Unibroue Trois Pistoles

Brewed by Unibroue (Sapporo)
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Chambly, Canada

Dark, nutty, and fruity, but not overly sweet. Very drinkable beer, though too pricey to have often.

Pours hazy, dark chocolate brown, with a medium tan head, very fine, lasting lacing. Smells of toffee, apple, plum, banana, and leather. Full-bodied, velvety smooth. Tastes similar to the smell, toffee, apple, plum, with some citrus and spice, a little bit of oak and grass in the finish. Well balanced.

Bottle into tulip at Ray’s Place. Poured at thin dark brown with a large tan head that dissipated within a few minutes. Aroma was fruity, dried apricots and cloves/nutmeg. Flavor about the same but with the abv kicking through at the back of the palate, leaving a dry finish.

Bottle. Pours dark brown with a creamy tanned head. Aroma and flavour of dark malts, ripe fruit, alcohol and hints of chocolate. Sweet mouthfeel and a slight warming in the finish. Very nice.

In a bottle at Plug Uglies (NYC): Definitely malty throughout, especially in the aftertaste. Spicy. 11072009. ***Re-rate: Pours like cola from the 22oz. bottle: Dark fruits add a tarty kick in the flavor along with sweet malts and yeast. Dark fruits big time overshadow the taste of any alcohol. Drinkability: Way too good to be considered real. Rebuy: Right Away. 13102009 DG.

It pours a dark brown with a small off white head that seems to linger. It smells really sweet and to the tongue, first taste is sweet. It has a fruit taste to it that I can’t quite place. It is almost like a good Trippel, not quite, I’m not too sure about it, but it does seem to grow on me. For 9% abv it goes down really smooth. It’s not quite my cup of tea but it is drinkable. Cheers!

Original review 2/19/2008... Pours like natural root beer - very well-carbonated. Head is thin and fades quickly. Smell is powerful - caught whiff from eye level even when pouring. Carbonation makes the aroma travel well - good, sarasparilla (sic?) and coriander tones w/Belgian yeast; malt or hop tones are extremely subtle. Nice molasses backbone with deep caramelized profile and additional yeast and underlying spice tones. Heavy carbonation at outset makes this much lighter than expected, but still has that nice coating feeling. Could drink more of this than expected; alcohol is there but hidden well.

Now my favorite beer. 12oz bottle courtesy of new Alabama beer laws! Aftertaste is what is remarkable -- has a spicy finish that is truly unique compared to all beers I have ever found. Sweet but not overdone. Bitter but not too bitter. To me it had a marked fruitiness instead of the coffee/molasses/smokey taste found in many strong ales. Luckily, I bought 6 of these!