Midnight Sun La Mâitresse du Moine

Brewed by Midnight Sun Brewing Company
Style: Abbey Dubbel
Anchorage, Alaska USA

Bottle shared at hellbilly’s 5th of July tasting. Pours a thin coffee color with a mocha head. Smells and tastes of cocoa beans, red grapes, mild raspberry, caramel, and yeast. The cough syrup quality that I seem to get in MS beers was most subdued in this style, which is probably why I enjoyed it.

Bottle.

I’ve wanted to try this one for a long time and finally it arrived in Washington state. Pours a dark cola decent head. Lovely spicy nose with cocoa powder. Fairly thick, oily, smooth mouthfeel that’s not a bit hot. Flavors are molassas without sweetness, spice again, cocoa, and the circa 1985 diet pepsi that I always associate with dubbels.

Bomber. Pours dark brown black with a very big, fluffy off-white head. Aroma shows a really nice authentic fruitiness. Brings to mind some of the better Belgians, Rochefort, Bernardus, etc. A nice dark fruit/Belgian yeast smell, completely done right for a change with none of the bad components often found in American counterparts. A slight cocoa is evident as well as intense maltiness. Some cola as well. Complex is the word. Pannepot also comes to mind. Flavor is intense plum and chocolate, DRY thank god, with a nice floral and fruity finish. Thankfully this is fully attenuated as I’ve had lots of American examples that are too sweet. Scary how good and authentic this thing is. If this is a Dubbel, and I’m not sure it is, it blows the competition out of the water. For now I’ll call this a strong ale and consider it one of the best ones I’ve had. Superb.

Bomber. Pours a very dark brown with large, sticky beige head. The aroma is chocolate, molasses, vanilla, oak, strong red wine, cola, almonds, banana, yeast, and a little bit of a coffee hint. The flavor starts with a very yeasty prune and chocolate note. There may be some cookie notes in there with it. There’s a very interesting, and pretty strong, almond note throughout that I’m enjoying quite a bit. There’s quite a bit of brown sugar and a little bit of banana with a strong red wine character. It’s dried out by the alcohol, giving an impression much like a cordial liqueur. The finish reminds me a lot of Pepsi, which is a little bit offputting, but it’s still a great beer. Yum.

22 oz. bottle. Pours dark brown with a large tan head that does not want to disappear. The aroma is dark fruit, brown sugar, yeast, slight chocolate and banana. The flavor is dark fruit, chocolate, yeast; its a battle between the Belgian character and roasted malt. The finish is slightly bitter and lasting. What is missing is the alcohol. This is extremely drinkable, I wish this were more readily available.

Sampled from 22-oz bomber during Dark Lord Day ’09, at table 1. Pours a semi-hazy dark brownish pale brew with a slow dissolving tan head that has some nice retention. Aroma of roasted dark malt, a hint of chocolate, dark pitted fruits and some Belgian yeast with banana esters. Taste is medium bodied, fruity character, with flavors of yeast, dark chocolate, roasted dark malt and a hint of raisin. Finish is semi-sweet, with a fruity and chocolate aftertaste that slowly disappears.

22oz bottle. Yeasty upfront aroma blended with roasted malt and raisins. Dark brown with an amber tint if held to the light and a big fluffy long lasting tan head. Sweet bready flavor with a light sourness from the yeast, alcohol is barely noticed. Creamy mouth feel with average carbonation and a long finish. This beer tastes like it should be in a bottle with an Authentic Trappist Product logo on it, spot on.

22 oz bottle. Pours dark brown, little hazy with a thick tan head. Sweet aroma of malt, yeast, dark fruit. Flavor is rich and sweet with a lot of fruit flavor. Had no idea it was a 11.5%.