First Beer Night of 2010 - 1/6/2010

Eitan: So it was the first beer night of 2010, and it was great. Marina wasn't present so we only got 3 small bottles, very good bottles, of Belgian beers. (We also had one that Stan had in the fridge for a while, but I forgot the name.)

While Browsing at Bierkraft I got two vintage Avery beers, Mephistopheles' Stout and the Beast Grand Cru. I can't wait to try those.

So I am not sure of the order of beers from last night but I think it went something like this:

Brasserie Des Rocs Triple Impériale – I saw this bottle and thought, I’ve never had a beer from that brewery. This was a great choice. It pours a dark brown color, very hazy with a large amount of tan foamy head. It had pretty good head retention. It had a very nice smell of a mixture of sugar and fruits. The taste was very similar, nice fruit mixture, both light and dark fruits, a little bit of malt and caramel flavor and a tiny hint of tartness. Even though it is high in alcohol, it doesn’t really come out in the taste. It had a nice medium body, perfect amount of carbonation. This was a very good triple, I’d go as far as saying that it was one of the best triples that I’ve had recently. It tastes great, very smooth and easy to drink. However, it is about 10% so it is very easy to go overboard.

Gouden Carolus Ambrio – After having a vintage Gouden Carolus a few weeks ago I have started to appreciate these beers more and more on top of how much I’ve already enjoyed them. Brouwerij Het Anker really brews some excellent beers. The Ambrio is a good Belgian strong pale ale. It poured a nice amber color (just like the name Ambrio) with a good amount of light tan head, and with good head retention. This had a big mixture of smells, a combination of apples and some dark fruits, a malty/caramel smell, and heaps of spices. However, it was not overpowering at all. The taste was similar to the smell sweet and fruity, but definitely a bit nutty with spices thrown in. Like the smell, the taste was not overpowering to the senses. It was nice and dry at first but goes down really smooth; it had a medium body and good carbonation. Overall it was a pretty good beer. It wasn’t the best beer ever; nonetheless, it was a really good beer to have. I guess I’d like to have some more Belgian pale ale soon to compare.

Gouden Carolus Noël – So glad we got this beer, by this time of the year Christmas ales are almost gone. In fact, I think this was the last bottle that they had. It pours a nice shade of brown/red with a nice amount of white head. It had good retention, faded slowly and lots of lacing. It smelled like how I would imagine Christmas in Belgium to smell, sweet, fruity, mixture of spices and some bread. I can safely say that if you could taste Christmas then it would taste a lot like this beer. It was slightly sweet/tart from the mixture of fruits, hint of caramel sweetness and topped of this a heap of Christmas spices. It was very crisp and smooth. It had a medium body with light carbonation. This beer was very easy to drink; so be careful, it will catch up to you in a hurry. I hope to try and find one or two more bottles soon. If I can find a 750ml try and keep it for a year before having.