Chimay Rouge (Red)

Bottle, Alko. Pours cloudy copper color. Beige tall head. Fruity, yeast aroma. complex flavour, raisin and caramel. Smooth.

Bottle at Nord-Ouest Café. Interesting dubbel, light malt aromas some toast with red fruits and yeast. Taste is malty and fruity with some alcohol presence.

Ruby brown with a minimal off-white head. Aroma is strong roasted malt with dark fruit sweetness and alcohol. Flavour is similar with a some bitterness on top of the heavy fruit.

Pours deep chestnut brown, Hazy with a tall beage head. Aroma is very bready and yeasty with notes of Dark fruits. Flavour is very malty, mild notes of fruit and bread. Very nice hoppy finish, and not overly complex, but a real treat to drink. And at 7% I could drink this everyday!

Bottle. Cloudy brown colour. Phenols, medicin, metal, light fruitiness, herbs, some spices, a bit watery. Not a big fan of this one.

330 ml. bottle. Cloudy brown colour, with a head that dissipates too quickly and leaves almost no lace. Smells of dark fruits, caramel, spices. Body is a bit watery, and mouth has again cark fruits, plums, caramel and some spices. It’s a bit of a deception to me when compared to Chimay Blue or White, everything is too soft. I may have to review again when I have another bottle, better the big one.

75cl corked bottle, as shown. Dark, hazy copper colour, very big, soapy off-white head that collapses rather quickly. Bottle-conditioned double. Complex aroma of fruit, aniseed and candy, not unlike a fruity Bavarian Hefeweizen. The complexity is maintained in the taste: very sweet and fruity at first, then sour and spicy, with a strong and lingering candy-like finish. Aftertaste somewhat bitter. The 7 % abv will weigh you down easily, but they’re well integrated into the taste fabric. However, this is a very sweet-ish Belgian double, and if you don’t like that kind of taste, steer clear of Chimay (also of the "Bleue" variety). You should drink this cool IMHO, otherwise the sweetness may become too penetrating. While this is clearly a well-crafted brew, I still favour the more bitterish English ESB equivalent. Still, good beer!

Poured from a 750ml bottle. Deep amber somewhat hazy from the bottle conditioning. Off white head that discipates somewhat quickly. Signature belgian yeast aromas mixed with dark fruits, raisins, plumbs, currants. Very complex and rich taste, maybe a little oxidation. Residual sweetness and alcohol warmth lingers. Body is medium full to full. A very enjoyable drinking experience. The beer is much better when it warms and the flavors really open up. This is truely and exceptional beer.