La Binchoise Brune Tradition / Cistercienne Bruna

Brewed by Brasserie La Binchoise
Style: Abbey Dubbel
Binche, Belgium

Cork reads: Lot n 132576. Label punched month and year: 09/05. Pretty sure it’s a best by date. Dark brown/ruby. A color fitting today’s date, 666. Ah shit! I was gonna drink The Beast. Oh well. Just have to live another hundred years. No doubt the brew will last. Back to Binchoise - huge, dense, tan head solidifies like poured cement. Leaves nice lacing as it settles to a 3/4" plateau with an Ayer’s Rock in the middle. Nose: dusty basement, vinegar dipped dark fuits, rich and toasty caramel/toffee, spicy yeast, pine resin, insect repellent, bittersweet chocolate, and some funk chillin in the cut. A bit of leather as it warms, banana, also. Same flavors minus the insect repellent. Bittersweet chocolate becomes the mocha chips from Ben and Jerry’s "From Russia with Buzz." Rich and roasty up front, second half dominated by an herbal, spicy strangeness, in a good way. Yeast adds some doughy notes. The funk is always there, but never strikes full force, satisfied just to say what’s up. Everchanging aftertaste of all of the above. Full, smooth, sometimes chewy body. Great brew.

Pours a dark reddish brown with a large creamy off white head that fades to a thin cap with nice lacing. Unique aroma. Black cherry, gingerbread, vanilla amoung other things that I can’t quite pin down. Very effervescent mouthfeel. Almost a cola-like flavour to it. Sweet alcohol and toffee as well. Slightly bitter coffee finish. This was a tough one for me to focus on .. Lots of different flavours and scents happening.

Malty aroma; nice color; hint of chocolate; nice bitterness and something of a coffe finish. What’s going on in the middle is a complex mystery. Which is why ales usually beat lagers all to heck.

Rating No. 275. Bottled. Dark brown nutty pour with a little ruby. Thick, fluffy beige head. Fruity aroma, spicy, herbal, dusty, complex. A bit of that lovely vomit whiff I still fail to identify. Maybe roast coriander will do. In short, strong and spicy aroma. Subtle dark roast, nutty with sweetness. Tart coffee (have those words ever been used in combination?). Very complex. A little liquid perfume, a little caramel. Alcohol well-hidden. Satiny mouthfeel. Warming and pleasant finish, lasting aftertaste. Enormously interesting.

very little spice a little sour and tart but really heavy orange tang taste, light and frothy, almost a trappist taste

Bottle shared with tupalev. Pours a deep dark orange-brown with an average size lasting tan head. Sweet aroma of dark malt, fruit and spices. Flavour of sweet malt, molasses, nuts, fruit and a hint of alcohol on the finish. Syrupy mouthfeel, medium bodied. Goes down easy and quite flavourful -- pretty nice!

Bottle shared with and courtesy of blankboy. Dark malt aroma, hint of roast. Dark ruby red, small brown head. Really nice taste featuring dark malt, decent earthy hops (I described them as "Belgian Hops", whatever that means), and sweet molasses. Almost nutty. Hides alcohol very well. A tad bottly like the last one, again, especially as it warms. An excellent effort.

coffe brown slight red tint. huge light brown foamy loose and quickly gone head. the aroma is great. sour fruity like a lambic with a hint of raw beef. it isn’t really spicy. quite refrshing and fruity with a slight caramel stout like backbone. this beer is very good