Trader Joes Vintage Ale 2005

Formerly brewed at Unibroue (Sapporo)
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Chambly, Canada

Bottled. Dark brown, clear. Sparkling berryish aroma. Medium sweet and medium bodied with lively, soft mouthfeel and notes of lingonberry. A light yeast character. Feels fresh and intriguingly flavourful. Unibroue-quality...

From a distinctive 750ml. Unibroue brown bottle with a blurb about the ale in back of the bottle, along with a "Best Before" date, 10/13/08, and the statement " This ale will age exceptionally over time." Made a good appearance, poured an opaque Coke Cola dark brown with a semi-sticky pale tan head. At first, had a sweet bubblegum/cola type of aroma, followed by taffy, toffee-ness. Good carbonation, maybe too much, and a slick, smooth, sweet medium bodied mouth feel, good drinkability. At first, had a very sweet bubblegum taste, then a slight cola taste and a light Noble hops bitterness, the malts are very sweet, and a very sweet, dry candied finish, a slight alcohol burn on the tongue, and a lingering bubblegum taste in the palate. An interesting Strong Dark Ale from Trader Joe’s/Unibroue, I have a couple of bottles to age, paid $4.49 a bottle, will try again in 2008.

2005 vintage, consumed Feb 2006. Rich malt dominated ale leads with caramel, rasin and chocolate and finishes with a bready (yeasty) mouth feel and pleasant balancing bitterness. There is a slight phenol and some frutiness but this beer is all about malt. Well done. Will try 2005 again after a few years in the cellar.

Aroma of sweet caramel malts, some prunes, some spice and Unibroue yeast. Dark brown, with a nice lasting tan head. Full flavour of fruit, spice, nice amount of malt, and some sugary sweetness. Finishes a little sweet.

I lucked out and found a few bottles of this up at Eton Collection - 3 bottles didn’t last long thru the holidays though!!!! Deep dark brown; can’t see thru it except a bit at the edges where it’s a bit ruby. Sweet dark fruit aroma, some cocoa, a good amount of roast; licorice (Lisa liked this despite the anise notes). We drank two bottles of this very close to room temp - nice thick smooth palate. Taste was sweet prune with some roast and a great cocoa powder dusting from middle to end. Excelent!

750 ML bottle: Dark brown body w/a lasting light beige head. Plums w/a hint of roastiness in the immediate nose. A bit of toasty malt with peppery and clove yeast and light hints of anise and alcohol. Well balanced, plum fruity, peppery yeast and an additional bit of spicy flavors also from the yeast. Some candy sugar flavors w/ toasty malt and a hint of roastiness with a bit of a semi dry finish and a light hint of root beer aftertaste. Highly carbonated, lighter body, very well hidden alcohol, and smooth m/f. This doesn’t seem exaclty like Trois Pistoles oe even Terrible, but a very, very good dark strong ale brewed for Trader Joes. The best TJ’s beer by far so far!!!

Dried fruits, plums, raisins, dates, sweet roasted malts and candy sugar predominate. Alcohol VERY well hidden, but noticable mainly in the sticky peppery sweet finish.

This beer is incredibly well carbonated, it pours with a frothy four-finger thick, brown tinged tan colored head. It leaves a Belgian lace-like pattern as it slowly settles down into the beer. The beer is a dark, opaque purplish black color. The aroma is quite pronounced and is a mix between dark fruit notes, which dominates, a light spicy character and a hint of dark malt notes. I get aromatic notes of fig, raisins, grape soda, hints of spicy licorice, clove and hints of coffee though only subtly so. The fruity notes definitely dominate the aroma on this beer. The aroma is quite interesting, if perhaps a bit too fruit forward.

The taste is definitely sweet and fruity up front, definitely dominated by it as well. This beer is amazingly light, especially given the alcohol percentage. The notes of grape soda from the aroma are evident, but thankfully note overly so; actually the beer itself only has a light sweetness, which helps to mitigate this flavor. The fruitiness definitely has notes of fig, prunes and raisins as well. There is some spicy character here as well, but it is pretty much dominated by a phenolic clove note, which actually tends to accentuate the fruit character.

I have the same issues with this beer as I do with La Terrible, on top of this though this beer seems to not quite have the same depth of flavor. Like the Terrible, this beer is perhaps a bit too smooth, it certainly is a great hider of the alcohol and makes for an easy drinker, but I would definitely like a bit more richness here. Perhaps some age will help this brew out.