It appears this thread is kind of dying. I may do a few more reviews if people are interested, but I'd like to see some more people trying some things out. Regardless, here's my next installment:
Belgian Golden Ale Round Up!
First up is Ommegang's Rare Vos. I paid $7.99 for a four pack of this beer. It packs 6.5% ABV. I've enjoyed this beer many times before. Here are the obligatory pictures:
This beer has just the right amount of head. It smells strongly of lemon and spice. Taking a sip, well, it's very good. I taste the malt, the lemon, some pear, and a lot of spice. I think coriander, a little clove, and something else. This beer tastes sweet on sipping it, but it finishes dry with the long-lingering spice flavor. This is a great beer to sip slowly, and it's pretty reasonably priced for the style. I award it
.
Next up is Unibroue's La Fin Du Monde. Not swinging into the Canadian section of Beers of the World, I probably would have never found this beer if it wasn't for other afficianados here. I paid a whopping $9.69 for a four pack, and it weighs in at a mighty 9% ABV.
This beer smells much more strongly than the Rare Vos. I picked up peach and apricot right away, along with a little citrus and spice. Taking a sip, this is clearly the superior beer. It's got more fruit flavor to go with the spice. Its spice make up is very similar, however, as is its finish. I really like the apircot and peach flavors in this beer. It's a little sweeter than the Rare Vos, but I wouldn't know from the taste that it has almost 50% more alcohol. I'm always relucatant to award things full points, but if any beer has earned
so far, this is it. It took the spice from the Rare Vos and the fruit from the Pranqster and combined them into something special. This is a truly fantastic beer that would be sweet, pleasing and fruity for non-beer drinkers, satisfying and deep to veteran connoisseurs, and it packs a whallop for the alcoholics.
The last beer I'm reviewing here is going to be a dark horse, I suppose. I'm going to review the Unibroue Trois Pistoles, which is a Belgian dark ale. I paid the same price for this as for the LFDM, and it is also 9% ABV.
By smell, I'd guess that the beer most like this that I've tried is the Chimay Blue. It smells sweet, with dark fruit and spice. Sipping, I taste plum, clove, fig, but not as much spice. It's a little sweeter than the LFDM, I think. Its finish is mostly just the lingering sugar rather than as much distinct flavor. This is a little richer, fruitier, and tastier than the Chimay blue, however. I award this beer
and a half
. It's pretty clearly an outstanding beer from an outstanding brewery, but I thing the LFDM is the superior beer from Unibroue.