Midnight Sun La Mâitresse du Moine

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

First, thanks goes out to Brian for landing me this one. Just a long, wonderful, gift of a beer that I was happy to sip for what seemed a few hours. The beer pours out a deep cherrywood body with a fat 2" creamy beige head. A rich chocolate aroma, caramel, dried plums, a touch of wine, rum soaked raisins and brown sugar. Flavor shared many of the same characteristics of the aroma. Chocolate, brown sugar, mocha, rich toffee, sweet berries and a suprisingly spicy finish. Just a really nice beer to enjoy for as long as possible.

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

Bottle: Poured a deep pitch-brown color ale with a large off-white foamy head with good retention and some lacing. Aroma of light dry fruit with a spicy yeast and some light alcohol ester showing. Taste is quite charming with good notes of dry fruits and some spicy yeast leading way to some warm alcohol. Body is fuller then average with good carbonation. I thought a bit too much alcohol was showing and the yeast strain that was used was somewhat too spicy.

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

Bottled August 2007; Sampled January 2008
Quite well carbonated, a very careful pour produces a fat, five finger thick, light brown colored head that grows above the top of my tulip glass. The beer is quite dark, with an opaque, deeply burnt brown color that shows some clear, ruby hued highlights around the edges when held up to the lightly. Earthy, concentrated notes of dark fruit is the most evident part of the aroma; aromas of roasted, slightly burnt raisins is definitely noticeable. Quite spicy as well with notes of white pepper, substantial clove, some allspice, touches of mace and a woody, slightly savory note similar to a cross between sarsaparilla, birch and a touch of cinnamon bark. Quite aromatic, one of those beers whose aroma jumps out of the glass. This seems like quite a decadent tipple based on the aroma. Even 5 minutes later I still have four fingers of head on this brew, that is why I love tulip glasses as I can still easily get a sip of the brew under all this foam. This does leave quite a few patches of sticky foam on the sides of my glass as I slowly work my way through the beer.

Sweet tasting and quite redolent of dark fruit; raisin puree, prunes, dried figs and perhaps a touch of dried cherry and dried cranberry. The beer finishes with a cola like spiciness as well as a dusty, browned malt note, notes of cocoa powder and a touch of hop bitterness. While fairly sweet the beer is actually some what light feeling, at least it is light feeling for a beer of this strength and sweetness as this is most definitely a sipping brew. It is thick enough that the slightly excessive carbonation is barely noticed. The carbonation does add a peppery, carbonic bit to this brew though. There is quite a bit of dark malt character here; from toasty grain notes, to touches of chocolate, a dusting of roast coffee, lots of brown sugar notes and darkly caramelized, sweet malt. The beer has a touch of tartness to it in the finish that seems a product of both the dark grain and some yeast by products.

As the beer warms up a bit and loses more of the carbonation, it actually seems to get a bit lighter on the palate, becomes a bit less sweet with more of a balance to the chocolate/cocoa dark malt notes. A hint of tamarind becomes noticeable as it couples with the soft tartness in the finish. This has a lot more dark malt character than one would typically get in a beer from Belgium, but I like that added dimension in this brew (after all this isn't Belgian). The dark malt helps to balance the huge, dark fruit character. This is quite a good beer; it can be a bit sweet at first and perhaps a bit on the thin side after a while, but it is definitely enjoyable.

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

Dark hazy brown colour, mediumsized head. Aroma is plum, some dark fruits and roasted hints. Also weak notes of alcohol. Flavour is alcohol, hay, brutal berries and spices along with some glueishness. Finish is rather hoppy and caramellish. Nice one, though it suffers a bit of the glueish alcohol dilemma.

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

06.25.05 22oz bottle thanks to footbalm. Label claims bottled in second week of July, but no year mentioned (probably 2004). Truly dirty dark brown pour with a naughty khaki head that insists on making me wait to smell and taste the brew. Damn is it ever worth it! Rich is the word of the day with deep prune, rum, vanilla, nougat, and cocoa aromas. On top of that, and behind it, I smell burnt bananas, bourbon soaked cherries, cookie dough, and 5:AM in a bakery. Damn, I didn’t expect it to be this good. Flavor is full of veggies and old fruit. But the one flavor/aroma I can’t shake is some kind of candy I’ve had--I’m not sure what it is, maybe Charleston chew, maybe Three Musketeers, maybe Almond Joy (there’s certianly a hint of coconut if I think about it). Whatever, it’s outstanding. I can only imagine Chimay aspiring to be a sweet, balanced, tasty, and smooth as this Alaskan concoction. Kudos! I had no idea what to expect with this brew and had not indulged in reading any of the reviews before sampling, but I’m not too surprised to see that the main cirticism was sweetness while I tend to love sweeter beers when they have good balance. My only complaint is that there’s more carbonation than it needs, but smaller sips and higher temps seem to elude that ’problem’. Thanks a million to Eric for this surprise nectar!

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 10 | Overall: 8

Pours a very dark brown that glows red in the light. Slightly murky. The head starts off as a large khaki foam and then settles into a soupy, light chocolate milk foam. The aroma is great. The Belgian yeast funk is all in this with tons of apple peel, stone fruits, clove and cinnamon. The flavor is nicely malty to back up the yeasty fruit and spice but the body is a tad thin. Extremely impressive take on a Belgian strong ale from this little brewery. Midnight Sun is definitely on my list to visit on my next trip to Alaska.

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

Dark brown in color and there is carbonation present. Watch out on the pour! The light tan head stays for a spell and leaves decent patching. Dark fruit like plums and cherries with chocolate come to mind with the aroma of this brew. A splash of alcohol is also present. Taste is the dark fruit with a alcohol punch. Some spiciness to it and a bit yeasty. Smooth and silky in the mouth. Overall a very good brew.

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

Chestnut brown pour with a decent tan head. Medium full body. Good, full dark fruit body. Figs, dates and raisins. Medium/light body. Nice brew, not sure I'd consider it top 50 but still very solid. Thanks to jcalabre for the oppurtunity to sample this one.

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

Dark eclipse brown color. Medium white foamy head. Aroma is dark malts, cherries and chocolate. A medium bodied Belgian Strong Ale. Dark fruits cherries, plums and oranges. Yeasty and incredibly Belgian in nature. Touches of smoke and wood. Very complex tasting, its full of competing/contrasting flavors. Hides the 8.2% alcohol very well. Very smooth nearly velvety taste. Works well as a ‘winter warmer’. I never realized that Anchorage Alaska was in Belgium. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean, and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly sweet.

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

This pours very dark brown with a large, sustained off white head. The aroma is of cherries & plums. The flavor is complex: definitely some cherry & plum with some citric notes in their too. It's rich & sweet up front with an absolutely clean finish. The alcohol is very well hidden.