North Coast Cru dOr (Whole Foods)

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

In the bottle from Whole Foods on 4th St in SF. Lovely ice tea color with a thin quickly disappearing white head. Has a complex aroma of woodruff and floor wax. Big malty flavor with lots of sweet candy overtones. Spicey finish- a bit of black pepper. At warming: a bit cider-like in its aroma. Low carbonation. Very scotch-like.

$6.49 for a four pack at Total Wine. Complex fruity yeasty aroma. Flavor is also a complex mix of banana and dark fruits, Belgian yeast and candy sugar. Drys out on the finish with some hops. Palate is thick and malty, very rich tasting. The alcohol is mostly covered. A little heavy for a hot summer day in Florida, but still an interesting and flavorful brew. A good effort from North Coast, as expected.

I was skeptical about another organic beer that sucked but this one was pretty good. Poured a dark color with no head. The taste is clean with an assault of dried fruit speciifically raisins.

Poured a clear mahogany with a fizzy off-white head. Sweet and complex aroma of dark fruit, cherries, slightly floral. Taste starts off sweet with some molasses, figs, and a bit of brown sugar, then leads into a slightly dry finish. The flavor thins out a bit in the end, and the beer doesn’t linger on the palate as long as some other comparable varieties. However, the sweet flavors are well-balanced with the dryness and overall has a very pleasing taste. This is organic? So they don’t all suck after all.

Bottle. Very complex nose. Caramel malt in the lead followed by hints of apples, pear, fig, a touch of bubblegum and some aromatic hop presence. Cloudy golden amber, active carbonation, minimal head. The flavor is a bit overly sweet, but the palate is strong and smooth which keeps it from being overbearing. Definitely a fantastic beer.

bottle from John’s Market) smell of egg whites, powdered sugar, a freshly cut board.. nice red-brown color and the thin head lasted a little longer than expected. the flavor makes me think of canned fruit salad, less sweet but no more bitter, halfway between plum & prune. dries out the tongue and makes the lips sticky but avoids the cloy. at less than $2 a bottle it’s good deal (where does that go in the rating?)

Banana, clove, pear, apricot and honey notes in the nose. Clean and soft with more fruit and spice on the palate. Clean and lingering finish.

Pours a golden brown with a khaki head. Aroma is clove, banana, pears and apple, very fresh. Carbonation is abundant with a frothy head. Taste is pleasant, not overly interesting, but appreciated by this palate. Pears, clove, yeast, caramel and banana esters. Dry ending with the alcohol and clove. Good beer.