Chimay Rouge (Red)

Brewed by Chimay
Style: Abbey Dubbel
Baileux, Belgium

(330ml bottle) pours a reddish-brown with huge voluminous head, great lacing. A beautiful beer. Nose has cinnamon, bready yeast, light hops, and raisins. Quite complex in the taste too. Sweet raisins and malt, slight hop bitterness to balance it out, spicy yeast, and a great finish. Creamy and velvety too. One of my favorite trappist beers and possibly Chimay’s best in my opinion.

Poured a dark copper, almost brown, in colour. A huge tan head filled more than half the glass (according to the label, I was using the wrong sort of glass for this one). Some nice lacing stayed behind. Aroma was slightly malty with a bit of hop. Taste was amazing complex and delicious, being crisp, a bit of malt, but mostly spices and fruit. Aftertaste was equally as nice, with perhaps a suggestion of sour cherry.

Poured a hazy, amber color with a nice tan head and little lacing. The aroma and flavor had a hint of spices along with a slight hint of raisins. The beer has a medium body, creamy texture, average carbonation, and an abrupt finish. Overall, I liked this beer. I don’t run across it often, but I would drink it again.

This beer is really very good. I was much more impressed with this than the Chimay White. It had a great aroma, sweet, dark fruity, malty, and maybe a bit of yeasty bread, but not overwhelmingly so. It tasted malty and of dark fruits. A very tasty beverage indeed.

Umm a sonny evening in the garden accomplished by a red Chimay, not too bad. The color is hazy amber with a rather large light brownish head. The form is kind a large bobbled so it vanished in a few minutes. The aroma is sweet malty and the taste fills the mouth with distinct malt.

Pours a cloudy, brown-orange color with a small white head. Very sweet, bready aroma with dark fruits. Quite malty, almost cola-like; biting carbonation, great, sweet mouthfeel. Refreshing, caramel finish.

Pours an oak red color with and nice thick off white head. Aroma of roasted malt and brown sugars. Flavors of roasted malts with sweet dark fruits, caramels, spices and with a sweet bitterness and sry finish. Such a warm and pleasant beer.

Originally reviewed 5/16/2009... Let this one (750) warm while trying something else. Corked & caged with a fairly hefty pop of the cork. Into an Ommegang chalice it goes. Pours what can be described as a murky bourbon color. With a little less red it would resemble a dunkel. Almost a full-finger of bleached ginger-colored head, but it goes quickly, leaving slight yeasty wisps in its wake. Sparse, moderate-speed carbonation. A slight Belgian sourness is in the forefront at first, but peelin’ the onion back, but there’s plenty of dried and ripe dark fruits backing this deal up. The usual suspects...dates, plums...even a few prunes in there. A little cinnamon and clove with even a touch of praline sweetness behind it all and some dark muscat notes. This is what a Dubbel should be. Still, light-bodied enough not to scare anyone away. Grain profile is rather hearty, but the taste and body are a little lean...at first. Sure, everything’s in there from the nose but it’s more aromatic and may not deliver the impact as it rolls down the gullet. Grains and light stewy roast (is there Special B in here? New to the whole brewing deal but it seems like that’s the ticket) are full-bodied as mentioned but overall weight class may be a bit lean. Good, but lean. The carbonation drives the spice home nicely with only a slight saltiness. Mental note: Let this one warm quite a bit. Would like just a little more sweetness - it actually seems a bit peppery...but it’s still quite good. Yeast electricity still shines. This one plays lighter than expected - we have the carbonation to thank for that. Deep dark stewiness is countered by spritely carbonation and pepperiness and other spice along with yeast electricity to dance on the palate and enjoy the ride down. Finish is clean for a normally hefty style. I have been meaning to review this for a few days but have had to go back to get more at the store. Y’know why? ’Cause I enjoy drinking it immensely and writing about it gets in the way of its enjoyment. Whaddya think about that? It’s damn good.