Brewed By: Unibroue (Sapporo) in Chambly, Canada
Purchased: 750ml (1 pint, 9.4 fl oz) bottle bought at Binny's in IL; 2014 (Vintage 2013)
Style/ABV: Belgian Dark Strong Ale, 10.0%
Reported IBUs: 35
I debated between tonight's beer and the bottle of Two Brothers Fathom that I have sitting in my fridge. I really want to give Two Brothers a crack at redemption, and the Fathom is exactly that. But I'm kind of in a Belgian mood...and oak...mmm, mmmm, mmmm. About Unibroue:
The bottle is as descriptive at the website. The front says "Aged with French Oak / Bottle Refermented Ale / Dark Ale on Lees / Ale Brewed with Spices, Aged with French Oak, and with Natural Flavors added." The back of my bottle says: "Best before 02-28-2018."
The 17 pours out into a raisin-purple color in low light, kicking up three-plus fingers of fluffy head. This beer is exceptionally Belgian in appearance, from the bottle to the beer. Bright light kills vampires and betrays this beer, revealing a swampy, orange-brown body with golden tones on the edges. It's very much like your typical Belgian Dark Strong/Abbey Dubbel -- mysterious in low light, and ugly under the spotlight. You could float a bottle cap in the foam that is sustaining forever on the beer, and there are nice broad strokes of lacing. There's a lot of carbonation going up in here, and that's without any nucleation points in my glass. Hooray for Belgian beer.
I went with an over-sized snifter/tulip for this one, only because of the oak. To me, oak ~ snifter. I was never good at math though. WOW. The aroma here is overwhelmingly phenolic, with huge earthy leather, leathery cocoa, and leathery chocolate. The powdery cocoa you get on the nose flirts with an almost Fantôme-esque aroma that I have come to describe as "smokers jacket." I've also heard old bike seat, but who the hell sniffs old bike seats (ironically enough, I have one about 3 feet away from me...hmmm). Beneath the cocoa and spicy phenols are some seriously deep dark fruits. I'm getting stone fruits, cherries, plums, and figs...the spice on the aroma is somewhere in the realm of cinnamon or nutmeg. Try as I might -- and I'm being totally honest here -- I'm not getting any oak on the aroma. That's okay though, this smells really impressive otherwise. WHAT I AM getting on the aroma, especially when I pull my nose away from the beer a bit and just smell it casually, is some really nice vanilla and vanilla/caramel sugars. Is nice.
Before I rattle off boring descriptions about how great this tastes, I just want to tip my fedora to Unibroue. Even though this is a big beer at 10%, it really fills its body in a substantial way. This is a BIG beer. I'm reminded of the always fantastic Rochefort 10, which has a milkshake mouthfeel (seriously...Steak and Shake doesn't have anything on Rochefort). This isn't quite the experience that the Rocherfort 10 is...but not many beers are. I'm getting a lot of stone fruits and spices in here, with cinnamon, nutmeg, cocoa, big candied dark fruits, aggressive and peppery phenols, and big pastry notes. This veers into the land of fruitcake and angel wings/chruściki/faworki. Damn, that's some personal nostalgia. My grandma and grandpa used to serve those angle wing pastries whenever I would visit, and they were my favorite. There are nice layers of oak and vanilla in this beer as well, with some hints of cocoa. This is just...fantastically layered stuff. As I continue to sip on this, I'm pulling out some Quad-like notes of cherry, banana, and other overripe fruits. This is seriously fantastic.
When I review beer, I get a little selfish. Especially when I'm drinking a bomber or a big 750ml bottle. I like to allocate half the bottle for my review notes, and the other half to pair with food. I'm enjoying this beer so much I'm going through the whole damn bottle as I type this out. This is just an impressive display of brewing, and really captures the essence of what I'm looking for in a big Belgian Ale. This is rustic, raw, phenolic, fruity, funky, sweet (there's some big candy sugar notes), and there's even some hop bitterness for good measure. The Dark Strong Ale is one of my favorite styles of beer, and this is nicely executed. As noted earlier, this is full-bodied and big, but still quite drinkable thanks to lots of carbonation. You get a little booze in the finish, and some big warming as you drink this, but the alcohol is integrated into the beer nicely. This is seductive. Palate depth and duration are off the charts, with each sip lasting up to a minute with lingering flavors just hanging out. And this is very complex...notes range from cocoa to dark fruits to vanilla to leather to pastries. Up front: dark fruits, stone fruits, cinnamon, nutmeg; the mids roll into more phenolic spice, with some leather and dusty cocoa, Belgian funk, bitter hops; the back end has growing bitter hops, with vanilla, complex sugars, caramel, pastries, fruit cake, and an endless tunnel of flavor...man this just goes on forever...you eventually reach some boozy warming, and the beer kisses you with spiced cake and spiced rum. This almost has that Winter Warmer vibe, and I promise you this is better than any Christmas pastry at your Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner.
Unibroue is a brewery out of Chambly that specializes in Belgian beers. The brewery was founded in 1990 by André Dion and Serge Racine. The duo invested in the failing brewery, La Brasserie Massawippi, and became majority shareholders. In 1991, they finalized the takeover of La Brasserie Massawippi, and completely merged with their company, Unibroue, in 1992. Dion became the President and CEO, and Racine becamse the board of directors. In 1992, the brewery released their first beer, Blanche de Chambly, and decided to specialize in Belgian brews. In 1993, the brewery moved to their cutting-edge microbrewery in Chambly, Quebec, and by 1994 the brewery was exporting beer to the U.S. and Europe. In 1991, Brewmaster Paul Arnott joined the company; trained in traditional, monastic Belgian brewing, he helped release new beers including the Éphémère series of beers.
In 2004, the Sleeman Brewery purchased Unibroue, and in 2006, Japan's oldest commercial brewer, Sapporo International, purchased Sleeman. Since then, Unibroue has been regarded as a global treasure, as they export their beer everywhere. They produce some of the best, high-quality beer in the world. These guys are one of my favorite breweries, and it's always a treat to drink their beer.The Unibroue Grande Réserve 17 is some classy shit, even by Unibroue standards. This beer was first brewed in 2007 to celebrate the brewery's 17th anniversary. Due to the beer's popularity, the brewery decided to make this an annual release in limited quantities. This French Oak aged strong ale is described as having big malty notes, with mocha and cocoa accents, oak on the finish, and some nice spice and vanilla undertones.
The bottle is as descriptive at the website. The front says "Aged with French Oak / Bottle Refermented Ale / Dark Ale on Lees / Ale Brewed with Spices, Aged with French Oak, and with Natural Flavors added." The back of my bottle says: "Best before 02-28-2018."
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| Unibroue Grande Réserve 17 |
The 17 pours out into a raisin-purple color in low light, kicking up three-plus fingers of fluffy head. This beer is exceptionally Belgian in appearance, from the bottle to the beer. Bright light kills vampires and betrays this beer, revealing a swampy, orange-brown body with golden tones on the edges. It's very much like your typical Belgian Dark Strong/Abbey Dubbel -- mysterious in low light, and ugly under the spotlight. You could float a bottle cap in the foam that is sustaining forever on the beer, and there are nice broad strokes of lacing. There's a lot of carbonation going up in here, and that's without any nucleation points in my glass. Hooray for Belgian beer.
I went with an over-sized snifter/tulip for this one, only because of the oak. To me, oak ~ snifter. I was never good at math though. WOW. The aroma here is overwhelmingly phenolic, with huge earthy leather, leathery cocoa, and leathery chocolate. The powdery cocoa you get on the nose flirts with an almost Fantôme-esque aroma that I have come to describe as "smokers jacket." I've also heard old bike seat, but who the hell sniffs old bike seats (ironically enough, I have one about 3 feet away from me...hmmm). Beneath the cocoa and spicy phenols are some seriously deep dark fruits. I'm getting stone fruits, cherries, plums, and figs...the spice on the aroma is somewhere in the realm of cinnamon or nutmeg. Try as I might -- and I'm being totally honest here -- I'm not getting any oak on the aroma. That's okay though, this smells really impressive otherwise. WHAT I AM getting on the aroma, especially when I pull my nose away from the beer a bit and just smell it casually, is some really nice vanilla and vanilla/caramel sugars. Is nice.
Before I rattle off boring descriptions about how great this tastes, I just want to tip my fedora to Unibroue. Even though this is a big beer at 10%, it really fills its body in a substantial way. This is a BIG beer. I'm reminded of the always fantastic Rochefort 10, which has a milkshake mouthfeel (seriously...Steak and Shake doesn't have anything on Rochefort). This isn't quite the experience that the Rocherfort 10 is...but not many beers are. I'm getting a lot of stone fruits and spices in here, with cinnamon, nutmeg, cocoa, big candied dark fruits, aggressive and peppery phenols, and big pastry notes. This veers into the land of fruitcake and angel wings/chruściki/faworki. Damn, that's some personal nostalgia. My grandma and grandpa used to serve those angle wing pastries whenever I would visit, and they were my favorite. There are nice layers of oak and vanilla in this beer as well, with some hints of cocoa. This is just...fantastically layered stuff. As I continue to sip on this, I'm pulling out some Quad-like notes of cherry, banana, and other overripe fruits. This is seriously fantastic.
When I review beer, I get a little selfish. Especially when I'm drinking a bomber or a big 750ml bottle. I like to allocate half the bottle for my review notes, and the other half to pair with food. I'm enjoying this beer so much I'm going through the whole damn bottle as I type this out. This is just an impressive display of brewing, and really captures the essence of what I'm looking for in a big Belgian Ale. This is rustic, raw, phenolic, fruity, funky, sweet (there's some big candy sugar notes), and there's even some hop bitterness for good measure. The Dark Strong Ale is one of my favorite styles of beer, and this is nicely executed. As noted earlier, this is full-bodied and big, but still quite drinkable thanks to lots of carbonation. You get a little booze in the finish, and some big warming as you drink this, but the alcohol is integrated into the beer nicely. This is seductive. Palate depth and duration are off the charts, with each sip lasting up to a minute with lingering flavors just hanging out. And this is very complex...notes range from cocoa to dark fruits to vanilla to leather to pastries. Up front: dark fruits, stone fruits, cinnamon, nutmeg; the mids roll into more phenolic spice, with some leather and dusty cocoa, Belgian funk, bitter hops; the back end has growing bitter hops, with vanilla, complex sugars, caramel, pastries, fruit cake, and an endless tunnel of flavor...man this just goes on forever...you eventually reach some boozy warming, and the beer kisses you with spiced cake and spiced rum. This almost has that Winter Warmer vibe, and I promise you this is better than any Christmas pastry at your Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner.
Rating: Divine Brew (4.5/5.0 Untappd)
This is world class...but it's not top class. I'll toss this a Light Divine Brew, with the disclaimer that you need to check this out if you are a fan of Quads, Dark Strongs, or Belgian Ales. There's so much good stuff going on here...and this really highlights all the good things that Unibroue does. Like...this beer is Unibroue at their best. And that's high praise for a brewery cranking out top-notch gems like La Fin Du Monde and the Trois Pistoles. You could argue that this is a little fruity/phenolic one-dimensional, but that's a dick move. Like I said earlier, not every beer can be Rochefort 10. What pushes this beer over the edge for me is that rustic cocoa/leather thing, and the subtle pastry notes. This is a beer to pair with food: cold cuts, strong cheeses, European pastries, turkey, ham, Christmas/Thanksgiving dinner, etc. It's almost a shame that I popped this today, but at $10 a bottle you really should not pass this up.
Random Thought: So yeah, today was hot and humid like Florida. I think it hit 90 outside, with 94% humidity. And then it thunder-stormed. It's thundering outside right now. Tonight's beer is not a good pairing for this hot weather, but I think I will pick up a second bottle for this upcoming winter. And again, I promise that I will get to the Two Brothers Fathom. But there really is no pressure...the Fathom is a fantastic beer.
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