North Coast Cru dOr (Whole Foods)

Brewed by North Coast Brewing Company
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Fort Bragg, California USA

pours a dark redish. good medium head. aroma of caramel malt, little spice, yeast, little banana. Sweet caramel with hop balance. palate is a little thin. quick and light bitter finish. ok. not my fav. K-7

Poured a fizzy/foamy dark amber-to-reddish brown with a tan head (which never fully disappeared). Super yeasty aroma with a bit of brown sugar, caramel, and spices. Not to complex or deep or whatever. Flavors were very fruity, with a lot of that yeast... very bready and almost "strange" on account of the predominant yeastiness. Some dark fruits coming through later on (dates, cherries, raisins), caramel, brown sugar, and nearly zero bitterness. An alright beer, definitely well-made... probably not a top contender in the style but very affordable and certainly worth trying (and maybe even cellaring just to see what happens).

12-oz., this has now been bottled as a NCBC beer and that’s how this was purchased. Mahogany with rubied highlights and a towering, sudsy, bubbly tan head. Big green apple, floral, and bubblegum nose. Kinda smells like they forced an animal to breed in captitivity; this yeast is a little more white-sugar-y than what you find from across the pond, but not offensively so. Medium body, almost watery, in fact. Tight carb, but not much of it. The apples, flowers, and bubblegum come back around for a return trip on the mid-palate, where they’re joined by a bit of brown bread and caramel. Nothing too extraordinary here; neither balanced and sessionable nor creative and revelatory. But nice. Drinkable. Hard to complain about. Not sure whether I’d reach for it off the shelf very often, unless the price difference was chasmic.

Pours very dark and has a thick, sweet carmely taste, more bitterness than I expected from a Belgian style beer. A quality beer yet not quite my taste. $2.25/ single 12oz bottle @ Whole Foods

Bottle. Poured bronze with medium sized head, Aroma of malt and pineapple. Taste of banana. Not remarkable, but a good drink.

pours a cloudy, ruby color into the trappist glass. The scent was of raisins, malt and plum. Very full and coating mouthfeel.

sweet caramel on the nose. clear dark brown. very nice flavor, rich and roasted, strong malt backbone. tastes like an abbey with the plum, fig, and brown sugar. the limited organic products available hinder the depth of flavors in orgainic beer but i love the movement.

Bottle: Pours a hazy brown with a copper hue, and is topped by a fading tan film. Sweet, plummy aroma with light hints of brown sugar and fig. Thin, watery mouth feel. There’s some sweet fruitiness to it with plummy notes, fig, brown sugar, light grape-y suggestions, subtle nutmeg spiciness and a roasty finish. Not altogether bad, just boring; especially for the style.