Tasting Notes: Alesmith: Grand Cru

Alesmith: Grand Cru (USA: Belgium Strong Ale: 10% ABV)

Visual:Dark bronzed red. Massive off white head made of a mix of small bubbles.

Nose: Wheat. Slightly vinous sour grapes. Malt drink. Raisins.

Body: Red grapes. Malt loaf and sultanas. Dry malt drinks. Very vinous. Slight sour white grapes. Light aniseed. Malt chocolate.

Finish: Bitter. Wheat. Dry. White wine and sour grapes. Cinnamon. Soy sauce. Liquorice.

Conclusion: Bit of a disappointment this one. Maybe I built it up too much in my mind as I was looking forwards to it. Not a bad beer, but compared to similar beers with similar reputations it just doesn’t quite match up.

I’ve pretty much started at the end there. Maybe being a bit harsh as well. Lets go back to the start and I shall explain.

The aroma was fairly simple, it calls to the Belgium Saison style with dryness and what characteristics. What it didn’t do was get me excited for the main beer. It did have a slight sourness but not too much is hinted at. Thus I had to move onto the main body for it to stand on it’s own merits alone.

The body definitely showed the influence of Belgium yeast (or if not then a facsimile thereof) in the texture, but the flavours call more to heavily smoothed out version of the British ESB style. Now here it does do some nice tricks with fruit flavour, wine sourness and a dryness mixed in. It did seem a bit light without any push or emphasis initially. This resolves itself as I poured more into the glass. Either the flavour had built up or, at a guess, the extra dislodging of the yeast in the bottle helped the flavour. Its amazing how many times with beers like these the second glass from the bottle is far more flavoursome than the first.

The finish is dry and simple. Maybe it was due to only having a year to age but the beer seemed to fare badly against the three year aged Bush Prestige I had before. They seem to play for the same style butt this beer doesn’t have the same range or craft.

Now I have listed the areas I found disappointing I will say again it isn’t a bad beer, just not in the league it was seemingly aiming for. It is nicely vinous and tart, easy to drink and does have decent flavour to the main body. The mix of styles is interesting, and gives the impression of a malt drink saision with vinous touches. Not as good as that sounds though. It does do a nice mix of raisins and red wine with lots of Belgium character. I guess for all its reputation, and my enjoyment of the similar, Bush Prestige I was just expecting more. Not bad, just not great.

Background: Picked up a while back from Brewdogs guest beer section. There’s no bottled on date, but based on how long it’s been in my cupboard and how long American beers usually take to get here I would guess it’s had about a years ageing. Alesmith is one of these breweries that have a legendary rep, but I’ve yet to try a beer from them that matches their rep. There haven’t been any bad beers, just none so great as to make me go wow. Then again it took me a while to find beers that made me see why Moor had a good rep as well and now I love that brewery, so I’m always willing to give Alesmith another try to see what I’m missing. (odd fact noticed from this write up, I always seem to typo “malt loaf” as “malt load” – I really hope I didn’t miss this elsewhere). Final Note: I have been reading “John Dies At The End” which may explain the sudden appearance of the “Soy Sauce” flavour note in this review.

Tasting Notes: De Landtsheer: Malheur: Dark Brut

De Landtsheer: Malheur: Dark Brut (Belgium: Belgium Strong Ale:12% ABV)

Visual: Very dark black cherry red.  Huge froth of rum and raisin hued bubbles. Some sediment evident. Interestingly the bottle pours forth a burst of dry ice like smoke on popping the cork.

Nose: Thick. Malt loaf and coffee granules. Figs and plums rise. Glacier cherries then red wine and raisins. As it warms more becomes more like wine soaked fruitcake, mixing the elements together. Milky chocolate and finally marmalade. Such a huge range, one that doesn’t punch out but hovers above the glass.

Body: Big and chewy. Resin chews, raisins and plums. Glacier cherries into fruitcake. Shortbread. Marmalade again. Chocolate. A moderate amount of bitterness at the back. Banana.

Finish: Fig rolls. Milky chocolate in mini roll fashion. Still lots of marmalade. Bitter chocolate comes out as sweetness fades. Rum.

Conclusion: I often talk about making a beer into an event, and this beer is a supreme example of what I am talking about.  The champagne style bottle with simple but stylish label and just a bit of glitz pops open with a run of dry ice like smoke as if opening a show. The first pour and froth is a similar treat to the eye. Before even the first sip I was entranced by its showmanship and style.

Let it in past your lips and it’s a heady mix, but first you should take time to sample the aroma shifts as it warms. A quick swirl within the glass reveals a massive range. Once you finally sip it’s full of fruit and vinous qualities, but never so much that you mistake its beer heritage. Chocolate maltiness and a distinct mouthfeel are the really tells. There is a sign of the alcohol, but far from laying it on.

The marmalade touch throughout feels almost like a call to the delicious Dalmore whisky in that it mixed the luxurious chocolate in there with the marmalade  Also both have a similar eye for fantastic bottles.

If there are problems with it, then I would say that it pushes its main body flavour strongly to the point of sickliness.  For me it’s a good thing as it walks just on the right side of the razors edge of flavour, but for some it may be a step too far.

Frankly delicious, and unlike most strong beers I feel that it would be worse if they ever decided to barrel age it as is the trend these days. The range and subtlety shown would not likely survive whatever spirit it would have to compete with and I doubt the spirits influence would make up for this loss. A great beer as just the beer itself and also an event and a wonder.

Brilliant.

Background: One of the beers listed in “100 Belgium Beers to Try Before You Die”. Shared with friends, initially slightly chilled then allowed to warm. This beer is one I have been looking forwards to. Good reputation, great looking presentation bottle.  A beer I had been searching for since not being able to find it in Brugge last year.  All led to very positive expectations.

Tasting Notes: Grain D’Orge: Belzebuth

Grain D’Orge: Belzebuth (France: Belgium Strong Ale: 13% ABV)

Visual: Golden hued apricot flesh that holds up a medium bubbled white head.  Only a few small bubbles are evident main body.

Nose: Figs, golden syrup and dry malt. Lemon sherbet mixes with apricot. Some slight pencil shavings then evident overripe banana.

Body: Very sweet. Figs, raisins and liquorice. Banana. Cane sugar massively. Solid malt core.

Finish: Dry malt. Alcohol air, maybe gin. Cane sugar and dry black liquorice. Malt chocolate. The alcohol hits noticeably at the back of the throat for a while.

Conclusion:   In always slightly distrustful of a beer that has its abv nearly as big as its name a on a label. It tends to indicate the beer favours intoxication over flavour. Though this as not as bad a sign as a beer that has its abv as part of the name, that is nigh always a sign you are about to drink shit (Carling C2 I am looking at you).

This beer thankfully doesn’t get too obsessed with abv over flavour like some other (Start The Future I’m now looking at you) but it does come close.  The cane sugar that makes up a good proportion of the main body does remind me of the rare instance I’ve run into a bad Belgium Tripel and the sugar used to get the alcohol up has left a slight over sweet remain.

The beer however redeems itself a lot with banana and fig richness in the aroma and main body. It takes the excessive sweetness and works with it rather than against it. This holds on until the finish where a dry liquorice takes over.  Unfortunately at this point it is almost gin level alcohol influence so it doesn’t quite work

Now as you can probably guess, this doesn’t shout fine craftsmanship as much as papering over the cracks, but at least it claims its flaws and makes them part of the experience instead of trying to ignore them.  It does end up better than you would guess from the individual elements.  It’s like a random pile of broken down items that haphazardly create a fun image. Not fine art, but better than you would expect.

Background: picked up as it is one of Michael Jackson’s 500 great Beers.  Apparently used to be at 15% abv but was reduced, though I doubt the 15% version would have been any more balanced.

Tasting Notes: Hitachino Nest XH (Extra High)

Hitachino Nest XH (Japan: Belgian Strong Ale: 8% ABV)

Visual: Cloudy dark cherry red. Some loose floating sediment. Small off white bubbled head and distinctly low carbonation.

Nose: Malt. Blackcherry and prunes. Sake (nihonshu) or possibly gin, most likely from the Shochu influence.  Peanuts and bamboo.  Mouthwash cleanness, strawberries and chives.  A very mixed up but not significantly powerful nose.

Body: Plums, evident alcohol and uncooked potatoes. Very smooth texture. Figs and glacier cherries.  Light caramel. Bitter at the back. Banana touches that grows significantly through its lifespan.

Finish: Dry gin styling. Light amount of malt loaf and bitterness.  Tangerine, banana and candy sweets. Mouthwash toffee and cloves.

Conclusion: I had a chance to try Shochu  in Japan about a year ago. It didn’t strike me as the most complex of spirits, seeming closer to a banana influenced vodka that the depth of my beloved whisky.  However, let’s face it; chances are I didn’t try the good stuff so I shouldn’t judge the whole style by a few examples.

I bring this up because, while I have tried to use other slightly more common flavours in the tasting note to explain what the beer tastes like, it is hard to get around the fact that the shochu flavours are pretty damn evident.  The spirit gives a quite clean yet potent alcohol touch to the flavour.

The Belgium ale underneath seems to be quite solid. I’m guessing it would not be exceptional without the bit extra from the oak ageing – it hints at cherry sweetness and a decent dose of malt, mixed in with what my co taster  Will described as “Christmas spices”. A definite solid and quite sweet base.

Despite that it is quite the shifting beer, with many odd dashes of flavour showing up momentarily. Seems somewhat like an abstract art piece, not really a discernable structure but many little inspirational touches.  (and I’m guessing people who actually know about art will be grinding their teeth right about now, sorry)

It is a lovely novelty of a beer, but not exceptional as a beer.  The shochu is a touch too evident in the finish, which is a pity considering the fruit of the main body.  Something for if you are bored by the usual barrel ageing.

Background: This Belgian style ale has been aged in Shochu (A Japanese distilled spirit) casks. I’m a pretty big fan of the Japanese craft beer scene and Japan in general so I try and hunt down the few examples of their beer that turn up on these shores. Hitachino Nest is a brewery I had heard of in Japan, but had never hunted down any of their beers before.  I seem to be on a bit of a run of oddly aged beers at the moment, which is nice.

Tasting Notes: Alken-Maes: Hapkin

Alken-Maes: Hapkin (Belgium: Belgian Strong Ale: 8.5% ABV)

Visual: Clear light grain yellow. Massive white head made up of large stretched bubbles.

Nose: Crisp wheat, shreddies packet just opened. Processed ice cream. Orange and lemon freshness with a hint of ginger bread. Slightly floral.

Body: Distinctly fresh, orange juice sweetness backed by bitter hops. Slightly fizzy, like orangeaid. Hint of liquorice at back and hints of glacier cherries. Pineapple. Vanilla.

Finish:  Orange juice and marmalade. Greenery. Bittrness. Dry liquorice comes out competing with grapefruit.

Conclusion: I know that many of the blond Belgium ales have had orange like elements but this one is just tacking the mickey. It takes the orange influence to almost orangina or orangeaid styling and drop it in amongst the bitter hops. Quite the citrus wake up call to your taste buds.

That orange run straight through it, backed by a few other choice citrus elements and the expected wheat elements and bitterness.  All in all, it shows what I love about Belgium. Despite the seeming rigidity of the style guidelines, there is a whole world of play that can be brought to a beer, and this one takes full advantage of that.

Not a summer refresher despite the citrus, the hop finish comes in too heavy for that.  More a stylised beer for relaxing with, and a lovely fresh take on the style.

Background: One of Michael Jackson 500 beers, it was surprisingly evasive to find, eventually being picked up from Brugges.  As mentioned many a time, I consider Belgium to have the best beers in the world.

Tasting Notes: Lost Abbey: 10 Commandments

Lost Abbey: 10 Commandments (USA: Belgian Strong Ale: 10% ABV)

Visual: A very dark ruby red with a fizz but no lasting head.

Nose: Honey, cough sweets or maybe lozenges. Raisins and slight apple vinegar.

Body: Mead, raisins. Smooth and malty with red grapes, malt loaf and slick oak barrels, Sweetness comes in glacier cherries, syrup and lozenges.  Mixed in is barley, sesame seeds with a hint of red wine and slight milk chocolate.

Finish:  Mead and white grapes. Bitter. Still feels thick on the tongue at this point. Sour red wine mixes with gin in the air. Crab apples, slight charred oak and the influence of fruitcake and raisins.

Conclusion: I’ve been calling a lot of beers vinous recently but this really takes the cake for it.  Mead (honey wine) in the nose, red wine in the body and white wine touches in the finish, with each element seeping through to the other stages as well.

Truly fruity, and yes vinous then, in many ways feels more like a replication of an old traditional style ale that your expected Belgium style ale. By alternate motions you get almost sickly sweetness and acidic sourness playing in the same glass.

I’ve found that often unusual ingredients can end up getting lost in a strong beer and end up being just a gimmick, but that definitely is not the case here. The rosemary, raisin and honey are in full display, nigh dominating the beer.  This actually reminds me a bit of Moors Fusion, but with a lot more on display.  I have a feeling that this beer would age marvellously as well.

Effectively a wine of the beer world, without compromising the power or smoothness that can come from an ale. The only thing I mark it down for is that the honey can occasionally be present too much, as if trying to have its sweetness fight the sourness of the main beer.

What we have here is a beer that calls to the tartness of sour brown ales, honey sweetness that calls to mead and a lot in between.  Unless you will hate the wine styling, then this is a very good beer.

Background: Lost Abbey is the other name of Port Brewing and is dedicated to making Belgium style ales.  This beer in particular is made with honey, rosemary and raisins.  Rate beer lists as 9% ABV, but the bottle lists 10% which I have gone with. This beer was shared with friends due to its size and abv, and aid was given with trying to name some of the odder flavours.

Tasting Notes: Sint Canarus: Potteloereke

Sint Canarus: Potteloereke (Belgium: Belgian Strong Ale: 8% ABV)

Visual: Dark cloudy chestnut brown with reddened edges and a little dash of lace from the nut coloured head.

Nose: Peanuts. Banana, or possibly banana bread, walnut cake. Madeira wine. Banoffee pie, toffee. Subtle yet sweet. Slight sugar cane. Lemon grass. Smoked meat and milk chocolate.

Body:  Chewy. Banana bread. Fruitcake. Very solid yet slick texture. Milk chocolate. Bitter front. Raisins and a dash of figs. Walnuts.

Finish: Subtle bitterness and Madeira wine . Raisins. Malt drinks and bitter chocolate. Brown sugar.

Conclusion:  Very subtle yet expressive. This beer was never heavy handed, even as the sweltering Belgium heat brought its temperature up.   Despite the range of temperatures it was exposed to it still managed a rounded and delicious flavour, very much dominated by the banana bread and walnut cake flavours. Each element seems simple, but in combination that bring a very satisfying experience.

It’s a very slick take on the abbey style, silkening out the oft heavy handed punches into a malted milk textured drink of impressive depth. Relaxing and tasty, slow to reveal, never hasty it its flavours. It barely hints its abv in its delicate revelations. Definitely a beer I would recommend. When it finally shows its secrets, if feels more like the confessions of an old friend and one of fine company. Refined and delicious.

Background:  One of the beers from “100 Belgium Beers To Try Before You Die”  drunk on a small boat outside Gent. Very slightly chilled due to the near heat wave temperatures of the time, but done just enough to take the edge off the sickliness that such temperature can introduce.  May have been slightly lazier that normal during the tasting, the oppressively heavy atmosphere was moments off starting a thunderstorm when this was tasted, and there was a certain degree of lethargy introduced.

Tasting Notes: De Dolle: Arabier

De Dolle: Arabier (Belgium: Belgium Strong Ale: 8% ABV)

Visual: Cloudy bubbled amber gold with a lovely frothy banana skin coloured tinge to the head.

Nose: Light lemon, wheat. Very fresh. Ground lemon and orange peel. Just the slightest cinnamon spice. Overripe banana. Light raspberry touch occasionally.

Body: Very crisp, wheat. Light ripe banana. Nice amount of bitter hops backing. Crushed leaves and passion fruit.

Finish:  Sour lemon and wheat into good bitter hop dryness. Strangely a mead finish style touch runs through the finish

Conclusion:  Respect is due to the waiting staff at the bar we had this, managing to get this beer out without significant loss of fluids.  Maybe they practise it a tad more than me.

A very fresh and wheat flavoured beer with a bit of hop bitterness backing it up.  Very much a refresher, though with more alcohol than you would guess from the flavour.  A lovely subtle aroma which has a careful banana back to it.   The main thing you notice on early sip though is a remarkably gripping hop trail to the end after a much more relaxed main beer.

Not a wide range of flavours, balances well though; this was drunk in the midday sun, and suited that environment well. A lightly flavoured, tasty and easy to drink beer, but hopped so you remember it even when drinking with mates.  Watch the abv though, take your time with it.

Not one that holds for long meditation but a good beer.

Background: De Dolle are a great bunch of brewers who seem to enjoy turning their bottles into anti personnel weapons of beer. Seriously I once opened a bottle to have the froth surge a clean two feet out to hit the wall next to me.  Still enjoy their beer, much as you take a Russian roulette risk opening them. This bottle was opened for me by the bar staff in Diksmuide which saved me that problem and let me enjoy the beer.

Tasting Notes: Gouden Carolus: Cuvee Van De Keizer Red

Gouden Carolus: Cuvee Van De Keizer Red (Belgium: Belgium Strong Ale:10.5% ABV)

(2010 Edition: Drunk Early 2011)

Visual: Golden yellow with a solid inch of clear white bubbled head which is solid and long surviving.

Nose: Light and wheaty, mixed with delicate spices. Cumin and cinnamon. Ground up ginger bread, Noticeable alcohol undertow and orange rind. Slightly saison style sourness.

Body: Cane sugar. The alcohol is evident but not fiery, Grapes and slight lemon. Wheat. Orange peel. Saison bitter style. Turmeric and syrup sweetness Banana comes out after a while.

Finish: Gingerbread, spice and wheat. Light cloves. White wine.  Bitter.

Conclusion: I had this once before, as described in the background, and I remembered it as being a bit special. So now I return to see how well the real thing holds up to the version I have in my memory

Still impressive it seems, with delicate spices running through the shining gold body. It’s at points like this that I wish I paid more attention to the spice rack, as there are many and varied flavours that are definitely spices but I can’t quite put a name to.

It’s a very interesting beer, shifting flavours over the bottles life cycle, and often distinct calls to the Saison style whilst still being very identifiable as a strong Belgium style.  Saision Dupont is one I would definitely refer to as being noticeable for having similar notes to the Saison influences in this beer.

Unfortunately the alcohol is a lot more evident in this beer than I remember, and for a beer that trades on crisp subtlety like this one does that does hurt the overall feel.  As you acclimatise to the alcohol it does become much more like the beer I remember. I wonder if the example I’d had before had been aged for a year or so, and if so then this is definitely one that would benefit with some time in the cellar to smooth out.

Overall a fine and idiosyncratic beer that I think would benefit from some time to smooth itself out.

Background: First tried this a year or so ago when I was sharing the bottle with people I had just met who were paying for my beers in exchange for me giving beer advice and improvised tasting notes. This of course put me in a good mind towards the beer so I decided it was worth digging out again.

Tasting Notes: De Ranke: Guldenberg

De Ranke: Guldenberg (Belgium: Belgium Strong Ale:8.5%)

Visual: Hazy grain gold with a large wheaty off white head of bubbled style.

Nose: Citrus fresh, wheat, popcorn. Slight pepper and wheat like hops. Jif lemon. Granary bread undertones and light bitterness. Slight golden syrup.

Body: Bitter front, big wheat and barley. Dry hops with a popcorn texture. Noticeable light fresh back behind the very obvious bitterness, Mouth filling flavour. Cream. Fruitcake near back.

Finish: Real bitter and dry hoppiness. Granite. Lays quite a punch in. Malt, greenery. Syrup lemon and barley.

Conclusion:  Deceptive wee bugger! I broke this open, expecting a light blond beer with sweet notes to round off the day. I ended up drinking one of the hoppier beers I’ve seen bounce out of Belgium.

Oh sure, its hazy body and lightly peppered nose will try and fool you otherwise, but touch it to your lips and massive hops and bitterness are sure to follow, though in as smooth fashion as you would expect from Belgium.

I doubt it will win most rounded beer of the year, but it sure is sturdy and will make you pay attention.

Smooth, sweet and hoppy as heck, a wake up call of a beer, not a night cap as I found to my surprise.