La Gauloise Ambrée

Brewed by Du Bocq
Style: Belgian Ale
Purnode-Yvoir, Belgium

Aroma: fresh hop and sweet malt. Appearance: orange/amber mildly hazy and a small dissipating offwhite head. Flavour: noticeable hop, sweet malt, hint of alcohol. Palate: medium with lingering bitterness.

(Bottled) Hazy amber color with yeast particles and a large, bubbly, somewhat lacy head. Spices, herbs and a hint of licorice in the mild aroma. Quite bitter-hoppy, toffeeish-malty, slightly roasty and sugary flavor with a peppery finish. Medium-bodied palate with lively carbonation. An easily drinkable and quite pleasant, but rather plain ale. Quite British for a Belgian brew.

Light hop aroma. Cloudy amber colour with good head that dissapersa quickly. Light malt flavour with fruit and hops. Long strong palate.

Anise and toffee notes in the nose with ahint of tea, and peppermint. Some band aid phenols. with acidity at midpalate. Balanced spice and fruit decent beer.

The Lure:
Licorice-laden oranges and alluring malt cookies are almost reminiscent of the great Southampton Grand Cru. Curaçao zest and sweet yeast complete the well-blended perfume.

The Festivities:
Where’d the malt go? Blinding orange zest precipitations on a fluffy emptiness. Yeast imparts bitterness, but that’s about all it does.

Transcendence:
Damn siren songs.

Coriander and licorice dominate sweet malts and cookie dough in the spicy aroma. Hazy orange-tan coloured body with a finger of fine-bubbled, off-white/tan head that recedes to lasting cover with marginal lacing. Orange, lemon and spices play together happily as a diminutive malt sweetness observes. Medium body with fine-bubbled effervescence but it still feels just a bit plain on the tongue. Bottle (Best Before 24/09/05) enjoyed with MartinT and Rastacouere.

Cloudy dark amber. Nice big foamy white head. Well balanced candy sweet aroma where malts and hops don’t try to steal the show from each other. Licorice and coriander hints procures a pleasant spiciness. Considerable fruit esters (melon, mango) complements the maple spread pancakes like yeastiness. On the tongue, it doesn’t quite live up to the aroma. It cuts pretty short and seems to lack some malt to avoid the staling character. At the same time, hops are very dry and makes the sweetness hit a wall rather than fade into a smooth transition. Pleasant enough texture though in the form of an expanding ample mouthfeel.

Bottled. Cloudy amber colour topped with a beautiful big foam. Postcard material this. Litchi aroma, sweet with some acidity, with the balance of prima ballerina. Exceptional drop that I’ve been looking forward to rating. I picked the set of 3 La Gauloise beers up in Brugge recently and this was the stand out.