Unibroue Édition 2005

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

From Bottle. Rich, dark brown, raisiny colored pour with a tall beige head of cream that quickly diminishes to a thin foam. Aroma is full of licorice and dark fruits, especially prune. Light yeasty Belgian spiciness that is completed by a granny smith apple vodka vinish. Somewhat thin mouthfeel, but plenty rich and flavorful. Raisin nut bread loaded with pecans, light chocolate, and a mild clove spice. The only problem is that the flavors don’t appear until after the initial sensation of Reynold’s aluminum foil disappears. OK overall, but the alcohol prevents this from giving extra complexity a chance to form.

Bottle sampled with Stegosaurus. poured dark with a tan head. Aroma of fruit, alcohol, and citrus. Flavor is fruit and alcohol, carbonation, and citrus.

Burgundy, with a thick rich beige head. Aroma of apples, red wine, and some whiskey. Flavor is ripe fruit, red wine, with some alcohol heat in the finish. Noticibly winey in the finish, too.

From bottle. Pours a deep, dark brown with a hint of red. Foamy coffee colored head. Nose is yeasty, vinous and sour. Dark fruits, raisins, as well. Fairly complex. Mouth-feel is highly carbonated. Flavor is vinous and some sour. Finish is dry with a hint of pear, and a little alcohol noticeable. Well done BSA.

this reminds of a porter. dark brown thin reddish grey head.smells like coffee and mole asses. complex malty spicy creamy. bitter finish

750 bottle, from BevMo. Pours dark brown with garnet highlights and a huge fluffy beige head that leaves stringy lacing. Rich aroma of dark fruits, coffee and bitter herbs. Rich dark fruity flavors as well, dark brown bread, bitter and herby, brown sugar and spice. Medium to full body and creamy carbonation. Quite good.

From a 750ml. caged cork magnum brown bottle with a production date on the back label, 11-23-2004, served at cellar temperature. Made an average appearance, poured a cheerless cloudy dark brown with a fizzy pale tannish head that quickly settled into a fine lacing, moderate carbonation. Had a ripe fruity with some tropical fruits nose, a bubblegum yeastiness and a mildly spicy alcohol solvent-like aroma. A barely crisp, slick, smooth medium body mouth feel, above average drinkability. Sweet malty taste at first, both toasted and lightly roasted, a ripe dark fruitiness, not quite raisiny, but close, a mildly herbalness, a very slight warming alcohol presence on the tongue and a sweet malty finish with a mellow bitterness shortly lingering in the palate. Well, this overall was a disappointment, I guess I was expecting more crispness and flavor, not one of Unibroue best efforts.

Blackberry burgundy. Half finger of dense grayish froth. Richly fruity, jammy nose with light notes of port, anise, blackcurrant, minty alcohol, and yeast. Somewhat roasty. Dense, yet fluffy, carbonation. Opens with a slick, juicy explosion of passion fruit infused with peppery alcohol. Alcohol is clean, but a tad overstated, early on. Tight anise lends a cleansing dryness and harmonizes with the firm, clearly defined earthy malt underlay. Richly complex silky malt layers soon absorb much of the alcohol warmth, as does the doughy yeast cushion. Deeply caramelized malts intensify the softer malt textures while slicing through the densely moist pockets of raisin and passion fruit, which act as an everlasting anchor to the body. Finishes slick and wet with blackcurrants and anise spiced tobacco along with a tainting touch of rubbery alcohol astringency. Although there’s a bit much alcoholic heat and the nose is on the yeasty side, it’s succulently juicy and bright, from start to finish. This has morphed into real humdinger.