Goose Island Matilda

Brewed by Goose Island Beer Company
Style: Belgian Ale
Chicago, Illinois USA

12oz bottle - 2007 vintage: Pours a ruby tinged honey with a healthy bright white head. Hot alcohol nose displays some nice honeyed malt along with a dose of pear and peach esthers. Medium bodied body offers sweet honey, bread and caramel wrapped in an esther laden body that brings to mind peaches, pineapple and granny smith sour apples. Finishes tart with more fruit esthers. Good stuff right here - better in the bottle this year than I’ve had on draught before.

Bottle and bottled on 030206. Small semi-fizzy ivory head that mostly diminished with floaties, spotty amounts of lacing, cloudy, fizzy carbonation, and a golden orange hue. Nose was malty, hoppy, sweet, yeasty, and spicy notes. Ditto for the flavor. Tingly mouthfeel and medium in body. I would definitely drink this one again as I liked the flavor, very quaffable and nicely done. I would enjoy the opportunity to have this on tap.

Rich honey colored pour with no lasting head. Pours somewhat hazy. Smell is malty and belgian yeast aromas and some metal. Average unremarkable flavor mostly from the yeast and some simple light maltiness. Really found this one especially tame and bland, even being congested as I was.

Beer tasting sample: Earthy robust nose. Candied apricots/tangerines with some hops. Pours a cloudy light golden yellow, thin filmy head. Thing and lacking in flavor/doesn’t live up to the nose. I get a little grain and dry hops. Palate is thin and not to complex. ::shrug::

Ordered on tap at Matilda’s in CHicago. Goose Island Matilda is a great Belgian style ale. I enjoyed the hopp foundation and unusual flavor similar to an Orval.

Pours a golen tangerine hue with solid creamy white head. Fair amount of lacing after ten minutes. Nose is pepper, bubblegum, and banana. Hops meet up with the sweet esters forming a spicey and floral combination. This went really well with the chinese bar-b-q I was eating. The pairing really brought out the hop bitterness as well as more of the floral elements of the beer. The floral notes remind me of the orange and coriander of a wit, but there’s something more there too... maybe jasmine. Finish is nice and creamy.

On tap at Old Chicago in Green Bay. What a nice surprise and treat! Beautiful cloudy gold, small head. Sweet malty in aroma. Perfect balance of malt, hops and sweetness. A beer to sip and savor. I nursed this one and it maintained its quallity from beginning until end.

I thought the Matilda would have a little better ratings, but I suppose it might not be as good out of a bottle. I had it on tap at the Goose Island Clybourn. Nice aroma, classic for a Belgian with a fruity/bubblegum type smell. This beer poured an orange-copper with a thin head. Nice flavor that was well balanced. Nice malt flavor, but I didn’t detect the "profuse amount of hops", it had a decent amount though. Mild caramel flavor, well done. Their best beer is still the Bourbon County Stout.