Chimay Bleue (Blue) / Grande Réserve

Brewed by Chimay
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Baileux, Belgium

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip, Tumbler

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pours a big foamy to rocky tan head with cloudy brown color. Aroma is medium malt, dark fruit, sweet, bread. Taste is upfront effervescence, then taste follows the aroma. 3.8

Bottle. Deep dark brown colour with a beautiful big off-white head. Aroma of toasted malts, yeast, fruits and some spices. The flavour is very much malty and spiced with a good fruitiness, yeast, alcohol, nice sweetness and flowery hops. A great great brew! Several years tasted after being stored for some years.

A deep brown colour, with a rich full fruit malt with a hint of chocolate and a little spice.

2007 version. Probably poured too cold, so had to let it warm up a touch before tasting. Pours a muddy reddish brown with a small lacing off white head. Fruity aroma with plenty of plums and raisins. Complex flavour, but never too powerful - just well-balanced. Dark, dried fruits and a berry-like sweetness to it. The alcohol is stunningly well hidden.

UPDATED: APR 17, 2009 2008 version. best before 2013Bottle 75cl shared with girlfriend. Potent corkRocketLauncher but it didnt spill over after sending the cork in orbit. pours a dark redBrown with a yellow light brown head. aroma of spices, very nice spices, raisins, faint banana, dark fruits. very balanced and well mixed. almost as if it had been on wood or something. flavor is a little less sophisticated than the aroma. alc easily detectable, mouthfeel a bit bubbly, beneath the alc. is a well balanced belgian style brew. i sense some cellar or cork. re-rate.75cl bottle vintage 2007. alc. not as dominating this time. bumps up overall from 13 to 15, flavor from 6 to 7. also palate is okay. 2 to 3

I still remember the first time I tasted the Chimay bleu, I really and utterly hated it. It was long before I started my journey into the world of beers, though. The second time was in the beginning of my rating career, actually it must have been one of the 5 or 10 first, so it must have been in May 2004, and I still didn’t like it, but then again, I really didn’t like the Belgian beers back then. So in July 05 I felt ready to give it another try, and I’m glad I did. It is dark brown with a lot of chunky sediment and the head is beige and nice. The aroma has notes of dark, ripe fruits and a bit of alcohol. The flavour is complex: warming alcohol, plum, raisin, port wine, caramel sweetness and a hint of licorice - and it mingles well into a higher and well balanced unity. I have a few bottles in my cellar, put away for maturing. Yet another good example that out taste develops in our journey in to the world of beers...

UPDATED: APR 3, 2009 2008 re-rate. The dark brown colour and firm white head makes it look very attractive. Aroma of dried fruit, some banana and a hint of metal. Dry with a fruity sweetness, a touch of licorice and spicy complexity. Big and creamy mouthfeel.

Bottle. Nice big tan head with excellent duration. Color is dark brown. Aroma is sweet with lots of spices. Taste is sweet with some alcohol. Good mouthfeel.

Malty beer. I detected liquorice, chocolate and hops in the intense taste. Well hidden alcohol. Long bitter finish. Bottled in 2001, but the beer will develop for many years. In the 1999 bottled version is the alcohol even less prominent and a porto taste has further developed.

UPDATED: JAN 8, 2007 2002 version jan.2007.: Creamy white too good (exploded out of the bottle) mostly deminishing head. DArk amber colour. Light malty and hoppy aroma, a bit week. Nice powerfull flavor but not great. Oily palate. I still think this is way overrated! Special treay from my brother. 1998 bottle. So 8 years old and in blind taste. Fresh bottle will be rated later!!!! Frothy white good mostly deminishing head. Week but delicate rasin/cinneman aroma. Light malty. High chocolate flavor. Average finish. You cant detect 9 ABV!!!!! 5-2-6-3-12=2.8