La Chouffe

Brewed by Brasserie d’Achouffe (Moortgat)
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Achouffe, Belgium

This looks great with a huge white head leaving plenty of lace, the color is a sunny blonde and the beer is very cloudy. There is a cloying sweetness to the beer that compliments a very tasteful use of hops. The beer is very spicy and I get a good clove flavor mixing with an almost soapy and fruity dominant flavor. This smells spicy and sweet. The alcohol is kind of half hidden, it rears its head now and again but overall this is easy to drink.

75 cl bottle, pours light amber with nice big white head, with good retention. Aroma is citrusy and yeasty wonderfull grapefruit. Taste is very crisp with a good bitterness and some spices. Ends dry with some alcohol warming. Has a ton of wit beer qualities, but packs a punch at 8 percent. Great session beer, very refreshing but strong.

Amsterdam 08. On tap. Pours a clear golden with a big white head. Smells fruity with a hint of pineapple. Sweet with yeasty citric aromas. Also some corriander and spicy hops notes. Medium to full bodied. Dry finish.

Enjoyed at The Stable. Pours a cloudy gold and could pass as a hefe. Aroma offers a nice orange peel along with yeast. Flavor was also full of orange with yeast. Some nice hop provides floral notes as well as some bitterness. Multifaceted and very interesting. An enjoyable beer.

(Bottle, Stockholm Beer Festival, 27 Sep 2008) Golden yellow colour with frothy, white head. Fruity nose with tropical fruit, pineapple and hints of yeast. Fruity taste with notes of tropical fruit, pineapple, citrus, hints of yeast and generous doses of spicy hops in the finish. Rather sweet. Nice and solid beer.

Blonde foncée avec une mousse épaisse qui dure. Goût pétillant épicé avec une bonne amertume.

Large headed in foamy white over a particulate-hazed, golden/amber body. The head falls slow and sticky, leaving crusts of lace down the sides of my goblet. Fresh, green, spicy aroma is all florals and herbs which gives a sweet, yeasty base a little something more to sing about. Since my first hearty swig is a sugar-cloyed cottonmouth of fluff, I take a step back and relax now that I know what to expect. And LaChouffe becomes an enjoyable slow-sipper, a tad sweet but multi-layered... subtle yeasts, honey, florals, berries, a hint of herbs and a lingering clovish spice above that persistent sugar sweetness. Interesting to be sure, but either a little too delicate for my palate or, quite possibly, for the mood I’m in today.

Presented to me on a day to celebrate a new path in my life... enjoyed on a day to contemplate a new path for my wife.

Pours hazy orange with minimal head. Aroma is a spiced fruity blast. Light body, with a bit too much carbonation. The flavor is similar to the aroma, with more opportunities to pick out the different aspects. There is a citrus tang to it. Not very sweet. Orange, alcohol, cinnamon, coriander... the whole gang is here. The hops are very subdued, but extremely well balanced.