N’Ice Chouffe

Brewed by Brasserie d’Achouffe (Moortgat)
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Achouffe, Belgium

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip, Tumbler

(Bottle). Small off-white head, mostly diminishing, fair lacing. Light brown body. Honey sweet aroma with hints of bread, complex yet subtle and pleasing. Moderated sweetness as well as acidic flavor at first. Light curacao bitterness toward the end of average duration. Very pleasing flavors. Medium high body, lively carbonation, very low alcoholic final (very interesting). A very well balanced masterpiece! Sampled at MartinT’s place with other RateBeerians for the "Montreal’s Voyager Par Les Papilles’ first tasting session".

Bottle: some yeasty sourness, very fruity, malty, some weak cherry and berries like notes, some dark fruits notes, some weak chocolaty notes, mild but persistent hoppiness all the way through, some caramel sweetness, full bodied, alcoholic bite but a nice one, a good example of a typical belgian ale.

UPDATED: DEC 17, 2005 Bottle: Red brownish colour with a creamy minor shortlasting head. Taste of fruit and spiced. Well balanced, but a very alcoholic finish. Draft: much better beer than the bottled one, much more aroma and taste

Bottled 75cl. It pours a dark ruby beer with a dense, slightly beige head of a rather big size. The nose is of malt, alcohol, oranges, plums, raisins, rosemary, brown sugar and thyme. Lots of yeast showing up. The taste is very sweet malty, syrupy with lots of melon, toffee and yeast. Extremely smooth and nicely spicy with oranges and banana appearing which are accompanied by chocolate and molasses. Highly drinkable despite its strength. Caramel, alcohol, licorice and a lot of yeast in the finish. Definately quite a lot of thyme in there.

UPDATED: APR 16, 2011 Tap. Dark brown body with a creamy, tan head. Fair lacings. Nose of roasted malt, dark fruit, plums, caramel and notes of yeast. Sweet malt flavour with caramel, sweet chocolate, riped dark fruit, spices and yeast. Full bodied. Oily texture. A little malt bitterness at the end. Very enjoyable.

Bouteille 750ml. De couleur brune-rouge et voilée. Nez malté de sucre brun, moyen de caramel aux notes terreuses et léger de pain, de levures fruitées (raisins, moyen de prunes), léger d’épices (muscade, léger de coriandre, notes de clou de girofle et de cannelle), d’alcool et de houblon herbeux. Moyenne-ronde en bouche avec un pétillement moyen-fort et une texture plutôt crémeuse. Goût de levures fruitées (raisins sucrés et aux notes vineuses, moyen de prunes, léger de cerises, traces de poires, de bananes, de pommes rouges et d’agrumes) accompagné d’un moyen goût épicé (cannelle, coriandre, léger de muscade, notes de clou de girofle) lors de l’entrée en bouche auquel se rajoute un goût malté de sucre brun, de caramel légèrement rôti et aux notes terreuses ainsi qu’un léger goût de pain ainsi que des traces de chocolat et de sucre bonbon. Parallèlement, l’on retrouve un moyen goût d’alcool doux et réchauffant jusqu’en finale où l’on retrouve également une moyenne amertume provenant de levures épicées (poivre) et de houblon herbeux. Post-goût long-moyen et aux notes sèches, moyennement amer de houblon herbeux, de levures fruitées (moût de raisins et de cerises aux notes aigres, notes de zest d’agrumes), d’alcool moyen-doux avec des notes de rôti.

Bottle (750ml). Shared with blankboy, GregClow and tupalev - blankboy’s bottle. Poured cloudy deep red-brown with a solid creamy rocky beige head. Lovely aroma of nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice and brown sugar/caramel roast malt, yeasty, mild alcohol - it smells like winter, wished there were an open hearth nearby. Flavour is spicy, the malt is sweeter, more candyish (hint of candy cane), still a little roasty, slightly chalky, with some herbal notes, citrus zest and alcohol emerge as it opens up and add a welcome pleasant hint of bitterness to the warm malt linger and finish. Mouthfeel is lively, sweet, sticky and creamy - I love these seasonal belgian strong ales, my ears turn red and I get a big goofy grin on my face.

We’ve kept this one especially for Christmas ! Sweet and spicy taste. Citrus aroma with Thym aftertaste. Reminds me childhood candies !!!