Unibroue Édition 2005

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

750ml caged&corked bottle. Pours a dark, cloudy brown with minimal, light tan head that leaves no lace. The aroma is strong with alcohol. After your nose gets past that aroma, you are treated to a complex array of aromas: flowers, soft and ripe fruit, honey, sweet biscuits, maple, and hints of toffee. The flavor starts sweet and malty with sugary, jellied toast, some caramel, some spices (allspice, nutmeg, mace?), and a good bit of ethanol to boot. By mid-palate, the bitterness of ethanol and some mild, earthy hop bitterness help to balance the sweet malts. There is a mustiness and some notes of brandy and muscat grapes at mid-tongue, too. In the finish, there is a subtle hint of tartness/acid along with a strong note of chocolate and caramel combined with cooked/caramelized banana. The finish is somewhat dry with a roastiness that is not really perceived earlier on the tongue. The beer is quite warming and leaves a complex, fruity, spicy, sweet aftertaste. The mouthfeel is disappointingly still. It lacks the carbonation of a great Belgian ale. The body is meidum-full - lighter than one might expect from a beer that is so packed with complex maltiness and 10% alcohol. Overall, this is a great beer. It would have been even better (easily scoring over 4.0) if the bottle I bought were more lively carbonated - it would have looked better and felt much better on the palate. The bubbles could possibly have even pushed the flavor up to a full 10 points. As it was, it was still a fantastic, delicious treat of a beer.

Pours medium hazy brown. The nose is rich fruits and some alcohol. The flavor is similar with a bit more complexity and a added dose of heat.

Bottle that was bottled on November 18th,2004. The aroma is a solid very fruit almost wine, the taste is of at first wine and then it warms into a bit of chocolate and then culminates into a chocolate almost mousse in the mouth once it has been swallowed.

Bottle at ÅBF08. Vanilla and sherry aroma. Hazy dark brown colour. Small bubbly head. Very distinct sherry flavour. Nice, I guess, but I prefer my beer without sherry.

Hazy brown with a small off-white head. Malty aroma with that oxidized cherry note. Sweet and malty with spices and plenty Belgian yeast character.

Dark brown pur, with a tan had. Nose is wine-like and complex. Flavor was rich and malty with fruit (grape) notes, alcohol, and yeast. Finish was dry with alcohol warmth.

Blackish brown pour with ruby highlights and a tall fizzy off-white head which fades quickly to a thin ring. Aroma smells of molasses, a little bit of cardboard oxidation, nectarines, classic funky Unibroue yeastiness, and some slight citrus zest. Taste is quite vinous, fruity (sour cherry) and peppery with some lingering oxidation and loads of alcohol. This seems to have aged quite nicely.

Bottle @ Aarhus beerfestival 2008. Aroma is sweetis with plums, some sugar, malts, dark fruits. Clear, amber brown coloured with a lasting short head. Taste is sweet with plums a vinous accent, sugar/caramel. Good barley wine.