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Bell's Brewing Inc.
Kalamazoo, Michigan
Batch 9000
Style: American Strong Ale
Availability: Limited - One Time Brew
Format: 12oz - 6pk
ABV: 12.0%
Batch: 9000 (duh) packaged January 27th, 2010
Bottle text & Info:
"black, dense and rich, this is a great ale for aging"
Tasting Notes:
So this is one of Bell's most anticipated releases. Ever. Released every 1000 batches, this release never even hit the state this year due to packaging laws that require the ABV be on the label. Bell's sent a lengthy letter saying it was impossible to nail the ABV down and promise it be within the required .02 ABV that is required to be listed on the package. So...big beer karma and heaps of thank you's to a regular who picked this up in Virginia and dropped off a bottle at the store. Now, to the beer. Pours inky black with syrupy thickness. A quarter inch light brown head dissipates into a ring leaving behind spotted lacing floating adrift the top. Intensely complex nose. Chalk full of anise and molasses additions up front with dark fruits, booze, cane sugar, chocolate, lavender and some subtle hopping. Woooooweeeee. This thing is big. So soaked dark fruits including figs and plums with heavy amount of black licorice and bitter anise. This is a bit sweet and boozy. Brandy like heat that mellows as the ale warms. Malts dominate what little hopping has been done in an attempt to balance this. Frankly, the flavors and the complexity is enjoyable, but this should probably be laid up to mature a bit. Simply too cloying at this point. Good in apertif proportions. If you can get your paws on some - put it away and sample one every 6 months or so. A great night capper and an amiable companion to a nice cigar.
Mad River Brewing Co.
Blue Lake, California
Serious Madness Black Ale
Style: American Strong Ale
Availability: Rotating - Seasonal
Format: 12oz - 4pk
ABV: 8.6%
IBUs: 74.7
Bottle text & Info:
Serious Madness is an inky black brew with amber edges, Light bodied, silky smooth, complex and delicious. Not for the meek and timid this beer ferments out at a gratifying 8.6% ABV with an IBU
of 74.7
Tasting Notes:
Pours a brownish black with ruby edges. Small quarter inch head that retains enough to dust the top. Smells of toffee and molasses with a subtle prune note. Mouthfeel is silky smooth and chewy. No perceivable alcohol, and a solid cocoa base with some dark fruits, cherries and berries finishing with a sufficient amount of hops to keep my interest. A pretty solid little black ale that drinks somewhere between a imperial brown and a double porter.
Brouwerj Van Steenberge N.V.
Village of Ertvelde
Municipality of Evergem
Province of East Flanders, Belgium
Gulden Draak Ale
Style: Belgian Strong Dark Ale - Dark Tripel
Availability: Year Round
Format: 330ml, 750ml, 1.5l
ABV: 10.5%
Bottle text & Info:
Gulden Draak is a dark heavy beer with 10.5% alcohol by volume. Gulden Draak, just like Augustijn, is a beer that undergoes secondary fermentation in the bottle or in the keg. Gulden Draak is a beer in a class of its own. It is a beer that is so rich, so glowing, so full of its very own characteristic flavor, that it reminds some who try it of chocolate and others of coffee. The English call this type of beer a Barley Wine. Gulden Draak (Golden Dragon) smells of triumph. It is a definite party beer. It is no wonder that Gulden Draak was crowned best beer in the world by the American Tasting Institute in 1998! This beer won many other awards as well. Did you know that the Gulden Draak is named for the golden statue at the top of the clock tower of Ghent? The statue was originally given to the city of Constantinople (now Istanbul in Turkey) by the Norse king Sigrid Magnusson in 1111, during one of the first crusades; hence of course the form of a Viking ship that the beast was given. Approximately one hundred years later, Boudewijn IX, Count of Flanders, was the Emperor of Constantinople in one of the following crusades. Because he found the statue so beautiful, he simply took it back to Flanders with him. In 1382, the cities of Bruges and Ghent even did battle for this statue. And who do you think won?
Tasting Notes:
Pours brown with a generous off-white head. Clings and slide down the glass. Smells of beet sugar and caramel. Taste like someone dipped a caramel apple into a Westmalle Tripel. Delicious. Very much a triple so don't let the designation of this a Belgian Strong Ale fool you. Very much a dark tripel so expect the esther/yeasty and fruit flavor of a tripel with some added dark fruit and caramel malt notes. Sweet with a tangy finish and the alcohol is super well masked. One of the Belgian greats and an ale that motivates me to get back over seas. I must track down these belgian breweries and abbys! Cellarable up to two year after bottling.
