N’Ice Chouffe

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

Pours a deep red-orange amber, capped with a thick creamy tan coloured head that leaves incredibly thick lace down the glass. One must fight through the foam to get at the aroma underneath! This beer is big on sweet sugary caramel malt, with cooked apples, orange brandy, yeast, and subtle spices part of the complex picture. The finish is a little boozy and warm, and surprisingly bitter.

0.75L. Poured brown with bits of sediment and tan head. The aroma has dark fruit, some sweet malts, a bit of spice, raisins, a wisp of chocolate and something vaguely citrus and sort of undefinable. Flavor is similar to the aroma with cherries, dates, plums, raisins, cinnamon, some subtle maltiness, a spice or two and silky chocolate. Nice dark fruit and chocolate after taste. No sense of the ABV.

750 bottle. Pours thick reddish brown with tan head, looked murky but clarifies quickly. Sweet pruny and date sugar aromas, lots of dried fruits and candied orange peels. Nice body, not too carbonated, not too thick. Great sweetness. Not sugary at all. Naturally fruity and mild, well-integrated sugars backed by lots of malt. The spices and herbs linger in the background adding depth and cutting the sweetness. Gets hotter as it warms...more alcoholic, that is. It’s nice, there is something to be said for its relative simplicity.

This stuff was awesome! Nice astringent herbal aroma, the thyme is not as present as I thought it would be, but there are definitely powers at work here. Kind of a schnapps like bite, with some medicinal flavors, that meld very well with the chocolate and fruit going on. Some apricot, figs, plums and other delectable flavors are present. This is highly tasty, with a rich spicy finish, bravo!

Brown, no head. Cedery, woodsy aoma. very earthy and woodsy flavor, with a undercurrent of fruit - plums, raisins. Slightly medicinal through the finish. Maybe a bit of cinnamon in the aftertaste. NIce beer!

Mostly clear, reddish brown with medium density, white, clinging head. Sweet perfume aroma, hint of citrus which hit me quite impressively with the first taste. Then it mellowed a bit into a more robust and complex assemblege of fruit and spice. The alcohol propels the aroma here, and it becomes quite obvious later on in the flavor as it lingers beneath the malty overtones. Quite good, but I'm not inclined to give it high praise. (on tap, Monk's, Philadelphia)

750ml Bottle: Aroma of dark ripe fruits, alcohol, raisins, slight curacao, slight hops, and light yeast. Poured brown in color with a large, fizzy tan head that greatly diminished but lasted throughout. Cloudy. Sparkling. Flavor is light to medium sweet and slightly bitter. Tastes of raisins, dark ripe fruits, light chocolate, malts, slight curacao, light brown sugar, slight bubblegum, and yeast. Medium to full body. Slightly sticky texture. Lively carbonation. Lightly sweet, malty, dark ripe fruit finish.

On tap. Dark reddish brown colour with a nice beige head. Great sweet spicy aroma. Flavour og malt, sugar, caramel, spice and toffee. Ends up with a great warming feeling from the alcohol.