Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 6.5
Bottle:
A gusher; not much foam left to form a good head. Brown colour. Sweet aroma with notes of dark berries. Surprisingly thin body. Sweet and warming flavour with some notes of dark currants. Overrated IMHO.
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 10 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 8.5
Pale amber, hazy rich head. Banana aroma. Lively and complex. Very flavourful and fruity. Peppery. This is an old favourite I have not sampled for far too long.
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Dark copper-coloured beer. Smells good, nice carbonation. I thought the blue was a little bit better, but the white cant cope with this excellent brune!
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 10 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 9
Re-rating as I recently tried it for the first time in quite awhile, and my palate has developed a bit since then. Also, I was quite mistaken in previously calling it a spicier version of the Red...its a different animal altogether. It is spicy though, along with plenty of malty sweetness, and some interesting smoky and licoricey notes. Aroma is sweet and malty. Poured with an amazing big rocky white head. Strong enough for you to really feel it.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Cloudy light brown (slight amber accent) with bone-coloured head. Aroma of raisin bread (candi sugar), brown sugar, plums, and a little nuttiness. Flavour starts sweet (apple pie, plum, raisin), picks up a bit of demerara accent, then turns more yeasty with a bit of dustiness and astringency late. Alcohol comes in at the end to dry it up.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
When I first had this beer, it was one of the first strong Belgians for me. It blew me away. Over the years, I’ve felt that while it is a complex, tasty beverage, it has been eclipsed. Whether it is me or the beer is debatable - and indeed the topic of the perceived decline of Chimay beers over the past decade is one of the most heated in the world of beer geeks. Well, I finally decided to sit down and give this a proper re-rate. I’ve got a small bottle of 2004 from my local liquor store.
The colour is kind of unusual in that there is a big disparity between the colour - under the light it’s a golden brown but in the glass it’s dark chestnut. The head is very light mocha. The aroma is plummy, slightly bubblegummy with notes of honey, pears, sweet dark malts and a little bit of yeast. Nice. It has a sweet palate with pear, orange, and sultana notes. A strong alcohol presence cuts through dusty yeastiness. Flavour notes are well-fused, save for the obtrusive alcohol.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
Cloudy golden-amber Dusty yeast and ciabatta malts in the nose, tempered by a soft stryian earthiness and light pepper. Dry palate with just a hint of sweetness. Dusty yeast leads, followed by peppery alcohol. Moderate bitterness. Not bad for the style, and a fairly strong earthy hop character. Well-made and cohesive if somewhat short of scintillating.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
Nominally in the tripel style, but so tart as to be quite different than most other tripels I've tried. Aroma was pungent with green apples and fresh bread dough. Copper-tinted yellow, fairly cloudy with suspended yeast, heavily carbonated with large foamy head, and thick heavy lace clinging all the way down the glass. Head remained in bottom of glass. Flavor is initially tart with more green apples, and a yeasty sourdough presence. Finish is quite dry. Like others of its style, this beer works well at a variety of temps. When on the cold side, it has a tart refreshing crispness. I prefer less cool, more at cellar temps, where the light sweetness comes through, balancing the tartness.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 9
This is my original rating corresponding to a 4.8 score and a somewhat naive palate: A nearly flawless beer. One of my favorites of all time. Appropriately cloudy and brownish red. Fruity and spicy aroma. Rich flavor - hints of apple cider and other fruitiness. New rating, despite the warnings that this beer is on the decline it still has very far to go before it declines even into the "merely good" range. A really nice combination of fruitiness with a dash of spicy phenols and a sourdough yeasty finish, very well balanced and even in the mouth. Everything mixes well, nothing stands out, nothing is missing. A bit fizzy. It may not be a true 4.8 but its still one of the worlds great beers.