Val-Dieu Grand Cru

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

Bottle sampled with Beerded_one. pours dark bronze/black with red hue and a small white head. Aroma of fruit, belgian yeast and spices, and alcohol. The flavor is sweet, very smooth, fruit, spices, light bready notes. Good beer.

750 ml, bb 02/09. Barely translucent chestnut with a small head that leaves some soapy lace. Aroma of raisins, prunes, cherry, brown sugar, light rum and chocolate. Flavors of caramel, lightly tart cherry, chocolate raisin, date, peppery oak and cedar, and some sour whiskey. Medium body is lightly carbonated, has a slight hop tingle, some nice alcohol warming and finishes dry. Lots of delicious big malt flavors, but also good balancing flavors found in this one.

Pours a very dark ruby with a very light white head. heavy dark fruit and grapes in the nose. Some dark sweet malts, and almost a dark red wine smell. One of my favorite winter brews. The alcohol is very present in this beer is the first thing I notice. taste is quite similar to the nose, very sweet but dark fruits and grapes dominate the flavor characters. alcohol is present the whole way through. I’m not a huge fan of this brewery normally, but this is by far their best beer and I love this one.

Burgundy color, with a full and creamy foam that lasts. Lightly aromatic, with hints of burnt popcorn, brandy, dark fruit (plum) and the attributes of Belgian Yeast. Flavor is very rich and full, with extremely well hidden alcohol, fruit, chocolate and Belgian yeast. Not complex, nor polite, but quite tasty.

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.

Thin head which disappeared quite quickly. Little surprised there. Decent carboantion but not as much as expected. Rich raisin and toffee aroma with some grapes and caramel. Sweet smelling. Color is a very dark port brown. Kind of flat in the mouth. Sweet and very smooth. Lacking in depth of flavor. 10.5% alcohol is not really tatsed but noticed by the after effects. Little sweet malts and caramel again. Finish is pretty clean and sweet. A decent belgian strong ale but lacks alot of depth and character. No real yeast and spice notes.

750ml bottle, dark brown color, with a creamy beige head, leaving some laces, yeasty, fruity, toasted, caramelized malt nose, with some chocolatey, cookie, bready dough accents, with some fruity dried plummy, datey, raisiny esters, with a hint of candi sugar, molasses, and a chocolate praline aroma follows through on a full-bodied palate with a sweet toasty, caramel malt, cookie dough character, with some fruity dried notes od raisin, fig, date, plum, with a spicy nutmeg, anise, chocolatey, mochaish accent, within a dark candi sugar, molasses sweetness, leading towards a warming, malty, chocolatey, fruity pruney, datey finish.

Bottle. Dark brown with a thin head. Nose-metal, light banana, whisky. Taste-maple syrup, some lotion, brown sugar, very good Belgian Strong Ale qualities, a little on the sweet side, light tobacco.