Unibroue Quelque Chose

Brewed by Unibroue (Sapporo)
Style: Fruit Beer
Chambly, Canada

Big Bottle
Deep reddish color with very little head. A deep cherry aroma and flavor. This had a musky taste that only a strong beer like this can carry. Tart, sour and clean this was a good desert beer.

Date: May 05, 2003
Mode: Bottle Conditioned, 500ml
Source: Ziggy’s, Chattanooga
Words: cold
Appearance: a quiet piff upon remoqing the cork, pours clear red like cherry juice, one or two bubbles once popped leaving it headless
Aroma: sour cherry aroma
Flavor: nice clean strong cherry flavor with a slightly tart finish

Date: January 09, 2004
Score: iii to iiii
Words: hot
Aroma: cherry and nutmeg aroma, hint of sweetness
Flavor: rich cherry flavor, just the right amount of sweetness, no sourness or tartness

Aroma: 5/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 8/10; Palate: 5/10; Overall: 17/20
Rating: 3.6/5.0
Score: ***4

The score was calculated based upon the notes and an old scoring system.

Pours ruby red-brown. Smells deep and rich and sweet-cherries. Sweet cherry flavor, very tart, slightly burnt-like clove or cinnamon and spice. Cherry flavor is strong, but its enjoyable just to sip. Warm, alcohol is there. It doesn’t seem too over fruited, the fruit is more mellowed than most fruit beers.

Appearance: A vigorous pour produces no head whatsoever. Deep garnet in colour, slightly cloudy. Smell: A bit of citrus, some sweet cherry. Mild cinnamon and allspice notes. Taste: Sweet cherry at the beginning, Christmasy spices start to come through in the middle. Hints of plum. Slightly tart, but mainly just sweet. Mouthfeel: Thin and syrupy, with minimal carbonation. Drinkability: Oh, it’s definitely drinkable. Beautifully balanced clean flavour, but a nagging question remains: where’s the malt? This is definitely pushing the boundaries of what I would consider to be a beer. It’s delicious, but the taste is so centered on the fruit that it’s more like a wine than an ale.

The 750ML Bottle poured a clear ruby red beverage with virtually no head whatsoever so there was also no lacing. The aroma was fairly straightforward ... cherry juice, it smelled like cherry juice, nothing more. The body was medium light with no carbonation at all and a slight syrupy texture. The flavor starts out sweet and remains that way through the finish which is moderately long. There is a bit of dryness that develops making the finish not too sweet.

Bottled, 2002. Cold. Cherries in aroma, lots of spices (clove, cinnamon and some more). Fruity and quite alcoholic flavour, bit overwhelming, again lots of spices. Cloying finish. Not nearly as good as I had expected, I didn’t even feel like finishing the whole bottle. Perhaps this one is better when heated.

I picked this one up for $8 at Chips in Outer Banks, NC, and Chip advised me to drink this one warm and on the rocks. I see why. When cool, the flavors seem more subdued. Interesting amber burgundy red pour with what looks like 0 carbonation (as I was told). The sweet cherry burst is mellowed by some tart cinnamon-like sourness. The most interesting aspect here is the finish which is where I find that the complexity lies with a dry soury backdrop that balances the sugary sweetness which rides on in. The cherries seem a bit too ripe though. This seems like an excellent beer to get wine fans into craft beer. Rerate: I got 2 bottles from a case split with the NEPA case split club and Chip was right. Keep it warm and drink it on the rocks: I get a spicy cinnamon-like cherry flavor that kicks my previous rating a notch up, granted I’m a sucker for fruit ales.

Served at room temperature: 70 degrees F. Red copper with no head. Over-ripe cherry aroma. Cherry soda taste with some spiciness. My wife really liked this one.