Ommegang Abbey Ale

Tasted at Tim's after eating some of our yummy leftover pizza!

Appearance: Thick tan head on pour, measures about 2 and half inches. After sitting here for 5 min, it dissipated to only one inch. Color is a mix of ruby red and brown, and pretty clear as far as I can tell, but the darkness of this beer leaves little transparency without the assistance of light.
Aroma: Phenolic fruity aroma most likely originating from the Belgian yeast strain. Alcohol and fruity esters remind me more so of a barley wine. Even some caramel and perhaps even licorice add their own character to the overall complex aroma of this ale
Taste: At the start of the taste, the palate is overwhelmed by the dark fruit taste thanks to the Belgian yeast. Mid taste, this beer introduces a kind of mapled, woody flavor that complements the dark fruit taste. It finishes with a dry alcoholic aftertaste that sits at the back of the tongue and throat. Some toasted lignin and other wood/nutty characters arise amongst the dark fruit and malted flavors.
Mouthfeel: Medium body with a spike of carbonation at the beginning that slowly settles down. There is a hint of booziness that accompanies the flavors. I mean this beer is 8.5% and it shows in the aftertaste and warms your throat.
Overall Impression: Neither Tim or I have had many Belgian style ales, so we both figured it would be good to start with a brewery like Ommegang which is known for their Belgians. This is definitely a style that I would like to have more knowledge on. I think that the maple flavor we tasted complemented the phenolic flavors produced by the Belgian yeast very well. Definitely a beer I would like to try again later down the road to see if I could pick out more flavors.


Jen: 89/100
Tim: 85/100