N’Ice Chouffe

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

Bottle @ Cardinal. Pours reddish with a small off-white head. Slightly sour aroma, dried fruit and caramel. Taste is sweet malty esters, fruit, berries, caramel and some yeast. Weak alcohol warmth at the end. Full bodied and a good one.

750ml shared... Pours a deep amber with an average tan head that fades... very pleasant aroma filled spices, apples, raisins, candi sugar and Belgian yeast... light to medium body with more of the same... smooth and pleasing finish... there is a nice holiday sweetness... great.

On tap at Zeno’s Pub - State College, PA. Pours a copper red-amber-brown, with a slick of white. Warm ginger and honey aroma, filled with aromatic yeast and alcohol. The flavor is rich and nuanced. More orange blossom honey, fresh out of the oven vanilla cake, and snappy ginger. Spicy and vibrant. Finishes on some almond paste. Very very soft and smooth.

Dark brown with a huge off-white head. Aroma is very sweet malty with light esters. Flavour is sweet and malty with notes of caramell, nuts, sweet fruit and bright esters. Very drinkable for the abv but a bit too one-dimensional and sweet.

Sampled on draft at Zeno’s in State College PA this beer poured a hazy dark brown with a small tan head that faded quickly. The aroma was light nutty, caramel and had a touch of ripe fruits. The flavor is tartish, bitter and had light notes of candied, ginger and faint caramel. The finish was medium length and the there was medium body. Decent.

Tap->fluted water glass: pours a thin white head that exhibits fair lacing atop a cloudy, dark amber body. Not much aroma. Spicy flavor, thin body, and a semi-bitter aftertaste. Drinkable, uncloying, but at the price of not being too unique.

mahogany in appearance, frothy head, typical of the belgians. nose is at first whiff - pure pumpkin spice, follows with nutmeg and a creamy curry powder. interesting for sure - worth a good nosing. Taste makes me think of a subtly yeasty, mildly hoppy, spices-dumped-into-the-brew attempt. Lucklily, this is not overkill, simply an original winter warmer. subtle allspice, with tons of spices and holiday scents rightfully reminiscent of a BSA/Spice ale. This needs a dessert, i.e. pumpkin pie. or something similar. Yay! - unification of food and beer is present. rock on, chouffe!

Opens with a light "happy-to-see-you"-gush, just little enough to save almost everything into the glass. Pours a bubbly, foamy, off-brown murk into my trappist glass, leaving me curious towards its potential. My doubts are soon washed away by the delicious Belgian brown sugary notes, washing around in my mouth like waves on the shores of the Baltic sea. A distinct malty caramel flavor backed up by raisins and plums add to the feast; this is a very good beer. Points off, however, for not exactly being a Christmas brew - it’s much too similar to other, all-year-non-seasonal Belgian Strong Ales to deserve any such special attention, despite its cute Xmas label. Nevertheless, I’ll be drinking this again before Xmas! :-)