Brewers Art Ozzy

Brewed by The Brewers Art
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Baltimore, Maryland USA

Sampled from a small keg at the Real Ale festival in Bel Air. poured a really neat looking pale yellow with a fair bit of cloudiness. Some banana aroma on the head, but aso some spice and a good biscuit smell. Flavor was nice and smooth with a bit of hop. This was a nice Belgian style.

A very soft pour easily produces three fingers of pale, tan tinged, off white colored froth in my 25cl tulip glass. The head forms characteristically textured, rockied structures as it slowly subsides all the while leaving a substantial layer of lacing on the sides of my glass. The beer is a rich gold color that shows an almost clear, bright gold color when held up to the light. Ah, the aroma is quite divine (after smelling a vegetal hop note when I was pouring); the aroma focuses on a light pear fruitiness, a hint of green apple, plenty of earthy, peppery spice notes as well as some earthy esters and phenols. Interesting aromatic notes reminiscent of Meyer lemon zest, coriander, grassy pale grain, light saltine cracker grain notes, spicy wild flower nectar, and some dusty grains of paradise aromas all dance in and out of focus as I find my self enjoying the aroma for an extended period of time. Damn the aroma just hits the spot, this is exactly what I was hoping this beer would smell like.

Lightly sweet up front, which is backed up by a carbonic fizz that is quite lively. The beer has a nice mix of fruity esters and spicy phenols as it moves across the tongue; notes of pear, bright honeydew melon, aromatic apple and sweet lemon zest as well as notes of clove, some woody black pepper and light notes of spicy ginger. This has a bit more sweetness and a touch more fullness to it than the Prototype of the style. As it warms up the beer picks up a bit of heat in the finish with some cleaner higher alcohol notes becoming a bit more noticeable.

A second pour of this, warmer than the first, starts to accentuate the earthy spice notes that were so noticed in the aroma. This gets an herbal, slightly vegetal note toward the finish at times and there is also a light hop bitterness here that at times is not noticed because of the sweeter fruit flavors.

Damn, what is up with Brewers Art, all three beers I have had from these guys have been outstanding. Why am I not hearing more buzz about these guys? They certainly deserve it. This is a fantastic take on a Duvel inspired beer; fruity and spicier than Duvel, the added character definitely works wonderfully, especially considering that this is a bit sweeter than Duvel, that added flavors definitely help to tame the sweetness quite well.

Courtesy of beachbum25. Thanks! Pours gold with a nice white head. Smells of lemons, grass, hay, wildflowers, perfume. Tastes dry with a great spicy hint and lots of peppery notes. Excellent!

Pour was hazy golden in color, some sediments in the second pour from the bottle bottom. Huge-mongo head! Right down my alley from the start, this thing had a great spicey, grassy, bready/yeasty blend in the aroma. The flavor followed, dry belgian pale malts (well attenuated, best attenuated Belgian Strong out there?), grass, bready/yeast notes, with the only flaw being an increasing floral/perfumey twist as the beer warmed. At the 50F range or so, though, this thing was excellent, above that still quite nice, just a little annoying with that perfume action. Full mouthfeel for the style, highly carbonated (a tad overly so).

appearance at first strikes as a light lager, but an effervescent head knocks that disappointment away immediately. Slow to dissipate, with nice lacing as well. Aroma has hop, yeast, and citrus. Flavor keeps yeast with some slight malt, but wholly unremarkable and unenticing. One of my least favorite belgian strongs.

Pours yellowish with huge white head. Aroma is spicy yeast with some citrus- orange and clove. Flavor is quite hoppy with some caramel malt- some astringency though. Palate is smooth and slightly acidic with dry finish. Nothing astonishing here- lacking in flavor and palate.

750 ml bottle from Wine Specialist. Orange tinged golden color with a vigorous white head. Smells more like a tripel. Yeast, citrus, bread, candi, and herby/floral hop. Medium bodied with frothy, creamy carbonation. Flavor is mildly herb bitter with a smidgeon of candi and pale malt. The finish is very nice, but confusing. It cycles sweet, dry, herby, sweet, dry. Ends up slightly bitter and astringent. It drinks very well. Like it a lot.

I thought this one tasted like it was made with a bit of a skunk-yeast strain and tasted of rotten breadiness. All in a good way though, and it had some light sweetness before finishing very dry.