Abbaye des Rocs La Montagnarde (Ambree)

Brewed by Brasserie de l’Abbaye des Rocs
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Montignies-sur-Roc, Belgium

33 cl bottle. Yeast at the bottom. Brown colour with a weak head. Aroma of candy, toffee, yeast and kandis. Very smooth great flavour of complexity, dried fruit nearly like portwine. Ends up with a sweet and warm feeling from the alcoho, very nice endeed.l

From 750ml bottle. Orange and golden color with thick white head, some floaties. Citric aroma, apricots and flowers. Spicy body, fruits (apricot and pear), medium weight. Finishes a bit thin and dry. Good overall, though nothing too remarkable for the style.

33 cl bottle, bottled/’bbe’? Dark orange to light brown, non-transparent with a fine network of yeast particles. A biggish frothy head that laces quite well. The aroma is initially sweetish and sticky, almost syrupy; then herbal notes (turnip?) and some dried exotic fruit come through. The taste begins sweetish, followed by strong peppermint that fills the mouth accompanied by earthy, light spicy notes. A sticky body with a bitter-sourish finish. Nice, but a little too sweet. In any case, malt power remains the trade mark of Abbaye des Rocs.

Pours pretty nice- big fluffy head and nice lace. First pour was clear very light amber- more of a light copper. Consecutive pours get more clumped proteins in suspension. I really didnt like the aroma, as I initially thought of solvent like phenols, which later gave way to some wierd fruityiness- tropical fruits like mango etc. Flavor is slightly solvent-like with a burning alcohol sensation as it goes down. Lightly sweet aftertaste. Not what I expected from a brewery that makes other amazing beers as the brune, grand cru, and tripel imperiale. Kind of a let down.

pours hazy orange-gold color with a large fluffly off white head that just rises to the top of your glass(careful it may go over) aroma is sweet,citrusy, spicey, and yeasty. The flavor is, sweet, belgian style spices are present, citrusy fruit. Typical Abbaye des Rocs good till the last drop, good body and mouth feel, great brew.

Second of a bad batch to arrive in my cellar. Feel a little guilty in rating it as it wasn’t infected to the point of aroma and taste, it just seemed to lack what a live bottle would have offered. It seems the batch I purchased this from suffered a trip from Belgium to Oz without the air-con on! The yeast has become dormant during the trip to grow into a slurry of slimy fungus that took up a third of the bottle. As I poured, it charged forth, broke up and plopped into the chalice like a clear soup during the addition of lentils and bread cubes. Really quite off-putting; you could say this was what they mean by liquid bread as it had the look of soaked ’wholemeal’ and vomit, that I’d say any monk in their right mind would pass on this one during lent. Aroma was clean and free of nasties with fruit and walnut loaf; quite generous and spicy like it was soaked in sherry. First sip had a gag reflex in accompaniment, so I sieved it through a sparge net. Now devoid of carbonation, and looking like a huge glass of whisky with a little froth, I took my second sip. Sweet in the mouth, dominated by flavours of burnt sugars, toffee and caramel. Lightly yeasty and doughy with a good whack of the ginger mentioned in the product description yet more like an extract used in the production of Ginger beer. The sweetness becomes cloying in the back with figs and prunes delivering the last blow for this heavily unbalanced strong ale. Holds it’s alcohol well for all I could tell as it sat on the tongue with the feel of skim milk and finished off long, malty and rather dry. Another Abbaye des Rocs for the re-rate bin!!! (33cL, BBE 2006)

Sharing Ern’s bottle so that he’ll quite jumping around raving about the aroma and let me be. :) Poured a murky, medium-orange color. And, despite the volcano impression the bottle is doing in the sink, the head is just average-sized, frothy, off-white, mostly and quickly diminishing head. The aroma is sweet and moderately malty with notes of caramel and toasted grain; Lightly hoppy with notes of dried apricot and grass; Heavily yeasty with pungent notes of cellar; and busting with heavy, fruity and spicy miscellaneous notes that include: orange rind, pumpkin, white pepper, honey, ginger and plenty of spicy, warm alcohol. Sexy, indeed. The flavor is heavily sweet, lighlty acidic and lightly bitter with a long, clean, warm, moderately bitter finish. The body is medium-to-full, the texture is creamy and the carbonation is average-to-soft. The alcoholic feeling in the finish is cozy and warming rather than harsh. Wow! Okay, this is something to rave about!

Bottle. Hazy orange coloured with floatiea and a huge off white head. Sweet aroma dominated by fruits and spices. Sweet flavour of fruits and spices with notes of dried fruits, yeast and hops.