Unibroue Édition 2004

Formerly brewed at Unibroue (Sapporo)
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Chambly, Canada

from the bottle and a duvel tulip glass: gold and copper body, lively, orange highlight, cloudy big white tight and sparkly head half rocky half airy champagne bubbly delicious... one of those fine celebration brews would make something very nice at a wedding

Cloudy body, medium head. Strong floral aroma, literally smells like a boquet of flowers. Sweet, flowery malt flavor with notes of lemon, sugar, orange and pineapple. Spicy, sweet finish. To its credit, it finishes softly for such a big brew. Not an overly daring brew from Unibroue and the floral sweetness is somewhat overpowering, but well above average standards, even for Unibroue.

Why oh why do I continue to punish myself by purchasing Unibroue brews...its like they keep using the same yeast strain time and again and I continue to find their brews to be middle of the road, time and again. This beer pours an orange color with a massively thick but quickly dissipating white foam head which left a good degree of lacing on my glass. The aroma, as always, was banana, clove and citrus with grapefruit and yeastiness poking through and a hint of alcohol. I could literally have TOLD you what this would smell like before i opened it! The flavors are still VERY raw at the moment. The banana tastes very raw, although there are slight hints of vanilla sweetness in the finish. This beer is obscenely carbonated with spicy peppers and lemon notes in the finish. I mean this beer was really frickin dry in the finish and well overcarbonated. It definitely needs to age a ton before I’d try it again. I’ll throw one in the cellar just because TAR will get pissed off if I rate one more Unibroue beer poorly without aging it!

Pours deep orange with nice white head. Spicy citrus aroma, maybe a little wheat. Warming and spicy taste... quite peppery with raisin mixed in. I’ll have to get a few extra for the cellar so I can see how it ages.

HUGE spice aroma and flavor. Almost overpowering, but still very enjoyable. The ABV is dangerously well masked, so this slides down smooth. I will definitely have to lay a few of these up for the holiday season, it will warm you right up on a chilly winter night.

Big off-white head from the pour. Settles slowly to a thin foam. Low carbonation. Rich buttery aroma with apricots, yeast, coriander and a hint of wheat. Color is a cloudy orange amber. Flavor is young. Crisp and biting. Needs to age for a while. Good alcohol kick with a silky mouthfeel. Some butterscotch, spices and a touch of fruit. Finish is creamy and warming with a slight bitter aftertaste. An ok belgian but could use a year or two of aging. Thanks to radiomgb for this one.

Second time from a 2 year old bottle. Light carbonation for a Unibroue beer. More fruit notes present and plenty of pepper and spices. Still pretty sharp fruity and very spicy. Has not tamed down very much the past 2 years. Decent bitterness and alcohol kick. Has not improved that much with aging. Rating stays the same.

Apparantly I’m the only one who thinks this way, but this beer has, once again, reiterated Unibroue’s position as a hack brewery. I just don’t care for the vast majority of their beers that I’ve had. Pours an appealing cloudy orangey color with a thick foamy head which dissipates to a lingering thin head. Spicy, almost pumpkiney, aroma that is rather strong. The aroma continues into the flavor, but in a thinner, less flavorful form. Definately lacking. Don’t get me wrong it’s good (when compared to BudCoorsMiller), but honestly, one of the worst Belgian Strong Ales I’ve had. I can get a good Belgian that’s infinately better at half the price. I was going to say that maybe Sleeman is dumbing down the brewery, but, in my mind, it was already dumbed down to begin with.

Pours a hazy amber with a foamy white head. Aroma was spicy, herbal. Lightly carbonated, smooth. Spicy flavor. Appealing but not exceptional.