The Bar Towel

Had this beer on tap last night at the Bent Elbow in Kitchener.

Medium carbonation, dark cherry in colour.

It was sweet, with toffee and raisins in the mouthfeel. Followed by a slight flat maltiness that muted the sweet flavour.

Overall, its a touch sweeter than I would prefer and isn't as smooth from start to finish as I would like.

I was going to buy a few of these, but now I may only grab one and let it age for a while to see what happens in a year or so.

Agreed, found the high abv was too apparent, masking the flavours. Glad I only bought two, and will stash the other to see if it improves.

Had on tap at Beerbistro, quite underwhelming. Is it just me, or do most of the Unibroue beers essentially taste the same?

midlife crisis wrote: Is it just me, or do most of the Unibroue beers essentially taste the same?

I definitely think they all have a common thread (owing, I'm guessing, to the same house yeast being used in most of their brews), but IMO it's that common flavour that makes their beers so great!

Interestingly, I actually found La Resolution to be one of the most different Unibroue offerings, due to a strong ginger & caramel presence. Definitely reminds me of a Christmas or even Halloween/Pumpkin beer. And I quite liked it for what it was.

given the new search format on LCBO.com, how do I find out where this beer is listed?

kafercrazy wrote:given the new search format on LCBO.com, how do I find out where this beer is listed?

http://foodanddrink.ca/lcbo-ear/jsp/Pro ... anguage=EN

I totally agree with ECBS. I found this to be a refreshingly different, spicy and somewhat "less Unibroue-y" beer from Unibroue.

There is a common profile to many of their beers, which I thoroughly enjoy. For some, that profile seems to not work for them.

Yeah, I did have it immediately after another, more hop-forward beer - maybe I didn't do it justice. Will have to re-try. But if they had told me it was Maudite I wouldn't have argued at all.

The reason fresh yeasty UB beers often taste similar is fresh unibroue beers are yeasty. The grain bill and other additions may vary a lot, though so that comes out over time.

Uni encourages aging most of their belgian ales.

Craig wrote:

kafercrazy wrote:given the new search format on LCBO.com, how do I find out where this beer is listed?

http://foodanddrink.ca/lcbo-ear/jsp/Pro ... anguage=EN

thanks.

I've been a huge fan of unibroue since around 1996... And I have to give them some credit for getting me into good beer.

I think I noticed a bit of a change around 2008, when their brews seemed to have a bit more yeast character. I wasn't sure if it was the new brewer, or new ownership (bigger batch sizes that got a bit warmer during fermentation?), but they seemed spicier. Particularly the 17 when it first came out... It seemed much spicier than their previous BSDAs.

I agree La resolution is a bit hot, and the spicing is a bit different. Now I wonder if it's actually the spices they add, rather than just the yeast character that makes them so similar.

I gave my wife a blind tasting of La Resolution, a recent local release, and my homebrew. She got the local right, but thought the Unibroue was mine because the flavours seemed fresh and poorly integrated, whereas mine was more well-rounded (which she thought must be the Unibroue).

Derek I just noticed the Maß Bierstein in your avatar, I saw the exact one the other day at a thrift store. Those are cool! (Well the beer tends to get warm but anyway...)

And I too give Uni a lot of credit for 'the introduction'. We're talking 1990's when Ontario was kind of a wasteland.

That was the Hofbräuhaus Urbock they served vom fass, during the 2006 Starkbierfest. I was certainly surprised to see 1L pours of doppelbock, but this one was only 7.2%.

People were sitting outside a few places in March (so the beer wasn't too warm), but it was more common at the cafes where they often had blankets on the chairs for the customers. The Germans love the outdoors... If it was sunny, there was always people sitting outside.

Yeah, if you're familiar with the Unibroue house character/ yeast character you can pick it out anywhere. I'm in the camp that definitely doesn't dig it fresh. However, it drops put, or at least smooths out and integrates better with a year or two in the cellar. IMO nothing, and I mean no other beers, age as well as most Unibroue between one and three years.

boney wrote:Yeah, if you're familiar with the Unibroue house character/ yeast character you can pick it out anywhere. I'm in the camp that definitely doesn't dig it fresh. However, it drops put, or at least smooths out and integrates better with a year or two in the cellar. IMO nothing, and I mean no other beers, age as well as most Unibroue between one and three years.

Very interesting. I hadn't put that together before as such, but you're right -- the few times I've cellared a large bottle of Maudite or Fin Du Monde or Trois Pistoles I have really enjoyed it. Doesn't say much for my ability to enjoy their beers on tap, but this is good advice that I think I will try to follow.