Ommegang Abbey Ale

750ml bottle. Raisin and something slightly sour in the aroma besides malty sugar. Flavor is round caramel and candy. Lingering finish is exquisite. So much flavor is contained in each mouthfull it’s hard to figure it all out, it makes each sip more interesting then the last. Hop character isn’t apparent, it’s just enough to balance all the amazing sugar and malt flavors. Yay beer!

750 mL bottle from Peace Street Market in Raleigh (purchased March 2008; cellared for 18 months). Reddish-brown pour with a thin, fizzy beige head. Aroma of raisin, apple, orange, cherries, and Belgian yeast. After such a complex aroma the flavor is much more subtle and only mildly tart but mostly sweet. Predominant flavors are prune and sweet plums. Pleasant, smooth, and very drinkable. Finishes with just a touch of chocolate, especially as this warms. A very good dubbel.

Pours deep red with thick off-white head. Aroma is plum, raisin and cherry. Wonderful complex aroma. Flavor is yeasty and fruity which combines with chocolate and caramel notes. As wonderful as this beer tastes, it never fails to make me feel awful after I drink it. It’s inexplicable.

I had my first Ommegang Abbey Ale and was very happy I did so. An outstanding Belgian style ale, made in New York as the bottle said 3600 miles from Belgium. A malty strongly flavored beer (as you would expect from any Belgian Dubbel), with rich dark cherry and plum flavors. The balance of flavors is outstanding, and these flavors are further enhanced by a clean dry finish This is a top 10 beer for me.

This seemed like an exceptional deal at $5.50 per 750ml bottle and I liked Hennepin so here I am. I poured this into a snifter but I bet a wine glass would have worked as well. The color is the darkest red I have ever seen but not quite brown. The head is a craggy rocky fortress of cream-colored bubbles. The smells are like squeezed grapes, wine, alcohol, raisins and I find myself sniffing away as I sip. The flavor is strong, some raisins, long aftertaste of licorice and a slight tinge of alcohol. I think the mouthfeel is really smooth but the beer does coat your mouth thoroughly. The alcohol starts rearing its beautiful head towards the end of the first glass and by the end of the bottle I feel like dying. I drank this while listening to the new 9th Wonder album: Dream Merchant Vol. 2, you should too. Serving type: bottle Reviewed on: 10-05-2007 16:34:26

Bottle. Pours an opaque brownish-red color with a monstrous fluffy head. Definitely flavors of toffee, maybe some fig, and bread. Had the quintessential signatures of Trappist-style brews. Medium to heavily bodied. Finishes a little sharp. Very good stuff.

Pours brown with light head. Musky, acidic aroma, fairly complex. Flavor was malty, carmely, bit of chocolate. Got some fruit aromas in there, but nothing too serious. Good, but a bit overrated.

Poured from bottle into a chalice, the pour left a nice two finger brown head that moves into a cap with some thick islands left by the continuing carbonation that leaves some pretty lacing. The drink is a dark brown light trap. Smells of bananas! Much different than the other dubbels that I have tried. Not that this is a bad thing at all. Swirling the glass reveals some more traditional malt scents. Taste is a bit drier up front than other dubbles I have had, and unfortunately I’m not a fan. Much less sweet than the Westy or Bernadus dubbels, more dark fruit. Closer in taste to their quads. Mouthfeel is good, very light bodied and pretty heavily carbonated. Leaves quite the dry aftertaste.