Ommegang - Abbey Ale

Tonights review is from a brewery out of Cooperstown, New York.  Sound familiar?  If you are a baseball fan you may already be aware that this town is home to the baseball Hall of Fame and known as the birthplace of baseball.  Luckily for us, the town is also home to one of the most prominent American breweries focused on crafting the best Belgian brews this side of the pond.

Brewery Ommegang was established back in 1997 at the location of a former hop farm.  The brewery itself was built from the ground up as a traditional farmhouse structure.  They wanted to ensure everything they did while producing their beer was authentic and traditionally Belgian.  Today they boast a year-round line up of five award winning beers along with a handful of seasonal and specialty brews that can be enjoyed throughout the year. The first beer they released, and what I would imagine is their flagship beer, is the beer I'm drinking tonight, Abbey Ale.

A dubbel style Belgian, Abbey Ale comes in a 750ml corked champaign bottle.  The label already has me excited describing this bottles contents as a "rich, fruity, and aromatic, burgundian brew".  There are also pouring instructions on one side and a brief history lesson on the other.  Ommegang wants to ensure you have the best experience possible when you open one of their hand crafted beers.

This dubbel is a slightly cloudy, deep caramel amber.  The foam is a similar caramelized brown.  My first thought when this filled my glass was "beautiful".  A little cheesy, I know, but if you take the time to enjoy the entire process of drinking a craft beer you may think the same with this one.  A complex bouquet of aromas are immediately present as I dip my nose past the rim of the glass.  Toasted caramel, spice, dark fruits, plum, licorice... very pleasant.  The flavors are more of the same with some brown sugar, alcohol warmth and cinnamon added into the already complex, yet enjoyable flavor profile.  The carbonation is higher than average to help dry out the bold, malty body of this 8.5% ABV brew.

Overall - This is great.  If you have been reading my posts for a while you will know I'm a big fan of Belgian brews, and this Abbey Ale satiates my craving.  Brewery Ommegang makes it cost effective for me to enjoy an authentic version of Belgian style beers year round.  Luckily they distribute most of their line up out to MN.  Ill certainly be looking up their other products during my next trip to the beer shop!

New Belgium - Abbey Belgian Style Ale

Today I'll be drinking New Belgium's Abbey Belgian.  Abbey is a belgian dubbel that has won plenty of awards over the years.  It's brewed with an 'authentic' belgian yeast strain, bottle-conditioned, and registers 7% on the alcohichter scale.  New Belgium includes some recommended food pairings for this beer on their website.

The beer is a dark, translucent mahogany with a frothy tan head.  The lace sticks to the glass nicely.  Aromas rise out of the glass in waves - banana and honeycrisp apples first come to mind.  There is also some caramel malts in there and some alcohol in the background.  The taste takes a turn away from the fruits, and features a toasty, bready flavor up front.  Then come spicy cloves and a little woody, cedar flavor.  Towards the end, the bananas sneak back in for a brief moment, and then disappear just as quickly, leaving a relatively dry finish.  The body is lighter than I expected, and carbonation is on the heavy side. 

Overall Rating:  (3.6 out of 6.0)  This beer brought some nice flavors to the table.  But the body was too light, almost watery, so that detracted from the experience.  If you like Belgian Dubbels, this is a nice, inexpensive US interpretation, take it or leave it!

Eel River Brewing Climax Noel Belgian Imperial Red

I picked up this 22 oz bottle randomly about a week ago - it's a Belgian Imperial Red Ale that caught my eye.  The bottle notes that Eel River is America's 1st certified organic brewery.  I wonder what that means?  The barley and hops used are grown naturally without pesticides??  Makes no difference to me as long as the beer tastes good!

I'm pouring the beer into my new ale goblet - it pours a hazy amber with a mega-blast of head that holds very strong, and with sticky lacing at each level of the glass.  The nose is extremely fruity with cherries, along with spices....I can definitely smell the belgian yeast in there.

First drink took me by surprise - there is a wave of bitter dark fruits that hit me immediately - raisins and cherries and sour grapes.  There is also some malty sweetness alongside the fruity sweetness.  No hops are present at all, there is a slightly grassy flavor that may be hop-related, but sweetness reigns supreme.  After the sweet-train, there is a strange metallic flavor that is pretty unpleasant - a 'tin can' flavor.  The texture of the beer is deceiving...it looks heavy and thick, but in reality this beer is relatively thin-bodied and watery. 

Overall Rating (2.5 out of 6.0):  I'm not sure if Eel River intended this beer to be an Imperial Red ale, or a Belgian Dubbel.  I definitely felt it was more of a dubbel, and not a very good one.  It was thin and watered-down, and that metallic flavor singed my tongue.  I just wasn't a big fan of this beer.