Chimay Bleue (Blue)

Brewed by Chimay
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Baileux, Belgium

Dark, ruby accented, amber liquid. One-finger head of foam that dissipates to a thin film, rather quickly. Decent lacing is present. Deep, dark fruits dance on top of sweet roasted malts. Caramel and brown sugar play a sweet song, written by toffee. Swirling overripe bananas dance by, barely able to stand, but still present and making a good show of it. Yeast is trying to hold them up but has been drinking Port all night and is now chewing bubblegum, trying to hide it. Dark fruits and tasty, sweet malts dominate. Caramel and molasses. Nice spicy bite at the end. Good yeasty notes. Nice and creamy feeling, but abit lacking, overall, in the mouth. Would benefit greatly from abit more ’oomph’. Great tasting, but just a tad too thin, for me. Great drinking potential. Just watch out for the well-hidden 9% ABV.

Dark brown beer with a tight but quickly evaporating head. The taste is rich with syurp and herbs; anis and coriander. The taste is a little alcoholic and warming, anis and syrup. The mouthfeel is a little too carbonated.

its hazy brown with a huge beige head. musty smell, spices, cloves, yeast-mold smell. honey flavour, really rich fruit cake, dried figs, pleasant sourness, its good. ill admit i ate a lot of very spicy food right before this, slight dissapointment on the smell, though its still great! rating adjustment.. after letting it warm up a bit, an incredible taste just like biting into a perfectly ripe black plum, opens up.. wow now i see...

Aromas of spice (nutmeg, clove, anise) carmelized brown sugar fruits (raisin, orange, plum, banana) and a blue cheese like yeastyness. The nose is deep and alluring, strong and inviting. Some carmelly malt is present as well, but the floral spicy yeast dominates. Flavor is like the best apple cider you ever had. A woody malt start flows slowly into a rich fruity mid with carmelly finish. A delicate and incredilbe transition of flavors, like really good scotch. The spices noted in the nose intermingle with rich dark fruit malts and elegant belgian yeast in a most pleasant balancing act. You taste alchohol but its only one character in a complex mingle. Palate is equally complex and marked by smooth and definite transitions. Mild tang and tingle build to sour character while the mouth becomes increasingly silkly. After goin thro a dry phase there is a sweet whisper of a finish, slightly sticky mouth, like you just ate a nectarine. I don’t use perfect as a description very often because I want to leave the perfect beer out there as an unattainable ideal, but this beer is damn near perfect. Its because of beer like this that so many american belgian style ales fail miserably.

33 cl bottle, Fargo, ND, USA. Deep opaque brown with an orange tinge. Head is thin and static, lingering on the surface. Raisin, clove and brown sugar aroma. Initial caramel taste; gives way to bourbon soaked plumbs, finishes long, smooth and sweet.

It poured a very dark red hazy liquid with a medium sized light brown foam. It had a smell of yeast, ripe fruit, apples, oranges and nuts. The mouthfeel was smooth with a thick body and a medium amount of carbonation. It had a taste of caramell, ripe fruit, plums, yeast and something sweet. Complex and nice beer.

( 330ml bottle) pours dark brown with great head. Nose of oranges, blueberries, and Belgian yeast. Taste of bread, molasses, dried fruits, raisins, blueberries, cherries, spicy yeast and a dry, sweet creamy finish.