New Belgium Abbey Grand Cru

Brewed by New Belgium Brewing Company
Style: Abbey Dubbel
Fort Collins, Colorado USA

Pour is deep brown with a thin tan head...smell is powerful with lots of earthfruits, yeast, some nice toasty malt notes as well...flavor is round and smooth with everything from the aroma making an appearance...very sweet and sticky yet not cloying...delivious indeed...

This review is for a 1996 Abbey Grand Cru. This beer was stored in a dark wine room at 75 degrees. This beer had a strong aroma of alcohol when poured in to the glass, however the aroma was deceiving. The Abbey poured a deep mahogany color with notes of raison and plum on the nose. The mouth feel was excellent leaving a lingering taste on the palate. This was a definite treat.

Many thanks to Mjames for sending me this beer well over a year ago! It has been in good hands… now stomach!
It may have been a mistake to share this beer as a nit cap with my buddy Ron, a Shipyard brewer. The mistake was not sharing the beer with my friend; the mistake was that we did so after a night of session drinking then cracking such a fine bottle at 3:30 in the morning; leaving both of us looped by glasses end.

Poured a rich and tidy amber brown body with a fluffy cream head. The aroma brought abundant suggestions of hot coco and a fresh slice of banana nut bread. The yeast is most notable with its hints of banana. The flavor brought suggestions of cracked black pepper upon brazen sweet dark fruits. Dates and fig are in the forefront, plum and a fragment of sweet red apple in the backdrop. A smidgen of clove help spice the dark bready body, more toffee, a bit of black cherry, BIG notes of oak and raw earth. A wonderful beer, very complex and alluring.

[Vintage 2001 - sampled September 2004] An unclear amber beer with no head. The aroma is very sweet with notes of overripe fruits and prunes. The flavor is sweet with notes of prunes and raisins as well as slight hints of the alcohol, leading to a dry woody finish.

22 oz bottle, 2003 vintage (aged about 18 months): dark, clear red-brown caramel. Fluffy, fairly large bubbled froth that settles into an ivory ring. Banana nut bread aromatics with fruity alcohol, a bit of pepper, honey and molasses. Deep alcohol flavour that gets smoky as it flows across the tongue. A subtle carbonation is perfectly developed: just enough tingly bubbles to be interesting without being fizzy. Dark, almost charred fruits combine with roasted nuts and peppery Belgian yeast. A wonderful spicy example and one that has held up very nicely with its age…

Sampled at the Pre-GABF babblefest. 2001 Vintage. Brown. Dry, spicy aroma of dark fruits (raisins, cherries and plums) slight cloves and yeast. Overripen fruits dominate he palate, mainly dates, figs and plums. Chocolate and caramel as well with a dry, chalky, lingering finish.

22Oz Bottle Pours a deep clear, redish brown with a dense off white head leaving spotty lacing. Aroma is some of the common spice, clove but fruitier and sweeter than some of the other Belgians I’ve had. Taste is quite different. Woody, raisons, a little smokey and musty. Like old barrels. The ABV is hidden well, and the feel is medium as far as thickness but very smooth. Lingering aftertaste is a bit cardboardy and earthy.

Beer pours beautiful mahogenty color with a nice off white head that dissipates fairly rapidly. Aroma is dominated by a nice yeastiness, but there is a wonderful sweet malt undertone as well. Flavor is exquisitely glorius. Elements of dark dried fruit, i.e. figs, raisins, some peppery flavor and delicous sweet malt. Wonderful.