Ommegang Rare Vos

Brewed by Brewery Ommegang (Moortgat)
Style: Belgian Ale
Cooperstown, New York USA

Hazy orange color with an ok head. Aroma is fruity with banana and citrus. Flavor is lacking a slight hop bitterness with a sweet fruit taste.

750 ml bottle from Bevmo. Pours a murky unfiltered copper-orange color with a small white head. The head recedes to 1/8 inch and leaves plenty of lacing in the glass as it goes. The aroma has notes of soap, cloves and musty yeast. The flavor is light with some citrus, more cloves and sweet malts. The mouthfeel is a bit thin up front but fills out to a full effect by conclusion. The finish is short with a lingering sweetness. Overall: This is a quite light and sessionable ale, and to that extent I recommend it.

Pours an effervescent, clear copper orange with a rocky off-white head that has great retention and leaves globs of lacing. Very yeasty aroma of banana, clove and other spices. The flavour is spicy and yeasty with plenty of malt sweetness, citrus fruit and bready malts. The finish is spicy and dry with good duration that leaves hints of citrus and spice. Nice medium effervescent body that has a creamy mouthfeel.

Spicy and slightly cidered yeast aroma. Cloudy light orange color with a medium white head. Strong yeast taste in the beginning that mellows slowly in the finish. Light palate with a little silky body.

Corked 750ml bottle. Pours an amazing ligh reddish brown with a brown head. The initial taste is yeast, followed by a subdued dark fruit and citrus flavors. Some spices and a fairly dry finish. Really an enjoyable beer. As good as most Belgian brews.

I’m not a big fan of the Belgian genre anyways but I wanted to give this a try. This looks, pours and smells like most of the other Belgians that I’ve tried. Very vinous, sweet taste almost like a nice wine. Not as good as the Chimay Blue, but this is actually better than a lot of Belgian styles that I’ve tried.

Corked bottle, courtesy of Jacob (Hildigöltur)
Hazy light amber color, not much head. Spicy aroma, with a Belgian character (from the yeast). Dry mouthfeel, medium-thin, with a sharp spicy malt flavor; in the end there is even a light alcohol feeling, and a light trace of rotten apples. Nothing special.

THOUGHTS: Very Belgian. I don’t think Ommegang can make a bad beer. Sort of like a Belgian ale and a Flemish sour had a baby. A really nice beer. Flavor dropped off a little at the end, but still really nice. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a hazy, light to medium orange with a small, slightly off-white head that mostly diminished. The aroma was moderate yeast, white wine spices, light fruits and candy sweetness. The initial flavor was lightly sweet, moderately acidic and sour, while the finish was moderately sweet, lightly acidic and sour with an average duration. The flavor was mostly spices and yeast with some white wine, orange and sour grapes. The medium body was dry with very fizzy carbonation and a lightly astringent finish.