Les Trois Mousquetaires Cardinal de Richelieu

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

Bottle: Poured a golden color lager with a big foamy head with good retention and some minimal lacing. Aroma if s dominated by sugar with light phenol notes. Taste is also dominated by some sugar and sweet malt notes with light alcohol notes. Full body with great carbonation but overall this one is just too sweet for my taste buds.

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

750ml corked bottle: Departs a glowing deep gold lager with a 2 finger sticky cap fair retention good lacing. Aromas from Germanic heaven: deep bready malitness fills the room, woody herbal hop notes and a wee bit of alcohol. The great aroma does not transfer to the flavor profile..yes there are the ample malts and noble hops needed for a big German lager unfortunately it is not enough to cover the alcohol very well....and there is an annoying sweetness that does not belong in a well made Heller bock. Develops some decent woodsy-earthy-bready complexity and the finish is clean with a noble hop bite...just that the sweet-boozy tastes are always there riding on top of the profile, over powering these big fresh lager tastes. Too bad... this is a promising heller bock...just a tad thin and not enough body and bulk to cover the omni-present boozy taste...almost comes off like those cheap adjunct euro malt liquors. Perhaps less sugar, some more malts and toasted wheat will take care of this in a future brewing?