Chimay Rouge (Red) / Première

Brewed by Chimay
Style: Abbey Dubbel
Baileux, Belgium

Serve in Trappist glass

33 cl bottle. Pours orangy brown with a thick, frothy, off-white head. Spicy and fruity aroma. Flavor is quite spicy, fruity notes with citrus like acidity, and slight bitternss towards the finish. Palate is light/medium, effervescent, with lingering spice, a hint of sweetness, and light bitterness.

0.33 l bottle. It pours a hazy reddish brown/amber, a superb beige coloured head on its top (which remains like whipped cream). Its nose is banana/dried fruity and spicy. The tasteing begins with a sweetness, mouthfeel’s creamy and the flavour is fruity. The middle is of caramell malt, the usual belgian yeast with some hints of citrus hops. In the finish the moutfeel’s becoming thiner and it ends citric, spicy and dry. The body is medium, texture’s light sticky. A pretty good and pleasant belgian stuff, which is good drinkable at all.

Pours a amber brown with a thin tan head, decent lacing. Aroma consists of spices, earthyness, yeast, citrus and raisin/plum. Taste is sweet with a warm finish, medium mouthfeel and very smooth.

Lovely dark copper with a tan head. Great apricot, yeast and spice aromas. Taste again notes the apricots, the bready hints and just a fantastic palate and texture. If this is the bronze medal of Chimay beers, I am most eagerly awaiting the Silver and Gold! A wonderful brew.

750 in to a chalice pours a deep copper with a light haze and an off white chunky head. The mild aroma is both earthy and a little bit sweet and fruity. The taste is again mildly sweet, balanced with clean bitter hops and a little yeasty sour. The fairly high carb creates a lingering head but without a lot of lacing, and also some truly satisfying belches. More strikingly, it creates a mouthfeel that is similar to champagne bubbles dancing across your tongue that enhances an underlying and (I hate to say) delightful pepperiness. This is a sentimental favorite. Chimay Red is the beer that convinced me that there really is more out there and had to be my first rating. I don’t know if there will be many more ratings, but there will be many more beers. Thanks to all of the hardworking monks at Scourmont Abbey!

From bottle pours a cloudy coppper brown. Mild aroma of spice, Thick frothy head, disapates fairly quickly. Taste of dried fruit and apricot, sweet. Oily texture and lively carbonation. Pretty good, i like it allot more than Chimay blue

When aging beer, there is always a little bit of Russian roulette involved. While there are certain standards and guidelines to assist one on their path of building a beer cellar, risk is always an enjoyable factor; the mystery and challenge of aging a beer to its peak of supping perfection. The reward is beyond words and the thrill is one of life’s best. Chimay is a premier Trappist brewery in Belgium, offering 3 sublime beers to the unworthy masses. First and foremost is their Premier, or “Red”, as it is sometimes referred to. Chimay themselves recommend enjoy Premier as fresh as possible; within a year, so it was a delightful surprise when popping the cork on my bottle at home to discover I was about to indulge on a vintage 2007 bottle. Glory days are here again.

Hazy ruby and blood-orange depths fill my glass thick and full. A bit hazier than usual, an attribute I would pin on her age. A gentle khaki head settles slowly into a puffy layer of foam which makes way for a succulent nose of sweet honey-glazed dessert breads soaked in rum and brandy. Plums, black grapes, red pears, red licorice, red apples, and ripe apricots bring a cornucopia of tropical and succulent fall fruits to life. Cinnamon sticks sprinkle spice unto her fruity bouquet while candied fruits and apple juice mingle atop moist rye bread and fruitcake. Her nose lacks a crisp bite but more than makes up for it in softness which has melded together in exquisite ripeness. Sufficiently impressed with her nose, those hazy luscious depths are calling my name; naturally I answer. Sweet, bready, rummy, fruity, spiced, and just darn tasty. Slightly mouthcoating, honey and maple esters stick to my lips and sides of cheeks while I bite into red apples, pears, plums, black grapes, and apricots, their skins bursting with a crunch, juices trailing down the sides of my mouth. Smackerific. Cinnamon sticks and rum soaked rye breads mingle together in each meaty quaff while the middle of her palate slowly dries mine. Not overly dry; just enough to induce my thirst and encourage further quaffing indulgence. Dry wood tickles the back of my throat while cinnamon, rum, and brandy spice my breath and warm my chest. Melting in her boozy warmth are all her juicy meaty fruity delights. Exquisitely rich, sweet, fruity, warm, and ending with a dry spiced flourish; I must say I enjoy her with some age a bit more than fresh, though for a totally different set of reasons.

Chimay never fails to please and sometimes even surprise. While I wouldn’t age the Premier as long as I would their Grand Reserve, by all means bring home a few bottles. Enjoy one fresh, but then save the others for later supping in whatever randomly timed intervals you so please.

Around $9 / 25.4 oz champaign bottle - I’m trying to show some love for the Belgians and intentionally trying more from this style. Yeah, it is pretty good! I’m not going to rate it over the top, but has some nice features and a clean finish. I would not re-buy at the same price, but a solid offering.