Unibroue 16

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

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip, Tumbler

Bottle Pours a deep copper color with a small white head. Aroma of yeast, caramel, cloves, raisins and light fruitiness. Flavor of sweet caramel, brown sugar, earty notes and soft spices with a light bitterness in the finish

0.75L caged corked bottle popped open with an assertive burst and poured out clear copper with an orange-ish hue. The head had some volume to it and the tan colored foam dissipated in a couple of minutes to pretty much nothing. The aroma seems fruity up front with cantaloupe and sweet sugary apples. There’s also some spiciness, candi sugar and hints of yeasty funk. With a deep draw I seem to be smelling freshly cut wood products. Hmm. The taste is very much like the aroma and punctuated by a vibrant level of carbonation. There is a sturdy level of fruitiness coming from cantaloupe, sweet apples and sugar coated apricots. Then hints of spiciness are noticed along with sweet candi sugar. As the beer warmed a yeasty and slightly funky flavor grew in intensity. Very enjoyable product.

Deep golden/brownish beer, thick pillowy head. Spicy aroma, apricot/melon and toasted malt base. Aroma of ginger, apple, pear, coriander/cardamom. There is also a fairly dank, leafy quality in this brew as well. The spiciness is good with a light peachy quality. Fairly alcoholic as well. A hint of coppery metallic character as well. Light tartness and a bit of wheaty character. It’s not terrible, but it is the weakest of these Unibroue anniversary beers that I’ve had.

Hazy almost coppery color. Abundant white head. Very distinctly belgian aroma... sweet and slightly spicy. Somewhat alcoholic, but very malty. like i said, distinctly belgian, but very tasty.

Hazy orange with a nice white head. Musty-sweet aroma with spice. Big taste. Alcoholic and malty, with a sherry overtone. Raisins, fruit, and syrupy sugar in the back. Long finish. Nice.

Hmph. Not exactly to my liking. Rather sweet, cloying with a huge raisiny present, a milder spicy note. Dark purplish color, foaming head.

Caged and corked, this poured a big ruddy orange, that really only looks orange in the light, otherwise it looks light brown. Solid Belgian head. Nice alcohol-laced brown sugary aroma. Quite the oomph kick in the flavor ... strong, strong alcoholy burst, raisin, cognac, sherry, cloying, deep. Wow. Not for the faint of heart. (#2976, 6/12/2007)

750 ml bottle from Métro Joannette, Verdun QC (May 2007) served at cellar temperature from a Maudite glass. A giant soft mountain of a head, light tan-white and fine-bubbled, slowly receding above the translucent caramel-gold body and leaving scattershot lacing....the nose offers loads of vanilla and spices, reminiscent at first whiff of the 2004 though softer and more bakery-like rather than an herbalist’s shop....later the house yeast comes through, tart and farmy and a little sour.....on tasting, one first notices the intense sweetness combined with a lightness, very tripel-like in many ways but with more caramel, slightly "darker", with some port/sherry tones and a hint of fruitwood bark and smokiness....dries out and gains some bitterness and burnt qualities at the finish, which is long and yeasty...carbonation low to moderate, mouthfeel is fairly thick, a bit stickly, slightly fatiguing. I’m not sure that this is up there with Unibroue’s best after one sample, but it certainly is a vast improvement over everything they’ve put out new in the last couple of years. There’s hope yet.