cluny6 (72), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England Dec 14, 2007 Pours a gorgeous dark honey color. Cloudy with lots of yeast present. Good cappuccino like tan head that persists. Sweet, yeasty smell, reminiscent of prunes, dark fruits. Fizzy in the mouth. Flavor is sweet but not too much. Lots of dried dark fruits/molasses. Little bitterness present. Incredibly delicious ale. One of the best Belgian I have tried. A+ joss (3138), Garching b. München, Germany Dec 2, 2003 0.75 l bottle, one year old bottle - best before 2004, 9% ABV.
Aroma of Raisins in rum, caramel, yeasty wood, port, a bit lemon.
Dark chestnut brown coloring, impressive creamy tan head.
Flawors are dark and wooden: A bit brown sugar, christmas spices,
a bit citrus, cedar notes. The spicy aftertaste peters off nicely, but a little bit too quick.
Body could be a little bit more powerfull.
Very nice - this is really what a christmas beer should be like.
Reading the other reviews it seems like lagering this beer for a year does it a lot of good. Mads Langtved (2246), København K, Denmark Feb 26, 2003 Fruity and heavy at the same time. Extremely well tasting and well balanced. Quite yeasty, but not too much. Very drinkable in spite of the 9 abv. Nice big head and heavy sediment. A relly mice Belgian Strong ale. Extremly nice fruity aroma. Very complex. SilkTork (3909), Rochester, Kent, England Jan 15, 2004 Bottle Conditioned. BBE 2007. Same strength as the ordinary Abbaye des Rocs - 9%. This is a wonderful beer. Soft, delicious and full of flavours. The flavours are very very similar to the standard Abbaye - though the alcohol doesn't make itself felt, the head is much bigger, and there are lumps of yeast in my glass. Very special. I would grade this as high as the standard, except I feel I may have perhaps given the standard a mark too high. I've adjusted the standard down to match this. fiulijn (5880), Como; Lausanne (CH); Malmö (SWE), Italy Jan 12, 2003 Updated: Oct 27, 2003Bottle, 10-5-9-4-17, 2003-10-26 Beautiful amber color; generous rocky head. Wonderful aroma, deep, of malt, wood, cellar, spices… vinous. Good body structure, malty, balanced by a pleasant sour note, and a late light sweetness. Very good final as well, balanced.
Keg, 8-5-8-4-16, 2003-01-12 Red-amber color. Wallnut, malt and caramel nose; slightly spicy. Balanced, powerful, well malty, a lot of caramel. Missing some originality, just an interesting light fruitness.
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