Three Philosophers

Jen's second beer of the night served from bottle to glass Ommegang goblet. I had always wanted to try this at Binny's but even with the 10% employee discount the four pack was still $14 and the bomber was over $10. Fortunately for Beerbars like this, we had this Beer To Try:

Appearance: Deep ruby brown with a foamy froth head. Some sticky lacing upon the glass. Lots of turbidity and particle matter floating around. Because of this, there wasn't any visible carbonation.

Aroma: Banana, clove and other phenols immediately present upon first whiff. Some fruitiness and spice waft up from the surface of the beer with an accompanying funk that many Belgian beers have. Very mellow dark cherry fruit element and subtle tartness.

Taste: A very typical Belgian taste with a mellow foretaste of dark fruits - plums, cherries, figs - as well as a mild candy sugar under toned sweetness. Following these base flavors emerge highly potent yeast characteristics with end spicing of clove and other Belgian yeast spicings. Somewhat tart and sour. Little malt character within this. The alcohol makes a prominent appearance from the mid to aftertaste, contributing much to the beers overall flavor. The tart funkiness begins midtaste as well and follows the hot 9.8% ABV down the throat. Dark fruit continues to blossom as the dryness of the beer opens up. Finally the remaining flavors within the final flavors are some subtle fruitiness, woodsy spicing and yeastiness. Alcohol is under acknowledges.
Mouthfeel: Medium body and feel. Carbonation is somewhat high from the unpredictable yeast attenuation within the bottle. Alcohol didn't make too much of an impression on the feel aside from drying the tongue out, but that can also simply be a contribution from the yeast.
Overall Impression: Very complex and definitely a beer to sip due to the high ABV. Not sure what the cherries really added that wouldn't have already been there from the yeast. Nevertheless it still was overwhelmingly flavorful on many levels. Worth a 4 pack? eh. But certainly a beer to try.


88/100