Thunder Canyon Diablo Grande

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

This beer arrives from the tap with a hazy, dark amber color; it is topped by a wispy, light tan colored head that is not much more than a ring of foam. The aroma is vaguely sweet and malty smelling (these brewpub glasses always suck for aroma appreciation, but I suppose the brewer doesn’t think aroma is important); hints of toasted grain, some fruitiness (a touch of pear, plum notes and some aromatic apple character) as well as some phenolic spiciness is all I really get out of the nose.

The flavor is lightly sweet up front, but it picks up quite a bit more sweetness as it moves across the tongue. There is a significant estery, uber fruit quality towards the finish that also accentuates the perceived sweetness of this beer. A prickly carbonation somewhat offsets a medium full body that tends to stick to the palate; this could definitely be lighter as it doesn’t seem to have the digestibility of a solid Belgian. There is a burn of alcohol in the finish that is slightly noticeable, but it is more noticeable in my empty stomach. A peppery spiciness in the finish couples with a pheonolic clove character as well as a touch of turpene driven tongue numbing sensation. While this beer has a definite fermentation / yeast derived influence, this influence is not as big as I would like; the excess sweetness seems to mute the yeast character here & it also makes this a bit heavier than I would prefer.

The fruitiness is certainly the most apparent aspect of this beer (along with the sweetness), but there is not enough other things going on to make this complex. This is certainly not bad, but seems a bit lackluster for my personal tastes; those who like sweeter, cleaner, fuller Belgian beers should really dig it though.