Val-Dieu Grand Cru

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

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.

750ml bottle from World of Beer Largo. Pours a dark brown to black with a thin white-tan head that dissipates quickly. Some lacing through the beer. Smells sweet and malty with hints of raisin, bread, wood, and faint chocolate. Creamy mouthfeel with flavors of malt, sweet toffee, and chocolate. Full-bodied with a lingering slightly bitter finish. Alcohol is not overpowering even at 10.5%. Nice beer.

2nd 750ml bottle of Val tonight! These late night college football games are dangerous! Pours dark burgundy-brown with a whispy, thin white head. No lacing. Luscious, rich aroma of black cherry, anise, fig, raisin and dark rum. Initial palate and flavors seem a bit thin and reserved, but interestingly enough settle into a delicious array of sweet dark, ripe fruits (fig, raisin, plum); dark chocolate, licorice, rum and a touch of roasted malt. 10.5% alcohol is pleasantly warming and nicely accentuates the finish. Classy label too!!

Draft. Brown body, small white head, sweet fruity nose. Fruity, spicy, hides alcohol exceptionally well.

Deep amber, nice small but pillowy head, and great lacing. Floaties at the very end. Aroma is nice and yeast oriented, with plenty of fresh bread presence. Flavor was far more complex than I imagined it would be. Loads more of crusty bread, but also a nice underpinning of apricot and plum preserves, with a drying floral finish. Alcohol notes as well. I think this is badly underrated.

First off, the Winter is not the same as the Grand Cru. I’m reviewing the Winter from 2005, the last year the Winter was produced. Amber brown, lingering head. Big aroma of malt and funky fruit. Flavors include tropical fruit, cocoa, rich malts, amber malts, subtle spice, subdued alcohol, lovely. Note, putting this with a review of the Grand Cru is wrong. The Grand Cru is another creature with big, flavorful components.

2005 Chalky and dusty, but in a good way. Good amount of candi sugar. Great.

Dark chestnut reddish brow with a huge head that shows no signs of fading. Softly spiced candi sugar aroma with a bit of bubble gum. Very intricate spectrum of flavors, ranging from those in the aroma to the dark fruits, and light roasty components. Finishes with soft candi sugar and only briefly hot alcohol. Otherwise etoh is well hidden. $9/750ml