Mc Chouffe

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

11.2 oz. bottle. Fresh, yeasty, musty, wine-like smell. Plum and a touch of barnyard in the aroma. Pours an effervescent, brassy brown. Cloudy but mostly translucent. Short-lasting, fizzy, beige head. Brownie and chocolate candy flavors. Toasted malt finish. Light taste; not very substantive. Light body. Soft, lively, and frothy in the palate. Easy to drink. Does not stand out.

Gorgeous, rich ruby color highlighting the copious yeasties floating in the glass Adorned with a poofy head fed by the rapidly rising carbonation bubbles. Aroma characterized by mustyness, and European hops with a somewhat soapy quality; Despite the prevalence of yeast, this tastes malty like a Scottish ale with a dusted malt-ball quality. Deeply malty. Intriguing synthesis of Belgian and Scottish qualities. Yeast is pretty tame, but perhaps a hint of Belgian characer and a soupcon of peat.

On tap, dark amber/brown colour, medium white head, caramel malt aroma with yeast and honey notes, sweet flavor, medium body, finish with hops and alcohol

750ml bottle at La Trappe in SF. Hell of a Scotch (Belgian) Ale. Dark brown color, beige head. Yeasty and malty aroma. Caramel, toffee, and candi sugar flavors typical of a Belgian ale with the maltiness you look for in a Scotch ale. Smooth, tasty, and very drinkable.

Bouteille de 750 ml. Dégusté avec french tickler, Agaguk et Django. Bière de couleur brune foncé brumeuse avec un mince collet moyennement collant. Odeur d’orange, épices, blé et sel. Gout très léger en bouche. L’orange revient en bouche, épices également.

750 mL bottle. Pours hazy dark red with proportional beige head. The aroma is toffee, raisin, clove, waffles. The flavor has a nice yeasty raisinbread quality that I find quite appealing, then some earthy spices and faint dark fruit notes. There’s a distant smoky note and some wooden bitterness toward the finish, which is refreshingly dry. Pretty good stuff, I’ll have no problem polishing off the bottle.

Draught at a Belgian bar near Gare d’Nord, Paris. Reddish brown with a rapidly fading off-white head; fruity malts and a rounded peaty finish, but otherwise rather ordinary.

Best by end of 2011. Slight foamer leaves a cherry red body with three fingers of cream colored head. Settles quickly. Aroma is yeasty and slight alcohol burn. Some smoky malt, chocolate and caramel sweetness. Taste is more sweet malts, caramel and a bit of peat but still very Belgian with the yeasty spices.