La Binchoise Brune Tradition

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

My bottle says 7.7% Needless to say the reviews match up for the most part. Pretty one dimensional dubbel. Only discernable nose really is lemon and soap. Taste is medium to thin with some piney soap. Some lavender and a touch of coriander. Drinks easily and alcohol is completely hidden. Bit of tobbacco and the back of the mouth. Starts me salivationg quickly. The best belgian beer to pair with a wide variety of food that I have come across. I can see this with sausages, or pork cutlet with gravy, or poutine, even savoury desserts. A bit of hazelnnut shows up as it warms. The redeeming factor about the one dimensional character of this beer is its simplicity, which lends itself to food pairing.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 7

A hazy reddish brown bodied ale. The head is robust and frothy. It’s retention is good, eventually settling into some soapy lacing. The smell of esters and coriander predominates. The body is medium with a good complement of carbonation. Little alcohol in the flavoring. The taste is of toasted malt and coffee. Really a good drink

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 8

Bottle: Poured a hazy deep brown color ale with a large foamy head with good retention and some lacing. Aroma consists in light candi sugar notes with a light fruity ester and a nice Belgian malt backbone. Taste has a nice mix between a caramel malt backbone with some light candi sugar notes and some fruity yeast ester. Full body with great carbonation and no alcohol was detected. Very well done for the style and very refreshing.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

April 2007 Bottle Date; Sampled April 2008
A careful pour into my 25cl tulip glass produces an initially three-finger thick, lightly browned, tan colored head. The beer is a deep, plum color and shows a brilliantly clear, cranberry hue when held up to the light. It is incredibly well carbonated, the body being a seething mass of bubbles. The aroma is quite fruit with lots of berry notes. A deeper inspection of the nose yields a deep spiciness that really accents the sweet fruit notes; seems to be a mix of orange peel and coriander, both of which dominate the aroma.

Quite dry tasting, with a brown malt driven finish of toasted grain and lightly-roasted coffee beans. The spices contribute a lot to the profile of each sip, but more in an aromatic way through the throat and up to the nasal passages. Earthy, slightly herbal coriander notes and a kiss of orange zest compete with the brown malt character. Quite light feeling on the palate, the zippy carbonation certainly helps with this. The finish takes on a peppery note that mixes with a touch of young-ginger character and even a cardamom like note. A dry, raisin fruit flavor is noticeable just before the coriander flavors drown it out. This is fairly light, and in line with what I like to find in Belgian-styled beers of this strength; it does have a slight heft to it though, but not enough to keep this from being fairly drinkable.

This can be a little bit vegetal at times & the aroma is a bit one dimensional in its spice notes, but it is a fairly tasty brew. While light enough to be drinkable, the spice notes seem to get in the way. I like the toasted, browned, whole-grain bread crust flavor that is here.

Purchased: Plaza Liquors, Tucson AZ

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Bottled. Deep ruby red colour, small beige head. Aroma is roasted malts, some ginger and other spices, fruits and yeast. Flavour is very much the same along with coffee and mild sugaryness. All the roasted/toasted notes are gone once the beer warms up a bit from being fridge cold. I liked it more when cold.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 6

Im capturing notes of New shoes, instant coffee, prunes, and pepper. Its a very very dark, thick brown color with a sticky head.... Mouthfeel is smooth and easy going. Sorta dry, a muted sweetness, even a little plain I thought. Altogether its mellow, very balanced and relaxing

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 10 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 9

a blan essence. nice big tan, spongy looking lather head. poured a lavish brown with some sediment. at first theres not a lot of flavor. let it sit for 45 minutes and get to room temp, the flavors come out! theres a very nature like flavor, pine, fresh cut grass and sap. notes of cinnamon, nutmeg. one of the best brown ales i have had. ::thanks AA::

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 8

Very dark brown with a hint of ruby at the edges, but it is faint. This is a very dark beer. The head is a very light brown color. The aroma is herbal with some medicinal quality. There is a little bit of apples and oranges under the medicine. The taste is light apples and some strong herbs like basil and roasemary. There are also some prunes and a little bit of tangerines. There is coffee, but it is faint and in the background.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 8

The aroma is sweet and malty with hints of dark fruit with some hints of spice. The appearance is very dark but a dark amber color that is cloudy and creamy when held to the light and is earthy-like as well with a nice, creamy head that sits on top that is tan and remains. The mouthfeel is very full and robust and full of robust malt balance that has good complexity as well. The flavor is creamy-like and sweet with strong hints of spices and dark fruit with maybe some coriander or cinnamon with a nice aftertaste that coats the pallet nicely with slight bitter and very smooth. Overall, I like this one a lot and the spice character is pleasing and the creamy body is also good. I even detect some cherry in the aftertaste as well. Bottomline, this was a great beer and very smooth with no alcohol detectable; I will definitely pick some of this up again.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Bottle. Opaque dark brown colour with lasting tan head. Aroma is toasted malts, dark fruit, liquorice. Nice rich and spicey balanced taste; malty, slightly sweet and with tobacco in the finish. Good stuff.