Here's #4 in Belg-a-Rama #8. As stated before, I was holding back until I could find that one Abbaye des Rocs (as it was once called) chalice I have left around here somewhere. No go. Found the Poperings hommel goblet, but this one remains elusive. Oh, well. Let's just taste it again in another glass and move on.
This one I first had when I first tapped it after it was first released back in July of 2005. Notes follow:
---------------------------------------
Thoroughly opaque appearance, chestnut hue, or is it magenta? Nonetheless, a dark brown, tempered with crimson...and blessed with a fine head, a creamy, tapioca cap, that lasts a bit, then flattens out.
Nose is sweetness and spice...dark fruit and toffee meets anise and clove? Immense character, vast appeal, with hints of the alcoholic content to come...almost brandy-like at times...
Richly fills the mouth, commands every section of the senses, washes the palate, then fades back, for you to take your breath. Sweet and caramel-y, but not for a moment does it cloy. The taste presents itself, lingers, leaves, but the impression is large and vivid. And here's where my powers fail, in that there is something utterly special about this and all the des Rocs brews that sets them apart, and puts them in a rarified class. Partly the yeast, definitely the malt...whichever, and however, it just slip in under my consciousness, pulls up and subverts my psyche..the real world falls away, and I relax, submit and luxuriate in this uncommon ale.
By that I mean, of course, "tastes great"!
I'm barely feeling the 10 % in this 12 ounce glass, until...whoa, there it is...puts the brake in imbibing, but it's for the best, as you want to take your time with it, and enjoy every second you're in it's company.
---------------------------------------------------------
I still like it. No, love it.
No comments:
Post a Comment