Leffe Radieuse

Brewed by InBev Belgium
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Leuven, Belgium

(Bottled) Hazy dark amber with a quite large, foamy, tight and slightly tanned, lacy head. Toffee-caramely, slightly sweet and sour aroma. The flavor is grainy-toffee-malty, a bit sweet, alcoholic and vegetably, but remains somewhat pleasant. I had so much nicer memories of this... (Bottled, 8.6% ABV, rated 12/19/2004, was 8-5-7-4-15=3.9) Dark walnut/red color with a largeish, foamy and tight, lacy head. Very nice, deep red color against a candle light. Sweet, toffeeish, popcorn aroma with fruit, some berries and a hint of alcohol. Quite malty and fruity, sweet flavor with caramel-syrup and - in the finish - a hint of alcohol. Quite full-bodied, very smooth and slippery, somewhat sugary and foamy-carbonated palate. A quite enjoyable, sweet and strong ale, but not very complex. The flavor is a bit empty and disappointing.

copper brown with white head. Sweetness from spices and fruits. Body/texture is rather thin. medium carbonation. Finish has easy bitterness. Overall allround. average/decent abbey ale.

Firetruck-red. Nice currant aroma and taste. fairly light body.

Bottle. Nice tan head with good duration. Flavor is fruity and sweet iwth some alcohol.

Bottle. Brown colour with an off-white head. Aroma is caramel, sweet, fruit, spices. Flavour is hop, caramel, spices, fruit, malt.

Second rating.
Sampled from 33 cl bottle at Haket, Göteborg.
Bottle marked with 8.2% ABV.
Dark copper color, tan head. Acidic almost sour scent. Strong Belgian ale and also malt taste, lots of fruits. Some warming alcohol.
7/4/8/3/16=3.8

First Rating.
Bottle from Swedish "Systembolaget" in December 2005.
Dark red close to brown color. Smell is almost non existans and taste is weak. Compared side by side to the Leffe Tripel the Tripel wins by at least a mile.
5/3/5/3/9=2.5

330ml bottle.
Rich red. small foamy head. Caramel banana and a little alcohol on the nose. Slightly sharp mouthfeel from the carbonation and alcohol, but not offensive. Fairly sweet alcholic taste with a range of accompanying flavours that go from decently roasted malt to yeast to nuttiness to sticky bitterness later. However, the alcohol is a little too prominent, if they could crank that down, I’d like it a lot more. No disaster, certainly, but I prefer their brune any day.

Bottle picked up at Sainsburys, Kidlington 14-10-06. This completed the end of my Leffe taste test with Loz’s parents, despite having had these beers hundreds of times before it was about time I rated them, only realised I hadn’t rated them when I went and rated the Leffe 9, so went out and bought the lot apart from the Tripel. After the Tripel this is my second favourite Leffe beer. Poured a reddy/brown colour, little bit of toffee on the nose, smooth and quite full flavoured beer, little bit spicey, also some toffee swilling around again, good tasty beer, still it’s not without its faults as there is a slight alcohol burn there.