Unibroue Édition 2004

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

Our first impression was the aroma - bubblegum - fresh Bazooka coated in powdered sugar. Passed it around for the non-beer drinkers to smell too. After the voluminous head died down, the aromas became much more fruit and spice. The golden sparkling body was extremely soft, smooth, and bright. Sweet juicy summer fruits - melons, grapes, peaches, apricot, etc. followed by various spices. I’ve picked up a few bottles so that I can rerate, retaste and just plain enjoy this again.

Big bottle that I picked up in Montreal a while back. Underneath the signature unibroue bouquet, there is a great musty - earthly aroma that I love in the best belgian and belgian style beers. White lasting head atop an orange body. Rich and hot to taste, notes of caramel and vanilla.

from the bottle and a duvel tulip glass: gold and copper body, lively, orange highlight, cloudy big white tight and sparkly head half rocky half airy champagne bubbly delicious... one of those fine celebration brews would make something very nice at a wedding

Cloudy body, medium head. Strong floral aroma, literally smells like a boquet of flowers. Sweet, flowery malt flavor with notes of lemon, sugar, orange and pineapple. Spicy, sweet finish. To its credit, it finishes softly for such a big brew. Not an overly daring brew from Unibroue and the floral sweetness is somewhat overpowering, but well above average standards, even for Unibroue.

Why oh why do I continue to punish myself by purchasing Unibroue brews...its like they keep using the same yeast strain time and again and I continue to find their brews to be middle of the road, time and again. This beer pours an orange color with a massively thick but quickly dissipating white foam head which left a good degree of lacing on my glass. The aroma, as always, was banana, clove and citrus with grapefruit and yeastiness poking through and a hint of alcohol. I could literally have TOLD you what this would smell like before i opened it! The flavors are still VERY raw at the moment. The banana tastes very raw, although there are slight hints of vanilla sweetness in the finish. This beer is obscenely carbonated with spicy peppers and lemon notes in the finish. I mean this beer was really frickin dry in the finish and well overcarbonated. It definitely needs to age a ton before I’d try it again. I’ll throw one in the cellar just because TAR will get pissed off if I rate one more Unibroue beer poorly without aging it!

Pours deep orange with nice white head. Spicy citrus aroma, maybe a little wheat. Warming and spicy taste... quite peppery with raisin mixed in. I’ll have to get a few extra for the cellar so I can see how it ages.

HUGE spice aroma and flavor. Almost overpowering, but still very enjoyable. The ABV is dangerously well masked, so this slides down smooth. I will definitely have to lay a few of these up for the holiday season, it will warm you right up on a chilly winter night.

Big off-white head from the pour. Settles slowly to a thin foam. Low carbonation. Rich buttery aroma with apricots, yeast, coriander and a hint of wheat. Color is a cloudy orange amber. Flavor is young. Crisp and biting. Needs to age for a while. Good alcohol kick with a silky mouthfeel. Some butterscotch, spices and a touch of fruit. Finish is creamy and warming with a slight bitter aftertaste. An ok belgian but could use a year or two of aging. Thanks to radiomgb for this one.

Second time from a 2 year old bottle. Light carbonation for a Unibroue beer. More fruit notes present and plenty of pepper and spices. Still pretty sharp fruity and very spicy. Has not tamed down very much the past 2 years. Decent bitterness and alcohol kick. Has not improved that much with aging. Rating stays the same.