Ommegang Abbey Ale

Brewed by Brewery Ommegang (Moortgat)
Style: Abbey Dubbel
Cooperstown, New York USA

Rerate: 5-11-2005. 750 mL bottle, snifter. Massive creamy and frothy light tan head with some larger bubbles. Seriously deep burgundy hue is slightly hazy. Cookie, caramel and light nut malt aroma. Perfume hops. Leathery, leafy yeast profile. The main story is the esters though. Grape, plum, pineapple, black cherry, anise, nutmeg. Very…sharp aromas. Not nearly as smooth or enticing as I originally had thought. Quite sweet and acidic (tart) up front. Finishes with less sweetness and a light bitterness, but mostly a tart and sour acidity—quite like cherries. Medium bodied with an oily texture and fizzy carbonation. I just don’t know what’s happened here. I had it several times from the 750 and it was incredible. I moved onto other things and picked up a four pack later on. Those four bottles were all filled with the same cherry acidity that I mentioned above. I figured it must be an anomaly limited to the smaller bottles. Having finally picked up another 750 I see that it’s not. Sad.

12 oz bottle, goblet, 52 degrees. Well lasting, frothy, tan head sits on a murky brown-red body that has particles of all sizes. Molasses, caramel, nutty malts; flowery, herby hops; doughy, earth, cobweb yeast; cinnamon, brown sugar, toffee and maple scents round out the nose. The overall aroma is of a deep, rich, sweet, and complex brew. Heavily sweet flavor becomes a moderately sweet, lightly bitter finish. A nice tingleling acidity is left on the tip of my tongue. The finishing flavors linger forever. Medium-full body is creamy with tight, fizzy carbonation. Touch of alcohol is present. Flavor delivers everything that the aroma promised. The bottom line is: looks, smells, tastes, feels excellent, but alcohol just shouldn’t be able to cut through all of those deep and rich flavors.

12oz - Smells of prunes, cherry, and carmel. A muddy brown with medium off-white head and no noticalbe lacing. A nice flavorful ale with a lasting aftertaste. Malty with prunes, cherry, and other fruity flavors. I will come back to this brew later in life and will like it more I bet.

Reddish brown color, well okay burgundy, with a head that rims the glass. Aroma of yeast and fruit. Flavor of figs or prunes mixed with caramel and brown sugar. Dry finish. Good beer.

Bottle sampled at the Belgian tasting at Blacklick Wine & Spirits on 7/17/09. Pours brown with a big tan head. Nutty aroma with some Belgian yeast and caramel. Cloying sweet caramel flavor redeemed by a roasty and nutty finish.

poured a deep amber color with a long lasting redish/brown head. had a really sweet taste almost of chocolate and hints of caramel.

Poured dark dark red, almost black with a good head and awesome lacing. Aroma is chocolate, dark fruit, caramel. Flavor is ripe fruit and chocolate, yeast and alcohol on the finish. Very good!

How funny! This bottle is cave aged in Howe Cavern ... like the beer cares how the temperature is maintained? Like it knows if the air is artificially or naturally maintained at a constant temperature? Surprisingly, I did not enjoy the cave aged bottle as much as my earlier bottles, which seemed much more like a Chimay Blue; this is basically midway between the Chimay and a Belgian Brown. Color is a dark reddish brown, not as opaque as I remember, with a huge tan head that vanishes without a trace. Sweet malt, a little dark roast, a little toffee, a little coffee, a little dried fruit ... but somehow all of that is dominated by alcohol and bubblegum; less Bourbon and more barleywine. This was not nearly as good as I remembered it from several happy previous occasions. // Rerated, this time with the regular (not Howe Cavern aged) Ommegang. No change in the review. Yeah, this is a well made beer. And yeah, it looks good, but would look better with a little less head. But I don’t get the complexity from this that I would find in a real Belgian.

For the price, this is a great value. It has a very complex taste that unfolds easily. It’s not the best Belgian available but it is still better than almost everything out there.