Chimay Bleue (Blue) / Grande Réserve

Brewed By: Bières de Chimay in Chimay in the province of Hainaut, Belgium
Purchased: 11.2oz bottle bought at Binny's in IL; 2011
Style/ABV: Belgian Dark Strong Ale, 9.0%

 

I'm not going to ramble on about the strange categorization and difference between a Belgian Quadruple and a Belgian Dark Strong Ale. At the moment, the BJCP does not have a Quadruple category, but they have a Dark Strong Ale category. Some people say Quadruples are more malty while Belgian Dark Strong Ales are more fruity; others say they are one and the same. I've heard today's beer referred to by both categorizations, but it seems to be more established as a Belgian Dark Strong Ale.

 

According to Chimay, the Blue is a dark Trappist beer with big aromas and complex flavors. They make special note to mention that this beer improves across the years. And, indeed, many people do age this beer. This is wonderful beer that you can throw in your cellar for 10 years and come back to enjoy later in life. This beer was first brewed as a Christmas beer, and has lots of yeast and caramel. I'm excited, so let's dive in. 

 

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This one was a bit of a gusher, with carbonation rising outwards immediately upon opening the bottle. These bottle conditioned beers are tricky, let me tell you. After the initial eruption, the beer's head settled down pretty quick. There were two fingers of brownish head but now all I'm left with is a hazy, murky liquid with some carbonation sticking to the side of the glass. There appears to be a lot of carbonation in this murky, unfiltered beer: and there is lacing and alcohol legs. The beer is a reddish-purple-brown color in low light, and an orange-brown color in bright light. It seems to be slightly more carbonated than the Chimay Red, a little bit darker, and slightly more carbonated.

Chimay Bleue (Blue) / Grande Réserv

I was hit with huge malts and band-aids upon opening the bottle. I'm smelling huge alcoholic plums and figs; spices like nutmeg, clove and pepper; a very medicinal or tea like note; grapes; lots of big boozy malts; unmistakable Belgian yeasts.

This is a huge beer, with a huge mouthfeel, and a lot of carbonation. Very dry on the back end, and almost thinning. I'm tasting boozy plums and grapes, yeasty bread, rum cake, plum cake, huge spiced rum, pepper, clove, port and grape, slight dusting with the dryness, huge boozy malts, and slight bitterness and astringency which compliments the drying wonderfully. There are brown sugar and molasses notes in here as well.

The mouthfeel is huge and the alcohol makes itself known (although it is not too bad for 9.0% ABV). Surprisingly, this thing is still very drinkable. The carbonation helps, and the dry finish helps. You want to keep sipping. I'm definitely warming up drinking this though; this is a real winter warmer. This is very complex, and the palate extends deep. The front is carbonation, dark fruits, earthy-medicinal, and brown sugar/molasses. This rolls into yeasts, more malts, more fruits, spices, and slight bitterness. The bitter rolls into the back end, with spices and dryness.  

Rating: Above-Average

Score: 89%

This is a really fantastic beer. It is one of the better and more commonly available Belgian Dark Strong Ales. This is the perfect beer to drink with some rich and heavy cheeses, or some heavy meats. This would also work great as a standalone, or a winter warmer.

All-in-all: very malty, rich, heavy, and big on the dark fruit, brown sugar, and spices.

I prefer this to the Chimay Red, if I am going for a darker, more malty style Belgian Ale from Chimay.