AleSmith Grand Cru

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

2000 bottle consumed in November 2006. Dark mellon color with a wispy white head and a creamy ring. Aroma is very rich, chocolate and earth as well as some alcohol. Flavor is very smooth and well blended. Very easy to drink but nothing memorable. I’m guessing this beer lost some of its presence with so many years in the cellar.

An excellent beer, no doubt, but a little heavy in taste for my liking. I can appreciate this beer but it is not for me.

750 acquired from Hair, thanks! This was split two ways. Murky amber with a medium to large off white head. Aroma is of caramel, chocolate, belgian yeast and spices. Taste is lightly tart fruits, light notes of chocolate, caramel overtones, with a touch of residual sweetness and spices in the finish.

750 ml bottle. Pours a murky orange brown color with an enormously thick beige head. Lots of hops floating around. Aroma is rich and complex with hints of figs,caramel,dough bread,brown sugar and yeast. Taste is spicy with hints of fruity esters.pepper,banana,prunes,figs,bread,nutmeg and fresh yeast. Excellent.

I loved all of the Alesmith I had tried until I got to their Belgium line. They come across as too Americanized to me. That would be fine if they didn’t charge significantly more than the Belgium beers they aspire to be. This pours deep bronze with a fizzy tan head. The aroma has caramel malts, candi sugar, breadiness, raisins, figs and earthy. Very full and rich and gives the impression the taste will be authentic Belgium tasting. Medium body with an over abundance of carbonation. Taste has earthy caramel, dark fruits and some biscuitiness. They flavor come off just short of being from Belgium. The finish gets a bit sour and has a caramel blast. After the aroma I was hoping for more complexity. A good beer, but for the price get a top quality Belgium that it is emulating and have money left over.

Bought this bottle online about 6 months ago, so it’s likely between 6 months and 2 years old. For some reason, Alesmith doesn’t date their beers =\

Pour was a dark brown, tiny head, and first sip made me think the bottle may be no good... not because it tasted bad or off, but because it was so different than I was expecting. I was thinking along traditional grand cru lines, pale with a big head, spicy and spritzy... this is anything but! Aroma is very hot, dark cherry characteristics, lemon, spices. In the mouth it is much more interesting, an intricate mesh of flavors, lots of spices, caramel, plum, licorice... even some steak/meat. Still very hot in the mouth, though overall the beer is very smooth, I’m not sure more aging would do it well. With the oxidation and sherry notes I’ve noticed, even, I think maybe this beer would just be drunk best fresh. I wish I knew when this bottle was actually produced!

Complex and incredibly sweet beer. Cloudy reddish body with big-bubbled head. Something was off with the carbonation because there was little making an already sweet beer seem even sweeter. Strong nose of sweet sugar, cramel, alcohol, overripe fruit, especially plum, and a slight funky Band-Aid note. The flavor was sweet — fruits, plum, brown sugar, caramel with a warm, peppery alcohol finish. The palate was flat and slightly sticky. Despite its inadequate carbonation, this was still an excellent sipping beer.

Pours a deep cherry, almost brandy, color with a really bubbly head. Seems this could have used a few more months to fully bottle condition. The aroma really waifs out of the glass, almost like a fuel. There is a definite alcohol heat in the nose, but it is paired with a plethora of fruity esthers and complex malts. Deep fruits - plummy bananas and sweet cherries are a constant theme here. The body is really sweet - caramelized fruits drenched in honey sweet. This is a great dessert beer or fireside sipper but a little too sweet for mass consumption.