N’Ice Chouffe

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

750. Pours deep grainy, opaque ebony with a thicky, goopy, moussy tan head. Enormous dark fruit nose hits you at arm’s length, even from a fairly cool beer. Dust and hay as you reel in the glass. Big thick body but totally free of stickiness or oiliness. Nice soft abundant carb. Heavy roast fruit flavors, wet leaves, leather, tobacco--it’s a super rich mid palate. Nice sharp herbal hop sting to the finish; beautiful contrasting element.

750ml bottle: I had this one on Xmas Eve. It pours a dark brown, ruby tinged color. There was a decent sized beige head on it. A fairly decent amount of lacing. A fair amount of malts to the nose, with some roastiness and spiciness. The taste is quite good. Fairly full bodied with a hint of roastiness to the strong malts. Not real sweet, but nicely balanced. Some fruits coming through also. An excellent holiday beer.

750 ml bottle, shared with MartinT, Rastacouere, and Simon_Patrice. Very dark brown, nearly opaque, medium to large head. Potent, pungeant barnyardy-spicy (thyme) nose. Medium sweetness, lightly acidic, thyme and orange flavors, very well-balanced, light and effervescent and drinkable. Wonderful.

Re-rate: Bottled. Deep brown coloured. Malty and spicy aroma with fruity notes, pretty good. Malty flavour, quite a mouth full, alcoholic, but really nice. Long lasting finish. Very nice brew. I wonder if the recipe changed or if i did, but i like it a lot more than before.

I just had to rerate this one. Has it been improved or did my taste change? I drank the newest version last weekend and it was great. Vanilla and little perfume aroma. Dark brown, creamy light brown head, very good lacing. Sweet and hoppy, bit of licorice, moderately full. Long finish with some hop bitterness and an alcohol burn.

Rerate: 2001. Deep ruby red/copper. Nice off white head and lace that dies to a thin coating. Nose of flowers,yeast,malt,dark fruits and wine...almost like chimay blue. Medium body,very soft mouthfeel,tons of yeastiness,floral notes,lighty spiced sweetened caramel/malt(comes out more as it warms) backbone with a decent hop kick. A bit of a citric/acidic note at the end along with an alcohol kick. Pretty elegant for such a strong brew and far different then the 96. Nicely warming and this vintage would be killer in about 1 1/2 to 2 years to let the flavors meld a bit but no more IMHO. ORIGINAL 1996 Deep,slight hazy copper. No head or carbonation at all. Aromas of malt,dark fruits and winey alcohol prevail. Medium bodied with a load of malts and a tasty caramel sweetness and cookie doughness. Hints of fruit and a nice warming alcohol presence. No clue given that this is 10%. I was actually expecting a better beer, its too mellow and lacks complexity, all flavors i mentioned are fairly subdued or just really melded together. Its either very mellow b/c of age, a compromised sample, or just is what it is. I will have to try the current bottling. It almost reminds, in a strange way of a thomas hardy or jw lees with a lot less muscle. But not bad by any means.

2006 bottle. Head is initially large, frothy, light brown, mostly lasting. Body is hazy dark orange-brown, bottle conditioned. Aroma is moderately malty (caramel, cookie), lightly to moderately yeasty (cobwebs), with notes of clove, raisin, orange peel, toffee, brown sugar, alcohol. Flavor is moderately to heavily sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly to moderately sweet, lightly acidic, moderately bitter. Medium to full body, velvety texture, lively carbonation, moderately alcoholic. One of my fave winter/xmas brews. Rich and delightful.