Malheur Bière Brut (Reserve)

Brewed by De Landtsheer
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Buggenhout, Belgium

Bottle provided by mmtmatrix. Poured a hazy yellow-gold color with a thick white head. Sweet, yeasty aroma. Slightly sweet, with some decent fruity esters and and a nice, dry, yeasty character and slight funk. Light and crisp. Very different than what I would usually consider a Belgian Strong, but it was pretty pleasant. Thanks to matrix for bring it, because the price tag is a bit to spendy for me.

Well, yeah. Me too. Not much to add after the previous two reviewers weighed in. My bottle was three years old. Pours with a bright golden body and a huge white head, more like a great Belgian strong than a champenois. Nose of yeast and candi sugar and malts; taste of yeast, bread, sugar, pepper and spice. Good mouthfeel. Complex and enjoyable beer but not what i expected from the bottle. More like a great Belgian saison or French biere de garde; not much like a Prestige or Deus.

750ml bottle. Pours Hazy golden yellow. Big fizzy white head. Brut aroma, dry and spicy. Big florals, lots of perfume, some sweetness and little yeast in the nose. Flavor is of a nice bready malt. Hints of citrus, lemon tartness. Very very dry (Brut) finish. Very pleasant and easy to enjoy.

Pours bright gold into a pilsen. Fluffy bright white head fills the glass and top hats the rim. Malt and candi aromas. Crisp with a dry, sweet malt front to back and a peppery finish.

Hazy yellow of color with a white head. A dry aroma with spice and notes of sweets. A flavor of spice, hops and dry.

C&C 750, from the MJRBC, marked as the "Limited 2006 Edition" and "with extra Saaz hops", FWIW. Best before date is 01/01/2008, so I guess it’s appropriate that this is my New Years Eve selection. Clear, bright gold pour, lots of carbonation bubbles, topped by a big off white head that recedes rockily. Looking closer, I can see those are not ALL bubbles, but some are fine flecks of yeast. Sweet nose, light peach or maybe apricot, with a white grape tinge. Flavor is not as sweet as the nose implies, a rather dry, peppery flavor, some tropical fruitiness underneath. Mildly acidic finish, peppery but lightly sweet. Lovely white lace rings. Light, bouncy mouthfeel. Not bad!

750ml bottle from Central Market in Dallas TX. Pours very much like champagne, more than Deus, yellow with a big 3 finger puffy white head. Nose is sweet and yeasty and pretty belgian. Taste is sweet and bubbly on the tongue. Overall not bad for a sparkling champagne beer, less sweet than deus, and fairly balanced.

Popping the cork produced a large POP and a slow eruption of fizzy white lava. Not much loss. Poured into the goblet, it had a very hazy yellow/straw body with a tall, tightly packed head of fizz. The lacing was of the sheet sort, slippery on the glass. The aroma was yeasty and had scents of bananas, lemons, pears, honey, and a mild grassiness. Very spritzy and Champagne like mouthfeel. (This is shaping into another brew that my non-geek friends would say "That’s not a beer" to.) The flavor retains its fruitiness and finally lets one know that there is malt here, pale and sweet. The grassy bitterness appears midway through and lasts into the finish, accompanied buy flavors of juicy pears, mild lemons, and bananas. Dry and slightly acidic in the end. The alcohol remains well hidden until it’s in the bloodstream. Quite nice.

<font size=-4><a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp? Beverage Depot, Chicago (South Loop), IL<font size=-1>