Dragonmead Armageddon Grand Cru

Brewed by Dragonmead Brewery
Style: Abt/Quadrupel
Warren, Michigan USA

On tap: The aroma has lots of banana with some light apple, candi sugar, yeast, and very faint alcohol. It’s a transparent golden-orange with a creamy off-white head. The flavor stats with banana, candi sugar, apple, and faint yeast up front. It finishes with some light tart apple with some faint alcohol. It’s listed as a Quad on the menu and a Belgian Strong here on the site. I’d say it tastes more like a Tripel. Either way, it’s very tastey. This gets my vote for the best beer from the brewery.

On tap. Pours a dark copper with thin white head. Aroma of caramel, dark dried fruit, and sugar. Flavor is surprisingly smooth, almost dangerously, with a nice sweetness, spice, dried fruit, and slight malt and wheat. Alcohol is too well hidden and the bartender told me today that it is believed to be 13% this year. Awesome.

2004 on tap. Soft ruby-orange color, light haze, slightly translucent with a small rapidly disippating oatmeal colored head. Smells of light chocolate, raspberries, a hint of doughy yeast and some bit of clove. Flavor is quite impressive, full of candi sugar and sweet sweet caramel flavors. Lots of red fruit and a medium-full body. Even served warm, this stuff is able to mask the 11 percent alcohol very well. Only after drinking a lot of it do I begin to notice a few problems in the finish. A hint of acidity and some strange, almost dirty/soily flavors make their way in, but it’s fairly minor and this is still a grand beer.

Note: this is my first grand cru, so I cannot rate it to style, as far as I know this might be the best or worst ever brewed. A fantastically rich ruby color with a small beige head. Swirled in glass and this stuff is thick, it moves like a solid instead of a liquid! The aroma is suprisingly delicate for a brew at 13.7% abv. Some hints of belgian yeast spiciness, candy tones. The candy tones are real evident on first sip. This is one sweet beer, and I would have enjoyed a little more hops, but this might be to style. Unbelievably, there is absolutely no hint of the alcohol. This beer is very deceptive and very drinkable. I would like to try another example of this style as a comparison. A nice brew to be enjoyed as an after dinner aperetif.

Sad too see nobody has rated this in two years. Had this on tap at the brewery. Poured a dark orange color with a small white head. Everything you would expect in a grand cru, some banana, clove, dark fruits and candi sugar. Quite sweet, but hid the alcohol extremely well. Sweet but I enjoyed it.

Bottle courtesy of ericandersnavy. Clear reddish orange. Scents are dry and rough. The aroma also has a small selection of sweet fruit. Taste is flavorful raisin and dark fruits. Some plum that fades. Tasty!

bottle thanks to cletus. poured dark amber with a beige head. aroma was peach, dark fruits, caramel, and some cinnamon with the flavor matching the nose. light body with medium carbonation.

Bottle… A hard pour provides a clear amber ale with a small, fizzy, white head. As it warms, the aroma really opens up to reveal butterscotch, caramel, toffee, mild clove, biscuit dough and inviting alcohol warmth. Full-bodied with a syrupy mouthfeel and gentle carbonation. Toffee, toasted malt and fuzzy fruit sweetness up front, followed by a very pleasant, delicate bitterness. The alcohol is not at all overwhelming. Lightly sweet finish. I fell asleep in the sun about ¾ of the way through this bottle, but woke back up and finished it off a couple hours later… too good to waste. Thanks to dmschefke for shipping this beer to my front door!