AleSmith Grand Cru

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

Re-rate 1/4/2007 After 20 months of aging, omg. It’s like wine. Rich, dark fruits; highly alcoholic; amazing aroma, like a sweet wine with beer characteristics. Fantastic. A little age shapes this stuff into something amazing. All of the almost uncoordinated, sweet esters have united and matured into a fruity deliciousness that I had not anticipated: the fruits have darkened, and matured wonderfully.

4/19/2006 Tap @ brewery. This may be my first Grand Cru... Reddish-amber with a tan head and good lacing. Aroma is almost tropical with pineapple, clove, orange, alcohol, roastiness, banana--the esters are out of control. Body is medium/full, light and creamy carbonation, dry, mouthwatering. Alcoholic warmth is noticeable, malty sucker! Caramel, fruits--banana, plumb, raisin, prune. Roasty. Was smitten by this brew because it is somewhat over the top with fruitiness, but roasty and delicious. <3

Pours a deep copper color with a very subtle tan head that bales quikly. Aroma of some fruits and spices. On the palet it is very smooth.....almost too smooth......just kidding.

Red/brown pour with small tan head and decent lacing. Medium full bodied with a little more carbonation than expected. Very earthy with some clove and licorice and anise notes. Taste has some brandy in it as well. A unique quick bitter roast flavor right at the back of the throat while swallowing. A great beer.

Bottle from Julio’s in Westboro, MA. Poured orangey-red with no head whatsoever. Maybe oxidized? Poured into a Chimay goblet, with the etching at the bottom, and I couldn’t generate a head, no matter how much I agitated it. Whatever. Aroma is a little light, but good nonetheless. A bunch of dark fruits (fig, cherry, prune), some spices (clove, licorice, toffee) and somewhat of an astringency in the nose. Very astringent in the mouth, but also very fruity and sweet. Same fruit ... mostly cherry and prune, but I can’t get away from the cognac-like astringency. Finishes dry, spicy and alcoholic. It’s good, but I was expecting more from AleSmith. Maybe the cross-country journey wasn’t a good thing for this bottle? I’m thinking it was an oxidized bottle, so if anyone wants to send another sample ......

hile this pales in comparison to some of AleSmith’s finer crafts, this was still fairly...okay. A nice sweet, malty aroma. Hints of smoke, earthyness paired well with the malty sweetness of the beer. Full bodied and drinkable. I’d say it’s another good beer from a great brewery!

This is the most malty Grande Cru I have ever had. Its almost like a Scotch Ale combined with a Belgian. Very thick looking, lots of sediment. Lots of malt in the taste with some belgian flavors breaking through.

750mL bottle. Murky orange-brown. Small offwhite head. Alcohol, bread dough, raisins, and caramel in the aroma. Estery nose with pineapple, appleskin flavors. Vanilla and caramel flavors with a yeasty spiciness. Raisin finish with a heavy alcohol hotness. Mouthfeel is heavy medium, fairly chewy.

The bottle certainly looks great- I was looking for an excuse to open this one. It pours hazy reddish dark amber. Not much foam, looking sirupy. Very complex aromas, fruitiness is prominent, but there is a certain sourness also combined with chocolate. Flavours are filled with fruity chocolate, sweet, but still kept in check, still ending semi-dry but with a long dry aftertaste. Full-bodied, smooth and sirupy. A wonderfully complex beer that is also well-balanced.I wish I had left the beer for maturing a little longer- it might well develop into a 5’er.