Ommegang Three Philosophers

Brewed by Brewery Ommegang (Moortgat)
Style: Abt/Quadrupel
Cooperstown, New York USA

750mL bottle. Pours dark brown with a fluffy tan head. Aroma is sweet and fruity with just a little hint of spice (clove?). Taste is full of molasses and crisp apples followed by a warming alcohol bite. The 9.8 ABV catches up with you by the end of the bottle, leaving you nice and warm. Good, but not great.

Golden brown pour with modest tan head. Sweet aroma and flavor, too sweet to me. And the palate was quite syrupy and thick with minimal effervescence. I had high hopes for this beer but was fairly unimpressed.

This pours a nice tan head with medium lace and a pleasant chestnut brown. In a tulip glass the initial aroma of toffee. But once you drink it, it’s all boringly and repetitively molasses. The carbonation is acceptable for its style. But - so disappointingly - it just lacks the complexity of a real Belgian. Too one note. I won’t repurchase, especially since it’s only $1 less than a real Belgian ale.

Hah! This was the second beer that I recorded actual ratings although I didn’t enter it in that order. I’m sure I haven’t had this beer in several years. This was a 2009 bottle, and I have since discovered an 06 bottle in my cellar. Now I am looking forward to popping that cork some day soon. This beer pours a deep reddish brown with a big, thick head and lots of sweet caramel notes, with raisins and dates that give way in the mouth to a cherry and sour finish. This one gets to move to the head of the line and it gets a regular place in the cellar.

Pours and opaque medium brown with a frothy head made up of large, light brown bubbles. The aroma is fairly fruity and malty with a hint of vermouth. The flavor is very malty and a bit sweet. However, there are enough other flavors thrown in to cut some of the sweetness. The beer is easy to drink and leaves a pleasant flavor in your mouth.

(Draught at BA’s BBF’09) Poured deep dark brown with medium sized and tan coloured head. Aroma of alcohol, malts and chocolate. Full bodied palate with medium carbonation. Tasted of malts, chocolate, sweetness, molasses, lightly bitterness and tiny amount of hops. Strongly malty aftertaste.

12 oz bottle. A generous off white head sits on top of this red mahogany gem. Nose of dark cherries, toffee, and other sweet malts swimming around. Distinct raisin and cherry flavors, darker malts come out as it warms. The finish is sweet and dry with the alcohol more apparent at the back of the throat. More fizzy than I expected, almost a sweet champagne feel. A few things could be balanced better in this one but overall very enjoyable.

12 oz bottle. Pours dark red brown with an off-white head. Aroma is sweet dark fruit, caramel, apple, nuts, and cloves. Maybe a touch of soy sauce. Flavor is led by raisin with a strong molasses flavor, apple, nuts, and caramel. Finishes just like maple sugar candy. I like it, but something just seems a little too much out of balance, maybe a little too richly sweet. Still rather enjoyable.