Ciney Speciale

Brewed by Brasserie Union (Alken-Maes / Heineken)
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Jumet, Belgium

Dark brown, with a rich cream head. Low bitteness lends to malt predominated beer. Some nice rich malty notes up front but has a thin middle. Notes of raisins. Alcohol is almost undetectable for such a big beer. Another nice big belgian brown ale. Similar in some ways to Gouden Draak.

Botled. I have no Ciney-glass, so I served it in a Palm-glass and it even looked like a Palm, or at least a Double-Palm. Caramel and little malt aroma.v Sticky, sweet flavour. Long palate.

Caramel, little iron aroma. Brown color, light brown head, large foam bubbles, fair lace. Sweet, few flavors, little caramel, where’s the 9% alcohol? Long lasting finish with just some caramel. Bit boring but drinkable.

I consider this one a average Belgian abbey Beer.

Dark brown color, with creamy lasting head. Malty, bready aroma. Sweet malts, bready, chocolat, small alcohol presence. Thick palate.

Light bodied, malty, I can feel the alcohol more than I can taste it -- a little burn and pepper, lightly flavored and I’m reaching to find suggestions of graham cracker, citrus and oxidized hop aromas. I thought this sucked and then it started to bloom at what must have been about 56F. More aromatic and flavor detail. Tasty and worth revisiting.

Roasty-malty flavor. A bit heavier than the Brune.

Head is initially large, frothy, off-white, mostly lasting. Body is hazy dark orange-brown, dense tiny particles, bottle conditioned. Aroma is moderately malty (cookie, caramel), lightly hoppy (flowers, citrus - lemon), lightly yeasty (mold), with notes of alcohol, bubble gum, and peach. Flavor is moderately sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, moderately acidic, moderately bitter. Light to medium body, watery texture, lively carbonation, moderately alcoholic, moderately astringent. Poorly hidden alcohol, light/watery, and otherwise unimpressive.