Coarse-tongued Belgian-styled ale allows acrid oak-aged cherry waft and unripe white grape mouthfeel to glower tart candy sweetness. Blanched orange rind bittering and terse pineapple squint reach oats-toasted backend of inconspicuous 10% alcohol-doused dessert. Upon 2011 re-tasting, detected improved cherry-pureed orange bruise, funkier Belgian yeast peppering, and thicker malt liquor-like alcohol blast. Ripe peach, cantaloupe, melon, and banana illusions stretch across buttery caramel malting (with a hint of cornmeal in backend).
- Author: John Fortunato
- Brewery: DICK'S BREW. CO., CENTRALIA, WA.
- Category: Beers A-Z
- Comments: None
- Author: John Fortunato
- Brewery: HUYGHE BREWERY, MELLE/ GHENT, BELGIUM
- Category: Beers A-Z
- Comments: None
Made at a family brewery, pale-toned foamy-headed strong ale retains better malted hop depth and fruitier esters than its cousin, Karibik Ale. Plus, it’s fuller, more distinct, and more enjoyable. Perfect balance between sweet wine sugaring and rich malt graining achieved, settling into luxurious nutmeg-spiced fruitcake finish. Tertiary cherry, pineapple, peach and pear undertones contrast peppery ginger snap. Lingered ethanol astringency brings alcoholic whir.
- Author: John Fortunato
- Brewery: GOOSE ISLAND BEER CO., CHICAGO, IL.
- Category: Beers A-Z
- Comments: None
Engaging 7% alcohol Belgian-styled winter ’05 offering opens with beautiful floral-over-marmalade sweetness aided by doughy ‘rare yeast’ souring, apple cinnamon bun sensation and ethanol Reisling-wined esters. Herbal mint-y freshness, clove-chamomile suggestion, earthen barnyard underside and mild oaken cherry acridity provide tertiary splendor to emerging peach-honeyed cantaloupe-banana-pear fruiting of complex winter seasonal.
- Author: John Fortunato
- Brewery: MOLSON BREW. CO., MONTREAL, CANADA
- Category: Beers A-Z
- Comments: None
Doesn’t Unibroue brew these nowadays? Anyhow. Drenched in whiskey malt, delicately smooth-bodied Belgian-styled pale ale caresses yeast-infested honeyed wheat sweetness with peated wood burnt overtones, banana-vanilla variance, and bread crust grove. Peculiar soda-like effervescence quite different from most mountain water-based Molson beers.
- Author: John Fortunato
- Brewery: BROUWERIJ T'IJ, AMSTERDAM, HOLLAND
- Category: Beers A-Z
- Comments: None
- Author: John Fortunato
- Brewery: UNIBROUE, CHAMBLY, QUEBEC, CANADA
- Category: Beers A-Z
- Comments: None
- Author: John Fortunato
- Brewery: UNIBROUE, CHAMBLY, QUEBEC, CANADA
- Category: Beers A-Z
- Comments: None
Deservedly celebrating fifteenth anniversary, pearly meringue-headed golden-hazed Belgian-styled strong pale ale works in stages. Initial banana-ripened butterscotch-toffee conflux brakes for dry lemony hop simmer, bringing green apple and curacao orange tartness along for the ride. Mint-tinged white pepper spicing then reinforces clove-coriander sweetness ’til creamy candi-sugared vanilla finish encapsulates airy citric indulgence.
- Author: John Fortunato
- Brewery: UNIBROUE, CHAMBLY, QUEBEC, CANADA
- Category: Beers A-Z
- Comments: None
- Author: John Fortunato
- Brewery: AVERY BREW. CO., BOULDER, CO.
- Category: Beers A-Z
- Comments: None
- Author: John Fortunato
- Brewery: ESPECIALIDADES CERVECERAS, MONTERREY, MEXICO
- Category: Beers A-Z
- Comments: None
Unique limited edition double-fermented Belgian-styled artisan pale ale from Mexico brings coarsened butterscotch-chocolate malt tryst to soured orange-cherry-prune rendezvous and dank leathery barnyard skulk, settling on alcoholic barleywine constraint lingering through musty corked grape skin dryness.
- Author: John Fortunato
- Brewery: CELIS BREW. CO., AUSTIN, TX.
- Category: Beers A-Z
- Comments: None
- Author: John Fortunato
- Brewery: DOGFISH HEAD BREWERY, MILTON, DE.
- Category: Beers A-Z
- Comments: None
Coppery turbid Belgian-styled strong pale ale rushes crystallized ginger initiation across mouthwash-y eucalyptus-spearmint follow-up, allowing honeyed yeast sinew to embellish sour candy center and delicate peach caress. Sullen banana-pear-green apple combo invades oaken earthy mustiness as white pepper, black currant, and floral notes speckle flatly carbonated dried-fruit moldiness to citric-hop embittered finish almost sabotaged by oncoming astringency.





