Val-Dieu Grand Cru

Brewed by Brasserie de l’Abbaye du Val-Dieu
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Aubel, Belgium

Bottle cellared ~9 months. Nose is slow to open up. Acidic with a slight sweetness, remains indistinct. Deep cloudy gold-brown with lots of sediment and a light swirl of a head. Flavor is a deep sweetness, some strawberry, raisins, a touch of chocolate and some smokiness. A little bit of alcohol presence in the finish. Smooth on the palate.

On tap @ Hamiltons. Nice looking dark brown ale. Aroma of malt, brown sugar and spice. Flavor is fairly nice, but it seemed to be a little thin to me. I’d like to try this from the bottle to see how it compares.

Pour is a dark brown with a small tan head. Aroma is very earthy with lots of malt and some vinegar. Flavor is equally decent with a big dark fruit and Belgian candi sugar. Some of the yeast show up at the swallow and none of the alcohol gets in the way even though i know its there. I have only had about 2 oz. of this so far and its getting quite warm in here. This is a good winter warmer.

Tasted 11/22/07. 750ml bottle. Murky brown hue and almost opaque. Taupe head. Musty cocoa aromas. Touch toast and fruit. Aromas of apples and dark fruit. Rather full bodied with a good dose of alcohol. Super smooth. Citrus yeasty flavors counter with the smooth sugary malts. Nice caramel notes. The second glass has a clinging head from a vigorous pour. Tootsie rolls and toffee. Plays well over the tongue and palate. Good stratigraphy from the head. Candy and cola flavors. Dried fruit notes. Really Nice!

On tap that the Power Plant SAF
Pours murky brown with some orange highlights. There are some particles floating around in it as well.
The aroma is perfumey phenolics and alcohol.
Very mellow flavors of cooked sugars, vanilla, and caramel.
Full body. Light carbonation. Dry finish.
A nice little surprise.

On tap @ Power Plant Strong Ale festival. Red wine vinegar, chocolate malt, vanilla, oak, light cherry aroma. Hazy red color with lots of floaties. Taste is malty with cherries & red wine vinegar (but not too tart), brown sugar, cinamon, and spice. Tasty.

Evening all. This is my first ever rate. And a good way to start. Lovely beer. And that’s as technical as my rates go. It was my first beer of the night but that has nothing to do with it’s high rate. Or the fact that this was my first doesn’t affect the rate. It’s that good. It smells sweeter than a clean baby. It has the appearance of a dirty baby. Or if your dirty babies are a different colour than the one’s I’m used to, it’s colour is like the inside of Merlin’s sleeve. Fucking nice tasting above all. Beer is for drinking, when there is stuff this good about why waste my time rating crap? I might only rate this one beer, if it was a desert island beer I wouldn’t be sorry. Great beer ratebeer.

Absolutely lovely. A fantastically smooth quadrupel. Very dark - even darker than a Belgian stout - with a very thin head. Almost no traces of yeast or maltiness, but instead very full fruity flavors of raisins; almost dates. Very long finish which shows off the very rare ’dark yet clean’ quality.