Trader Joe's Vintage Ale 2012
Trader Joe's Vintage Ale 2012
Rated 3.386 by BeerPals
Brewed by Unibroue
Chambly, Quebec, Canada
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
9% Alcohol by Volume
Availability of this beer is unknown
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It's here just in time to reflect on the year in your beer. The defining characteristics of this limited-edition ale exhibit crafting, brewing and bottling that are unique to 2012. Drawing upon centuries-old Trappist Monk brewing traditions, the Belgian-style dark ale is bottle conditioned on lees (aged in the bottle on fresh yeast). This year, it results in finely structured brew that presents rich, malty (mildly sweet) flavor, with notes of cocoa and mulling spices. Complex, interesting, thoroughly enjoyable – it was quite a year. Since every year and every beer promise good value at Trader Joe’s, each 750 ml bottle of Vintage Ale is just $4.99.*
ID: 50176 Last updated 1 month ago Added to database 12 years agoKey Stats
percentile
0
Drunk4
Reviews0
LikesBeeributes
Most noted beer attributes
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Statistics
| Overall Rank | 6032 |
| Overall Percentile | 89.2 |
| Style Rank | 319 of 1241 |
| Style Percentile | 74.3 |
| Lowest Score | 3.5 |
| Highest Score | 4.1 |
| Average Score | 3.675 |
| Weighted Score | 3.386 |
| Standard Deviation | 0.000 |
Rating Distribution
Beer vs Style
4 Member Reviews
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Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7
Pours a beautiful warm sable with a thick tan head that, unfortunately, takes its leave rather quickly - more like the head on a glass of Coca-Cola than on a crater of beer. Aroma has average strength, but tempts with yeasty and fruity notes, the latter apple with some banana. Flavor has malty core with caramel, nutty and molasses notes. Texture is smooth, on the flat side. As far as Belgians go, not great but still worth at least sampling.
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Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7
Similar to year's past, this is a nice spice forward dark BSA. Aroma of ripe dark fruit and loads of spice. Body is prickly and the finish is dry. Very spicy (almost to a fault) on the palate. This will be really nice at the back end of winter after it settles down a bit, but it's still good now.
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Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6
Bottle. Deep brown colored body that is nearly black with a large light brown colored head. The nose has light pears and cinnamon. There is also some caramel behind the spicing and fruit. Hints of funky leather. The taste is like dirty leather with some strong notes of cinnamon. There is also a little bit of nutmeg. This is fairly dry overall with some dry sherry type prune notes in the finish. I don’t require it in other beers, but would like a little more sweetness in this one. Overall, it is ok.
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Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 9
750ml bottle -
Apart from this being an absolute steal at Trader Joe's ($4.99 for a 750ml bomber of a BSA?? Where do I get in line!) this is a phenomenal beer and while I haven't rated it side by side to beers in years past, this one was extremely tasty.
Tons of dark pitted fruit in the aroma, lots of mulling spice, Coke mixed with brown sugar...loved it. Lots of clove/all-spice like flavors combined with cherries, plums, Tootsie rolls and toffee with a long, spicy finish. The beer had just the right amount of sweetness left in it to accentuate all these fruit flavors and meld really, really nicely with the spices. Definitely recommended.
