Before we begin, make sure you follow us on Twitter (@behindthetap) and on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/BehindTheTap)
Ah, the spoils of winning "Rock, Paper, Scissors" is reviewing this beer first. This beer has long intrigued me, as it's the closest thing to Westvleteren XII that is readily available and doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Delving into the history of this, from 1946-1992, Westy contracted out to St. Bernardus. When the contract ended, St. Bernardus continued brewing a similar style, which is this selection.
So, with the Ambulance LTD cued up, my trusty Flying Dog pint glass half filled with this, and the cats playing rough, it's the perfect ambiance for reviewing this. This pours a dark copper color that's rather cloudy, and looking hard enough, I see sediment floating around. The head on this was a decent amount of a cream color, which faded within 4 minutes to almost a distant memory of Holidays long passed. The aroma on this is dark fruit mostly. Cherry, fig, hints of raisin and toffee pound your olfactory senses into a submissive bliss, with apricot coming through from time to time to remind you that there is a task at hand, and this task is reviewing beer.
The.... holy shit.... I was going to describe the flavor, but it's amazing and has a lot going on... The flavor is interesting. There's a great honey flavor up front with the fruit and toffee you got in the nose. At times there is some spice and some breadiness about it, which is covered over by the honey-like flavor making a resurgence toward the backend. This drinks smooth, heavier carbonation than what it looks, nice light bubbles to add to the experience of this. It finishes dry. Kind of rich at times, but not sickening sort of rich. Definitely a sipping brew. The 10% ABV is not noticed in the flavor or mouthfeel at all, probably one of the smoothest 10% brews that's blessed my mouth.
5/5 caps
-Nathan-
While Nathan cued up the Ambulance, I'm cuing up some Bob Marley, Jamaica being my literal happy place and, with it snowing (heavily) here, I need to be transported to someplace warm and idyllic. And while I may have let Nathan win at "Rock Paper Scissors," I also gave him his very first cootie shot earlier tonight. He. Had. Cooties!!!!!!! What is this world coming to?!?!?!! As for me, I've been immunized since, oh, about first or second grade. The man has been immunized against pertussis and other scary illnesses that we thought had disappeared 100 years ago, but not from cooties. Oh, the humanity. At least I took care of that. The world is once again safe.
When Westie became available in the US last year, it was going for a ridiculous price. Like $80 for a bomber. Or however it's packaged. Um, maybe when we Make It and aren't quite living the craft beer lifestyle on a Burger Classic budget (seriously, can you go wrong with $11-a-case budget beer?), we'll be able to procure some. Until then, I'm fine with a clone. So, let's get to it.
The appearance is just as Nathan described, with a thin layer of head remaining atop mine. Taking a sniff, I pick up some bread or, more accurately, biscuit and a whole lot of dark fruit with some underpinnings of toffee. Cherries and figs and plums are definitely present, and fortunately (for me, at least), I'm not picking up a lot of apricot or raisins, not being a huge fan of either. I do find a hint of alcohol aromas in the nose. When I finally delved into a sip, the word that came to mind was "velvety". This is smoother than a baby's butt. Let me see if I can walk you through this... it's brown sugar up front, fading into a bit of booziness, then the fruits come in to play and float on your palate, the same fruits that appeared in the aroma. There's the biscuit in the back, and the note of brown sugar and maybe some honey just kind of play underneath the entire sip. This is quite damn tasty. Nathan has described it well.
Now, this is a Belgian I can get behind. This is fantastic. It's not Belgian-y. It's Trappist-y. I like Trappist-y (as opposed to travesties). This is delicious. I want to drink more, and yet my portion is almost gone. I should be kind and give the remainder of mine to Dad, as Nathan did. Dad seemed to really enjoy it. Or should I just say, "Fuck it, it's Monday... Mineday"? Not that it was an especially bad Monday... sigh. Decisions, decisions. OK, given that two separate friends of mine lost their fathers yesterday, I'll be extra-nice to mine. He's a pretty rocking awesome dad anyway. OK, one more sip, and then I'll let Dad have the last of it.
P.S. Dad tapped out and passed on finishing my portion. Score.
5/5 caps
-Jennie
No comments:
Post a Comment