Unibroue Trois Pistoles

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

Pours dark murky brown with a medium, very long lasting tan head. Rich malty caramel aroma with notes of plum, chocolate, port and alcohol. Silky smooth medium-full mouthfeel. Sweet, suprisingly inoffensive taste. Starts sweet caramel and progresses to raisins and chocolate. Slightly dry finish, with a hint of alcohol in the aftertaste, along with some lingering spices. Really top drop. I could sip this all evening.

750ml bottle. Pours a hazy dark brown with a massive off-white head that settles to a lacy ring of foam. Aroma of fruit, spices, citrus, ginger and plum. Medium body with fine carbonation. Same notes in the taste as the aroma, with a bunch of spice in the dry finish. Lots going on in this beer.

12 oz bottle - Excellent beer. It pours a hazy dark brown with a huge, rapidly fading head. Aroma has yeast notes and is also very fruity, enough so that I feared it would taste too sour for me. Not so. The flavor is sweet, fruity as expected, but also well balanced. I didn’t detect much bitterness. Finish is surprisingly smooth with that warming 9% alcohol well hidden. This is a really excellent beer. I’ll definitely look for other Unibroue brews.

Bottle: Poured a black with a thin light brown head. Aroma is soft berries and sugary. The taste is rich dark roasted malt. The finish is tingly and fruitish.

Spicy, heady aroma, estery and malty, with prominent red grape and banana notes, dark brown sugar sweetness, plum, clove and faint citrus. Deep, opaque mahogany with burgundy highlights and a lasting, creamy, ivory colored head. Initially tart and bittersweet, becoming more fruity and malty with a lightly alcoholic, acidic, spicy, yeasty finish. Smooth, creamy and lightly fiery mouthfeel. Interesting convergence of styles. Very satisfying, makes a splendid nightcap or dessert, especially on those cooler nights.

Deep copper in color with ruby highlights and large off-white ehad. Aroma is of bread,yeast,nuts, dark fruit and caramel. Rich creamy mouthfeel, with a warming alcohol prescense,malty,fruity,yeasty,winelike.

Beautiful black brown pour with swirling hypnotizing action. Gunk on the bottom of this unfiltered brew. Attractive off sweetish aroma, but clean and fresh. Ooooh, this stuff is smooth yet powerful. Really numbs up the taste buds with pleasure. You would never think of it as 10%, this is more like the flavor that was as low as 6%. Smooth and sly, sneaks the alky into you as if was a wheat or dunkleweizen. I bought this thinking it was wheat, well now I see it’s a strong ale. Medium to strong whisky and fruit background. Or is that wine soaked plums or bing cherries? Good creamy carbonation for a low level tingle. Finish is strangely middle of the tongue associated with alky bitter bite, it hangs for a while.

I can not believe that it has taken me so long to rate this beer. I was drinking Unibroue - and especially this beer for a year or two before my beer obsession began. Trois Pistoles has been a favorite of mine for years. It was the beer that got my wife started on the path to liver ruination with me. So now I open an old favorite with the intention to rate. !2 oz brown bottle. Beautiful label. I have to say that Unibroue has always featured wonderful artwork on their labels. The pour is an opaque caramel color. Just a hint of redness comes through when held to the light. A small tan head graces the beer’ surface. The aroma is superb. Wonderful bursts of molasses, caramel. cherry and plum waft up on the scent. The flavor continues this theme with heavy notes of caramel, molasses, brown sugar,ripe fruit and a hint of sweet chocolate. The heavy molasses flavor and a hint of nut lingers on the palate as one enjoys the thick, chewy mouthfeel. The finish is slightly dry and nutty. It has 9% alcohol but hides this very well in it’s smooth complex flavors. I have tried many beers over the last year or so, but few can exceed the one that started it all. Additionally this is my wife’s favorite beer out of all the fine brews we have tried.