Unibroue Edition 2005
Review Date 5/13/2006
Try?
Re-buy?
I needed a
French beer. Luckily, I did have a “French” beer already on hand, a
bottle of Unibroue Edition 2005. And ok, this isn’t really a
French beer, because it’s made in Canada. But it’s made in Quebec by
French-Canadians, a proud and wonderful people who are true to their roots
in speaking La Lange Francaise as their native tongue.
I myself have something of a history as a Francophile. I studied the language in college, and took my first trip to Montreal along with the college French Club. That was a true experience, and I fell in love with Quebec immediately. Especially it’s beer, of course, but a lot more, too.
My studies of the French language persevered into advanced courses, and it was at the University of Rhode Island that I was befriended by a French Canadian professor named Armand Chartier who had a great impact upon my life. To this day, I still read classic novels by Verne and Leroux in the original French. And I once presented the professor with a gift of a bottle of Unibroue’s Maudite .
Now to the beer. If you’ve tasted Unibroue’s Edition 2004 specialty ale (bottles are still floating around), then you have… no idea what Edition 2005 tastes like. This is a completely different beer, only akin in the sense that it is complex, potent (10% alcohol by volume), and limited in production. I am a year behind in drinking this, but that’s OK, since the beer will certainly age out nicely. The bottle conditioning with yeast will see to that.
My 750ml sample was bottled in April of 2005 according to the date stamped on the cork; the bottle says it was brewed on November 23 2004. That’s after the 2004 acquisition of the brewery by Canada’s giant Sleeman concern. If Edition 2005 is any indication, the beers at Unibroue have suffered not at all.
I pour some of the beer into a bowl-shaped glass, and my eyes are greeted with a dark brown, murky liquid with a very thick creamy head formation. A light film of Brussels lace forms upon the side of my glass as the liquid descends. The nose of the beer is fragrant and spicy and promises sweet malt goodness.
The palate is rich, smooth and creamy with dark sweet malt, and the spicing makes the beer very complex. Most of Unibroue’s beers are based on the Belgian model (they speak French in parts of Belgium, too). The Belgians quite liberally add spices to their beer, something that might land you in jail in Germany. Ok, perhaps the latter is a bit of an exaggeration, but the Belgians are much more liberal when it comes to beer than Germans are.
You’ll immediately pick up notes of licorice here, along with nutmeg perhaps and sour cherry. There are other spices too along with fruity raisin notes, green apple, chocolate, cotton candy, black pepper, and zesty orange-lemon citrus. The yeast throws off banana and some musty Belgian yeast notes.
There are really a lot of flavors going on here. The finish is slightly sweet and I don’t get much in the way of hops. But the decided alcohol warmth balances the beer from being too sweet, though slightly sweet and mostly warming to the tongue is how it finishes.
C’est une tres bonne biere, je crois!
Not a beer to be missed, and a feather in the cap of those (like myself) who argue that if you think beer is Budweiser and Miller, you really don’t know what beer is at all. For seven bucks a bottle it’s a true steal.
I myself have something of a history as a Francophile. I studied the language in college, and took my first trip to Montreal along with the college French Club. That was a true experience, and I fell in love with Quebec immediately. Especially it’s beer, of course, but a lot more, too.
My studies of the French language persevered into advanced courses, and it was at the University of Rhode Island that I was befriended by a French Canadian professor named Armand Chartier who had a great impact upon my life. To this day, I still read classic novels by Verne and Leroux in the original French. And I once presented the professor with a gift of a bottle of Unibroue’s Maudite .
Now to the beer. If you’ve tasted Unibroue’s Edition 2004 specialty ale (bottles are still floating around), then you have… no idea what Edition 2005 tastes like. This is a completely different beer, only akin in the sense that it is complex, potent (10% alcohol by volume), and limited in production. I am a year behind in drinking this, but that’s OK, since the beer will certainly age out nicely. The bottle conditioning with yeast will see to that.
My 750ml sample was bottled in April of 2005 according to the date stamped on the cork; the bottle says it was brewed on November 23 2004. That’s after the 2004 acquisition of the brewery by Canada’s giant Sleeman concern. If Edition 2005 is any indication, the beers at Unibroue have suffered not at all.
I pour some of the beer into a bowl-shaped glass, and my eyes are greeted with a dark brown, murky liquid with a very thick creamy head formation. A light film of Brussels lace forms upon the side of my glass as the liquid descends. The nose of the beer is fragrant and spicy and promises sweet malt goodness.
The palate is rich, smooth and creamy with dark sweet malt, and the spicing makes the beer very complex. Most of Unibroue’s beers are based on the Belgian model (they speak French in parts of Belgium, too). The Belgians quite liberally add spices to their beer, something that might land you in jail in Germany. Ok, perhaps the latter is a bit of an exaggeration, but the Belgians are much more liberal when it comes to beer than Germans are.
You’ll immediately pick up notes of licorice here, along with nutmeg perhaps and sour cherry. There are other spices too along with fruity raisin notes, green apple, chocolate, cotton candy, black pepper, and zesty orange-lemon citrus. The yeast throws off banana and some musty Belgian yeast notes.
There are really a lot of flavors going on here. The finish is slightly sweet and I don’t get much in the way of hops. But the decided alcohol warmth balances the beer from being too sweet, though slightly sweet and mostly warming to the tongue is how it finishes.
C’est une tres bonne biere, je crois!
Not a beer to be missed, and a feather in the cap of those (like myself) who argue that if you think beer is Budweiser and Miller, you really don’t know what beer is at all. For seven bucks a bottle it’s a true steal.
And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.
*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.
(B)=Bottled
(D)=Draft
