Flavor of rich toffee, caramel, sherry, vanilla, and sweet whiskey. Hops have pretty much faded out of this, but at least it does not have cardboard oxidation. Alcohol well hidden. Not bad, but you can just tell it’s past its prime and not designed for aging.

To me AleSmith can be hit and miss. I want to love everyone of their beers and I cannot say that I do. The Grand Cru lifts the bar and holds it high. I was a tad disappointed when I took the foil off and found a cap and not a cork, but from there on it was a pure delight. This is a big beer from start to finish. A dark amber slightly cloudy look with a thick and pale head leaves light lacing after every sip. Vanilla and caramel aromas abound and the alcohol content is evident before it touches the lips. Spicy yeast is the first flavor impression and it gives way to a slightly fruity and sweet caramel finish. This is a medium body malty and low hop beer that at 10+% is a pure delight by any measure. Cheers

750mL bottle, 2006 vintage, courtesy of throwitallaway, poured into a snifter. Pours with low carbonation out of the bottle - an aggressive pour producing a few big bubbles that recede immediately leaving the tiniest of rings around the glass. It’s a slightly hazy caramel brown with no lacing though the beer leaves some legs on the way down. The aroma is sweet, with lots of brown sugar and caramel malts. There is plenty of rum-soaked dark fruit, and possibly a bit of oxidation in the nose. The taste has a sweet fruity kick up front with booze-soaked apricots and pears dominating. The backbone is big on caramel malts and the finish is slightly oxidized and very dry with some cardboard in the aftertaste. The mouthfeel is light to medium bodied and super slick with very little carbonation. This is a decent beer, though I think the oxidation and complete lack of carbonation has hurt it a bit. The aroma and taste are still fairly good, but this particular bottle has seen better days.

Bottle from Peter at AleSmith, apparently from the original bottling, but the label was silk screened, so I have no idea. In any case, this one pours a warm shade of amber with a pillowy tan head. Smells of dark fruit, yeast, and booze -- all of which are mirrored in the flavor along with added notes of caramel and vanilla. Nears a barleywine in flavor, particularly in the way the alcohol is featured. I thought this had a couple years of age on it, but it certainly didn’t taste that way. Please start marking your bottles with dates!

Golden dark brown pour with a light reddish hue. Collapsing brown head. Aroma of berries, yeast and wood. Very sweet, alcoholic, and fruity with flavors of blackberries, plums, raisins, spices, vanilla, caramel and toffee. Well balanced with a musty finish. I really enjoyed this beer and savored it till the last drop.

This was the last beer of an evening of several pretty big beers (American Independence Day), and I have to say that I probably would’ve enjoyed it more had it been the first beer of the evening rather than the last. It was certainly not bad, but not what I was expecting (a problem I would not have had if I read the bottle), but not a great night-cap for a hot evening spent outdoors. Still, pretty good, and something I’d be willing try again. The body was a sort of muddy red-brown with very little head. The description says it is "crystal clear (when served properly)" - I’m dying to know what those conditions are! I thought for some reason that flavor would be fruitier and lighter than it was; in actually it was a pretty heavy sweet cerealness with lots of biscuity character above it with some very sweet alcohol tang to it. Mouthfeel was dry and warming, owing largely to the high ABV. I wasn’t a huge fan of this one, but given the circumstances, I’d be willing to give it another try. I bought this bottle a few months back at the Winerak in Zanesville, OH.