Hi-Times Beer Haul Review #3 - Ommegang Abbey Ale

Ommegang Abbey Ale: I really haven't drank that many beers from the East Coast. Shipyard IPA, a bunch of Sam Adams of course, DFH 90 Minute IPA, and that is seriously all I can recall off the top of my head. I've been tempted to buy some of the Ommegang offerings every time I walk past them at BevMo or Hi-Times.

Onto the tasting. The nice thing about taking a picture when you pour the beer is that you then don't have to describe it in a blog like this. So anyway, the smell of this beer was huge. Volatile grapes sting the nostrils. It smells like pure grape juice, and a bit of alcohol. It has that belgian dark ale smell, almost reminiscent of what I remember St. Bernardus Abt 12 to be like (though that was a year or so ago, and I haven't revisited it yet). The taste is tart with lots of sweet grapes coming in as well. The finish is sweet. This beer defintely doesn't lack flavor. The mouthfeel was actually quite light considering its darkness and flavor, but it wasn't sticky or too slick in the mouth. You almost don't even think about the 8.5% ABV in it. This was only a single 12oz bottle I purchase, but it's usually seen in the 750mL bottles which I would bet is even better (from what I hear about Belgian Ales being better from the large corked bottles). Good beer. I gave it a 4.3 on BA.