Craftsman Baldwins Abbey 10

Brewed by Craftsman Brewing Co.
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Pasadena, California USA

On tap at Lucky’s. Hazy yellow with a fluffy white head. Spicy and fruity aroma with some bready notes. Strong sweet fruity taste with big medicinal spices, juniper maybe, and a slightly alcoholic finish. Quite good.

Date: 12/03/2006
Mode: Draft
Source: Lucky Baldwins

opaque dark amber, big creamy off white head, lots of lace, sweet fruity aroma with a hint of earthy hops, rich fruity flavor, rum soaked raisons, a touch of over ripe figs,

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 15/20
Rating: 3.6/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: **4

On tap at Lucky Baldwins on 12/3/06: Pours a hazy dark copper amber with a large, frothy well-lacing white head. Aroma of sweet caramel, orange peel, biscuity malt and Belgian yeast. Body starts with a rich, full, sweet pale maltiness with a touch of peppery clove flavor and orange citrus along with a hint of anise before a sticky, sweet, slightly warming finish. Good complexity and should age fairly well.

This beer has an absolutely intoxicating aroma. Despite sitting in a distracting bar I sat and sniffed at this beer for quite some time before even thinking about taking a sip. The beer itself is a hazy amber color and is topped by a quite thin head typical of draught beer. The aroma has a nice fruitiness to it that seems like concentrated aromatic apples, plums and pears. Plus it has a light spiciness to it, that I can only surmise comes from the fermentation character. This spiciness provides a backdrop to the fruit & overall provides a nice balance. Just a spectacular aroma.

The flavors in this beer don’t quite live up to the aroma, but they are still quite tasty. Notes of honey mixes with nice malt notes and the finish has notes of higher alcohols that somehow don’t reach harsh, but ultimately provide some sharp balancing notes to the other flavors. This beer is quite sweet overall, but still not in any way cloying. I usually prefer a Belgian beer that is a bit drier, in fact I would probably prefer to lose the honey and caramel notes that are found here, or at least have them play a lesser role. I do like how the spicy fermentation character adds to the overall complexity. As is usual with draught Belgian beers, I wonder how much different (would it be better) this beer would taste if it were properly bottle conditioned.

Sampled at Lucky Baldwins

Draft @ Lucky Baldwin’s: Poured a very hazy orange-copper with a medium sized off-white head. the aroma was estery, yeasty and fruity. Notes of sugar, candy and bubble gum. The flavor was big. Sweet estery fruits and a hint of bubble gum. Very nice Belgian yeast character. Very warming and a spicey finish. I loved it!