Unibroue Quelque Chose

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

Tasted from bottle, cool. What a crazy aroma! Cherries, hint of brett funk and flemish sour, saddle leather, dust and iron. No carbonation to speak of. Warm, it’s fruitier but much boozier tasting. I didn’t love it.

The color was a deep orange/red. There wasn’t really any head when cold. When warm there was a slight head. The aroma was was sweet, spicy, and smelled of cherry. The flavor was spicy, strong cherry, sour and had a slight honey taste. The palate was a little watery. When warm, the beer seemed more carbonated. The finish was just light carbonation.

Poured a sharp deep red. Had no head. The aroma was sour/sweet/tart cherries, with some spice and alcohol. The flavor was sort of medicinal, very sweet, some vanilla, sour/tart cherry. The palate was very thick and syrupy. The finish was warming. I thought this beer was very overrated.

not bad... tastes like cider and cherries... maple syrup hints...very nice light moutfeel. I was expecting a three philosophers, and this is very different.

750. Beer is clear, dark-hued crimson red colored. Head is initailly tiny, off-white, frothy and disappears rapidly.<P> Aroma is tart and fruity. Nose is malty with a light note of toasted grain; Trace of grassy hop; Trace of cellar; Misellaneous heavy note of tart cherry juice drives the aroma.<P> The flavor is heavily syrupy sweet, lightly bitter, lightly acidic with a long, warm, lightly acidic, moderately sweet finish. Totally sticky and cloying without anything to bat clean-up on the palate.<P> The body is full, the texture is syrupy and the carbonation is soft-to-nonexistent.<P> Pour some soda into this and pop an umbrella in it. Maybe you’d have something for the kids.

750. Pours a deep ruby blackish clear still gem of a puddle. No head, no carb, no nose other than overwhelming cherry fruit--big juicy cherry fruit. You pretty much feel like you’re in a Warrant video, maybe the outtakes reel. I can’t really taste much other than cherries, even on the finish. No carb, medium-ish body. Not a lot going on here to make it seem like a beer...if this was a cocktail you wouldn’t really care how they got it to taste the way that it tastes. The fact that this was once upon a time boiled and fermented is really just a curiosity. Maybe I’m just tired and cranky, but I confess to being nonplussed about the fuss over this one.

For this rating I sampled cool, room temp and warm versions of both 2002 and 2006. I’ll start with 2002. Pours dark orange / bronze with no head at all. At room temp the aroma has lush ripe Montmorency cherries that are tart and smooth with light spice. The aroma is similar cold, but much more faint and warm it comes off much richer and smoother. Medium body with no carbonation at all temperature - more crisp cold and smoother warm. At room temp the taste starts with lush cherries with some tartness and sharpness with a bite. The finish has even more of a nice bite to it. Cold it didn’t have the lushness to it and came off with more spice and came off slightly medicinal. Warm there is a pleasant spice that is prevalent over the cherries, but doesn’t completely cover them up. Warm it is not very tart. The finish has some pleasing alcohol warmth not noticed at the other temperatures. Amazing considering the age on this. 2006 differences: The pour was more of a reddish brown with a small light pink head. The aroma had more of a cherry pie filling characteristic on all temps. At room temperature it has light carbonation not present on the 2002 version. Taste was a bit more peppery and drier. Cold was remarkably similar. Warm the 2006 version had more rich cherries and a creaminess not on the 2002 version. Overall they are impressively similar even with four years of age between them. I preferred the 2002 best at room temperature and the 2006 warm - each only by a slight bit though, cold is last on both accounts. Very nice interesting beer that I look forward to sitting down and enjoying without taking pages of notes next time.

This is interesting. Closer to a flemish sour than a fruit beer. Carbonation dies immediately which makes it hard to enjoy.