Epic Smoked & Oaked Belgian-Style Ale

Brewed by Epic Brewing Co. (Utah)
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Salt Lake City, Utah USA

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip, Tumbler

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650 ml bottle from bev4less. Release #17 (10.6 abv) Pours a beautiful reddish amber color with a small beige head that quickly fizzes away. The aroma is mild with sweet malts, toffee and ripe plums. The taste is complex with vanilla, dates, plums, peat, brown sugar and toffee. The smoke if any is way in the background. The palate is full and smooth with soft carbonation. Fin ishes long and sweet. Overall: I am a bit disappointed there was not more smoke flavor, that aside the brewer did a masterful job.

Believe it was a 15. It s asmoky one, an interesting style to smoke but someone had to do it.

Bottle - Amber in colour. Smoky and fruity aroma with ash, raisins and caramel detected. Fruity, sweet and smoky taste with caramel, nuts and raisins.

Sample at a tasting at Systembolaget, April 2013. (Release #18) A bit hazy light copper with a white head. Soft aroma of smoke, oak, dried fruit and some toffee. About the same in the taste also some ham and alcohol. On the sweet side. An ok beer.

Mild aroma of bread, probably what I like most. Brown (dark amber) colour with small light yellow cap. Very, very sweet, to sweet for me.... Meanwhile appear smoked and bitter notes.

Dark amber with light, beige head (ba), fair legs / Lean, sweet nose of cider, smoke, salami, caramel, oak / Medium body, lush with some chew, sweet but with fine balance and some bitterness on the finish / Complex flavors of burnt sugar, caramel, peat, apple cider, grape, orange peel, cinnamon, oak / Not picking up any Belgian character, but this is a terrific barleywine.

Drinking release #13 on Easter. Nose: toffee, peat, smoke. Tongue: see above, plus subtle pepper/fruit from the yeast, caramelized sugar, big malt forwardness but not roasty, lingering sweetness. Brain: Easter, hints of resurrected deity, rabbit hair ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

Unappealing appearance. Ugly mid-brown, opaque shade that looked cloudy, even muddy. Smell was an even greater put-off. The drinking buddy pulled it off the tip of my tongue when he said it smelled like meat. I didn’t get meat in the smell, but I certainly do in the flavor - cured, sweet meat. Indeed, the flavor is not too far from Rogue’s Voodoo Donut, in certain ways. The Belgian yeast certainly maintains a difference in flavor, but it ends up providing the factor of sweetness that brought the voodoo to mind (which contained maple). In my opinion, it’s not smoky enough. The smoked aspect seemed to be what came through as a bit of salt, and even more-so meat. Which I wouldn’t choose as a flavor in any sort of beverage, save maybe bacon bloody marys. The oak was lacking as well, being completely overwhelmed by yeast and malt, and, if anything, contributing to the carnivorous off-flavors. I was pretty excited about this - I tend to favor both smoked and oaked beers of various styles, but the Belgian sweetness and the weak oakysmokiness didn’t pair well at all. This must have gone bad... (?)

22. Pours a cloudy dark amber with a loose whitish head. Pleasant bacony nose showing some caramel and vanilla. Creamy medium body with very soft carb. Bacon, caramel, vanilla on the mid palate. I dunno if this is still too cold, but it’s tasting a little closed out. Really likable and approachable and well made. Just surprising there isn’t more going on.

Very nice - could use a bit more body, but a minor quibble. Smoke is soft and not really bamberg like ,but it envelops the vanilla and dark fruits of the base beer, presenting a nice little package.