Ommegang Gnomegang

Brewed by Brewery Ommegang (Moortgat)
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Cooperstown, New York USA

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip, Tumbler

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Presentation: It was poured from a brown 750ml corked and caged bottle into a tulip glass. The label has a nice description of the beer and it lists the abv at 9.5%. Appearance: The body has a tan/blonde color with a heavy haze and some light brown sediment floating around near the bottom of the glass. On top there is an off white cap of foam that slowly settles and makes some nice slick lacing on the glass. Smell: There is a big classic Belgian yeast character coming to the nose. With it comes fruit, funk and wet hay mixed with some sweet bready malt and solid notes of floral/spicy hops. Taste/Palate: It started with a nice base of sweet bready malt and yeast with a light touch of funk and wet hay. Inside this are some nice fruity notes as well and I get white wine grapes, light unripe peach and mild orange blossom. This is all backed up by a firm floral and spicy hop bitterness that adds a pleasant balance and dryness to the finish. It’s well balanced on the palate and fun to drink. Notes: Overall it is an outstanding Belgian which to me seems to fits somewhere between a Blond and a Triple. Also of note here is the very well hidden 9.5% abv.

Very good, interesting, strange, complex beer. Served at a good temperature with nice cream colored, thick, creamy, foamy head that slowly subsided and a tiny bit of lace. Color is a slightly hazy yellow amber with some bubble trails. Aroma is yeast, apricot, malt, fruit, caramel. Flavor’s like nose, has some dominant sweetness, yet also has some persistant bitterness on the back of the tongue, a little carbonic tang. Body is good; ditto carbonation. Finish is like flavor, fairly long and only a little alcohol warmth. On one hand the beer is almost too sweet, yet on the other it isn’t. A little rich to have another though.

Pours mostly translucent golden amber copper with a decent white head. The aroma brings sweet Belgian style yeast notes, almost apple-like. The flavor of the Belgian style yeasts are delicious, clearly flavors of the La Chouffe yeast bringing the delicious fruity flavors so pleasant on the tongue. Syrupy apple notes are on such a smooth body, not too bubbly at all as you sometimes get, really good!

In short: A spicy, yeasty and fruity strong Belgian blonde ale. Nice beer.
How: Bottle 750ml. A few times. From fresh to 10 months of age
The look: Partly cloudy blond-amber body topped by a small white head
In long: When fresh the spiciness was a bit too much but with some months on it the spiciness is moderate with notes of coriander, ginger and light cloves notes. Aroma also has fruity yeast esters ranging from bananas to apricots. Taste is medium sweet, honeyed hay, bubble gum, sweet apricots, sweet bananas, dough, above mentioned spices, yeast. Alcohol is relatively well hidden. This was a decent beer but because of the spiciness and sweetness it is also a beer that is better on the first glass and becomes less and less pleasant the more you drink it, and after a 750ml bottle I was really happy to move to something else. Removing a point for a somewhat low drinkability. The beer sure have changed since the first time I had it fresh, the excessive spiciness of a fresh bottle has mellowed out but the beer also lost a vivacity and freshness sensation. So even if the beer has changed I didn’t prefer it fresh or with 10 months of age. That’s it, this is my opinion on how this beer has evolved in since its release, you can learn a lot by reading beer ratings, absolutely nothing worth knowing, but learn a lot nonetheless.

In storage since last August, it is finally time to tackle this big 750. Estery, yeasty aroma that comes off as very Belgian. Looks like a golden lager, except with copious amounts of carbonation bursting upwards. Unique flavor - delicate and fruity like a saison, while packing a mean alcohol punch as well. I sensed sweetness predominantly, though there’s a nice bitter and tart contrast. Much easier to drink than most beers of this strength. Far paler than most tripels, it is hard to define. Imperial Pale Ale? Doesn’t sound very Belgian, does it? A good collab, though Moortgat holds the keys to both contributors.

Pours cloudy and hazy light blonde with a little white head. Has that good Belgian aroma. Taste is light and fruity with citrus and mildly sweet

A: Pours an extremely hazy amber color with lots of yeast floaties in the body. I’m impressed with how the carbonation rises up to the top (the detail reminds me of Rochefort 8, which is a very good thing). The head is a two finger eggshell color with nice retention and lacing. S: Very citric. Lots of orange peel, ripe sweetened grapefruit, pear, coriander, a hint of some dark fruits (such as plums and currants), candied sugar, and a little mint. I can’t smell any booze on the nose, which is always a good thing. T: Not that different from the nose. Plenty of candied sugar help keep the citric notes in check, and the coriander/mint/dark fruit/grassy notes give it excellent complexity. Even better, the yeast profile lightens up on the finish, which helps its drinkability a lot. In fact, it’s far more drinkable than its 9.5% ABV might suggest...the only hints of the alcohol come on the warming finish. It’s on the sweeter side, but I have no complaints about its balance. M: Thanks to the yeast, the first sip seems heavy, but it slims down as it leaves the tongue. I really can’t complain about the carbonation being only average - this goes down dangerously easy. O: Great stuff. It does exactly what a BSPA should do - impart incredible drinkability while sneaking up on you with its thick texture and higher alcohol. I’d love for Ommegang/Chouffe to get together again to release another batch of this.

Pours a cloudy orange with a nice head. Aroma of peaches, citrus and yeast. Nice balanced taste with a good palate. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

Draft at Dexters. Pale orange-tan. Thin white head rims the glass. Sweet and sugary, a bitter Tripel, perhaps a Belgian Golden Ale. Full bodied, rather alcohol forward. Still authentic tasting. Maybe similar to Duvel at times. Well crafted, but maybe a little uninventive and straightforward for 2011. OK.

Corked and caged bottle purchased at Siciliano’s in Grand Rapids, MI. Poured a medium sized semi-fizzy white head that mostly diminished. Hazy body, no lacing, fizzy carbonation, and a pale yellow hue. The aroma was malty, some candy sugar, crisp, yeasty, pine and citrus hops, earthy, sweet, and fruity. The flavor was sweet, crisp, malty, semi-hoppy, fruity, and hints of farmhouse. The mouthfeel was tingly and this is a medium bodied beer. Overall, this beer is quaffable, a sipping beer at 9.5%ABV, but was not overly impressed with the end result of this beer from these two breweries.

750ml bottle thanks to bu11zeye. Dull orange pour with a sparse head. Aroma is fruity and estery with some fruitiness and spice. Flavors of golden raisin, sweet grains with a dry finish.