Max Abbey

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 4 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 6

Beautiful brownish, amber pour, thin head. Moderate dark fruit aroma. Flavors were similar, dark fruits, candied sugar, some cloves and the obvious yeastiness. The big knock was that it was undercarbonated, to put it kindly (it was flat). Still, not bad and avoids the pitfalls of many american attempts (candied sugar bombs). Worth trying.

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

Color is a beautiful dark honey-golden, cloudy and opaque, with a decent white head. Aroma is strong, malty, with fruity undertones. Flavor is rich, mainly malty with a touch of apple, and just a whisper of hoppy bitterness. Velvety smooth and mouth-filling, this is a beer to sip and appreciate.

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 8

Rerate 11/2/03: Much better this time. Apparently when I got what was basically the last glass in the keg last time, it had in fact gone bad and wasn't just a bad beer. The color is the same, a heavily cloudy dull medium-dark brown. The head is a nice, wet capuccino foam that fades completely, but slowly. The aroma is nice. A little tiny bit of spice (just enough to let you know they really did use trappist yeast) a bit of melon, a fairly complex set of ester aromas and a good bit of malt. You notice the candi sugar, but it's not overpowering like it is in some beers of the style. The flavor is nicely malty and the alcohol is nicely covered. You notice the strength when you're done, but you don't notice it when you're tasting it. My only qualm is that it's too mellow. Perhaps it could have been fermented at a little higher temp to increase the yeasty flavors. Still, brewing such a large beer and getting it so balanced and covering the alcohol so well says a lot for the quality of this beer. The mouthfeel was rich and silky. Too bad they serve it in an American pint glass and way too cold. This beer deserves better. 1/20/03: The body is cloudy tanned leather. The aroma is sweet malt and light yeast spiciness. The flavor is tea and a slight belgian yeast spiciness. Seemed really flat which probably affected the flavor, but I'm not sure if this is a problem with the brewing or if the beer had just gone flat from being tapped too long. I'll rate it again because the brewpub is pretty good.