À l’Abri de la Tempête Corne de Brume

500 ml bottle courtesy of Goldorak (May 2006), consumed from a Chouffe tulip at cellar temperature. The pour is gorgeous, a supple dark tan creamy-puffy head topping the translucent ruby-brick body, leaving thick gouts of lacing as it slowly decays.....awesomely evocative aroma of raisins and molasses, Scotch whisky, caramel, port, stunningly deep maltiness, so rich and decadent that you can’t bear to stop long enough to sip; caky best-quality chocolate brownies provide more hedonism than should be allowed....and when you finally do take the plunge, you are greeted by a palette of flavors and sensations just as strong and complex: deep sweet/burnt caramel, toasted oak chips, awesomely smooth, aged whisky-vanilla sweetness with faint hints of hoppy bitterness surrounding it all, and light alcoholic burning giving it a lovely warming, invigorating effect....sour cherries appear briefly late in the velvety soft, chewy rich miasma of liqueurish aftertaste.....if I have any problem, it is only that the burnt/charred qualities are a might too strong at the finish, causing a touch of harshness, and as Stephen mentioned, it could use a bit more smokiness (though there is a touch). Transcendent masterpiece, my new standard-bearer for the style (sorry JP Grays) and the beer to beat for 2006.

Thanks a million for sharing this beer Jason Rawles! The beer pours to a deep red/garnet body with a creamy tan head. The aroma is simply unreal! Super concentrated caramelized malt, peaty, smoky, sweet dark chocolate, strawberry seeds. The flavor is something else too. Sweet, smoky, chocolate malt. So very complex that words don’t do this beer justice. Sugary sweet. Unfreaking real. Perfect creamy, really full bodied, lingering palate.

Big thanks to beerbuzzmontreal for sending this to me. The aroma is of wort, brown sugar, light hops, and mollasses. Deep brown body with red hues and a nice thick brown head. Ful and extrememly creamy mouthfeel. Lots of toffee, caramel, and gentle hop flavors. Very complex taste. A nice roasted flavor comes through as it warms a bit. This one is to be savored.

From a bottle kindly shared by Jason. Dark brown body, big fluffy head tan head. Big melanoidins in the aroma - stretchy caramel, milk chocolate, and cherry-like wood smokiness. Fantastic soft caramel and chocolate flavor with wood smoke and light bitter hops in back. This is one of those rare beers where the flavors are all wonderfully blended together into a single cohesive (yet complex) unit. Soft, velvety mouthfeel.

Bottle... This beer rocks!... Clear, very dark crimson ale with a mid-sized, creamy, beige head. Great retention. The aroma is a sticky-sweet, malty swirl of brown sugar, caramel, dates, light molasses and medium sherry esters. The flavor is sweet and malty. Like the nose there are heaps of gooey caramel, medium sherry and very light smoke with moderate bitterness that actually accentuates the malt by allowing it to thrive, but not fester. Not at all cloying. Whispers of dried plum and light molasses. Ultra full-bodied and syrupy with medium carbonation. Caramel-sweet, cocoa powder-bitter finish. A big SHOUT goes out to beerbuzzmontreal for providing the bottle of this world class Scotch ale!