Ommegang Inauguration Ale (Obamagang)

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

Growler. Pours a dark murky brown with a small light tan head. Aroma of yeast, melon rind, roasted nuts, coffee, and chocolate. Smells like chocolate peanut butter pie! Flavor is just a luscious with lots of peanut and chocolate notes. A touch of smoke/ roasted or burnt malt. MAYBE I can taste the cherry, but it’s a stretch. I certainly didn’t notice it before I read the description. Amazingly robust and quite delicious. I hope Ommegang brings this back for a year-round release! 9/4/9/5/18 (4.5/5)

This delicious beer is true to my heart. I couldn’t get it at the brewery in Cooperstown - at first - but then they let us sample it. It pours smooth, like a dark porter with a nice medium-sized head, but it’s a dark strong belgian ale. You can taste the kriek (cherries) early on the palate, and subtle, and then a smooth stout/porter taste overall, as described by most. This beer is excellent and it’s a shame it will be limited!

Cloudy muddy brown with a light tan head. What a stout should look like. Nose was full of sensual cocoa with hints of holiday spice and, well, silky smooth chocolate. Nice, what I would call, belgian stout flavors...like, I get a bit of some banana-like yeast esters under those silky chocolatey goodness. The hops, and they’re there...are 100% balancing the chocolately malts...not non-existent like some cheap stouts and not overly hoppy like all the bullshit west coast stouts...just perfectly balanced. I dug it fo sho...though it was one only a few decent beers at the flour city brewers fest in rochester and I had been drinking piss before and after it....I still think it could stand pretty firmly on its own.

Draft taste sample at Big Z (in plastic). Dark brown/black with lasting thick tan head. Chocolaty yeasty aroma with hints of fruit. Rich chocolaty body, creamy texture, milld nutty bitterness and a hint of dry cherry fruitiness. Very very tasty and and surprisingly rich. We can only hope the Obama presidency is as well-crafted as this beer.

on tap at Tylers Tap Room in Durham, NC on 3/21/09. a dark pour with an average tan head. aromas of chocolate, slight coffee and a bit of fruit. nice full body with roasted malts taking force up front. a good amount of bitterness on the back rounded out with some deep chocolate and a bit of cherry. solid beer from Ommegang... really glad I got to try this one before it vanished forever....

Tap at Harvest Fest. Pours deep brown with brown head. Aroma is chocolate and graham crackers. Medium bodied, and very smooth on the palate. Flavor is mostly chocolate with roasty coffee notes. Finishes sweet. I don’t know about any kriek really being in there. Very good nevertheless. Shame this isn’t sold.

Draft goblet at Lunar Brewing. Yep, first time visiting this brewpub I had a guest beer. Figured this is a one-shot deal, and the bartender said yes, they’ve only got a 5-gallon keg of this. Round, deep stout color, a creamy tan head that peeps above the rim of the glass. Had to sniff several times to get the scent of this: Belgian malt plus a little schawrzbier smoothness, all quite mild. First taste impression is of light coffee, but like a fata morgana, I find it hard to say what else I taste. Just really smooth, low alcohol heat. Now a bit of coriander, but no kriek sourness. Some other possible spices, like fennel or grains of paradise, but them maybe that’s from yeast. Notes of mocha now. Best description I can grasp is a Belgian stout with Guinness essence added. Some banana ester toward the end. Really complex and enjoyable.

Tap at Max’s in Baltimore. I was quite suprised, pleasantly, by this one. Roasty, smooth, sort of a blend between porter and stout. What struck me was the interesting fruity-sour character which reminded a bit of JP Bam Biere. Overall it was very easy to drink and quite tasty.