Alvinne Melchior

Brewed by Picobrouwerij Alvinne
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Moen, Belgium

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip, Tumbler

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(Bottled) Hazy red-amber color with a medium, slightly tanned and foamy head. Very fruity, sweet candy aroma with blackcurrant and alcohol. Sweet, very smoky, fruity-berryish flavor with grainy malt and powerful, but reasonably smooth alcohol. Slicky, medium to full-bodied, quite alcoholic, very warming palate. Dangerously drinkable, but hardly leaves any doubt of the high ABV. Quite nice for its ABV, but not balanced enough to be truly enjoyable. Like Schlenkerla on steroids! Cellaring this might be really interesting.

Bottle. Hazed copper. Nose is SWEET! Maple syrup, sucrose, alcohol, strong hints of fermented fruits, and sweet malts. Taste is sweet and alcoholic. Lots of suagry notes, fermented fruits, alcohol warmth, and sweet maltiness. A bit too one-sided for me. Body is sticky and sweet and syrupy at times. Medium carbonation, though. Finishes with more sweet sugary notes and alcohol. A bit of a disappointment considering I liked everything else Alvinne put out at ZBF.

Bottle at ZBF 2006. Amber colour with an off-white head. Sweet citrus and alcohol in the aroma. Sweet malty flavor with hints of dark fruits and spices. Long sweet warming aftertaste.

Bottle. Cloudy dark brown in color with a thick tan head. Citrusy aroma. Tangy malty citrusy flavor. Sour tasting. Finish is sweet. Nice beer. Drinkable.

Bottle. Cloudy brown with a thick off-white head. Tangy tangerine flavor offset with a funky sour/tartness. A really east drinking, highly carbonated beer.

Bottled: Amber coloured. Unclear. Fluffy beige head. Sweetness, plums and alcohol in the nose. Quite wild . Flavour is plummy and sweet as well, and has a distinct alcoholtouch. Is very sweet and light spiced, and far back i sense some herbal notes. Ends on a very sweetish alcoholdense note. Not much bitterness IMO. Medium bodied. This is a bit too much on the sweet and alcoholside for me, but still quite interesting.

Brownish colored pour with a large creamy head. Had a spicy, yet sweet aroma and tasted the same. I liked this.

Deep foxy-amber, huge nearly orange-yellow head, extremely stable. Very bitter nose, but head prevents the real smelling. Then it gets a sweet and syrupy aroma. Sweet, cloying taste, but at the same time fruity, chocolatey. Chocolates with fruits. Just - there’s no AHAH-Erlebnis . At 11% ABV, come on! Alcoholburn, warming, long lasting sweetness. D*mn it, this is a jolly good beer. But I just can’t get excited over it. It too heavy to be subtle, and too unidimensional to be grand.

Unusual brownish yellow colour with a big creamy head. Extremely spicy and somewhat grassy aroma. Sweet and spicy, ending on a dry note, testament to the high bitterness. Very fizzy. Rather too spicy, but very original.

UPDATED: AUG 30, 2008 First thing to mention: The European Bitterness Units (EBU) ! 60 EBU !!!!!!!! nearly equals one of the most hopbitter beers around in Belgium: XX-Bitter from De Ranke (65 EBU!) So, it is needless to say that Melchior is an extremely hop-bitter beer ! Already when Dominiek (bartender Pado) opened the bottle (with alot of CO2-pressure b.t.w.!), a wonderful hoppy aroma escaped that bottle, and was welcoming filling my nose and welcoming stroking my smell senses. Flowery hoppy, with alot of fruitiness. Challenger and EK Goldings hops are responsible for that. Malts could easily be observed in the aroma too, as aromamalts are one of them.. Tasting was a combination of sweetness and hops. Citric hops balancing the malt sweetness and also the sweetness coming from the cristal sugar that is used. Very dense beer (mushy), and the alkohol being 11vol% is something te take in account, as this beer is extremely dangerously drinkable. A subtile spiciness could be observed too. Note that mustard seed is one of the ingrediënts, and had to be one of the sources of spiciness. Ofcourse unfiltered and unpasteurised and bottle refermented. Alot of slicky yeast sediment at the bottom of the bottle. Just eat it !!!! People, this is a living beer ! Alot of carbonation was produced during the tasting. This means lively active foam and head. A head that kept coming. A restless head really.... The first tastings were very carbonating, so some tastes were lost there. No panic, as I turned and twisted the glass for several minutes to let the overload of CO2-gas escaping the beer. Once this was done, the beer was ALOT more to appreciate.