Feature Beer Friday! - Green Flash Grand Cru

Picture from my old review!

And we're back with the second Green Flash brew to make an appearance on Feature Beer Friday!  We reviewed the West Coast IPA not too long ago to generally high marks, and this time it's the Grand Cru, their take on a Belgian Dark Strong Ale... basically the same style as a Belgian Quad. I've actually reviewed this one once before, an earlier version well over 2 years ago... it'll be interesting to see how my thoughts then compare to my thoughts this time around. 

Their take on the beer: "Our Belgian-style Dark Ale is inspired by traditional Abbey Ales to deliver the richest malt flavors. Dual-yeast fermentation and spicy hops provide increased complexity and depth of flavor to satiate your palate and keep your taste buds dancing."  That sounds good to me!  Belgian strong ales have long been some of my favorite beers, so I'm excited to try this one for sure. 

Reviewers: Eric Ducote (BR Beer Scene), Dustin Davis, and Mandi Kaelberer.

Serving: 12 oz. brown bottle.

Appearance: Dark red bordering on brown with an off-white head.

Aroma: Fruity, rich, a little spice to it.  Dustin thought it smelled strong, and it clocks in at 9.1%, so he's not wrong at all. 

Taste: It has a really nice malt/fruit combination on the palate, but also some spicy hop notes.  

Mouthfeel: Good carbonation, a little bitter, nice body.

Overall: I really enjoyed this one, a nice slightly hoppy take on a Belgian style.  Very well done, I think I like it more now than I did two years ago.


Overall Rating: 83
My Rating: 86

Feature Beer Friday! - Chimay Grande Reserve (Blue Label)

For the fifth installment of Feature Beer Friday it's time to head back across the pond to Europe, and try our first Belgian Trappist ale of the series, the Chimay Grande Reserve, popularly known as Chimay Blue.  Chimay is one of the seven (wait, make that eight!) licensed Trappist breweries, and is also the most readily available of them all.  Chimay beers can be found in just about any Baton Rouge area liquor store or grocery store with a good beer selection.  For that reason, it's the perfect beer to spotlight on this week's Feature Beer Friday!

Reviewers: Eric Ducote (BR Beer Scene), Jay Ducote (Bite And Booze), James Lawson (Whiskeybomb.com), and Jeremy Spikes (Whiskeybomb.com).

Serving: 750 ml bottle.

Appearance: "Caramel color, nice head retention." Jay commented, and all scores were 12/15 or better for this brew, putting it solidly in the upper range on appearance.

Aroma: The aroma on this one could have been better, but it did open up as the beer warmed.  We didn't drink it ice cold by any means, but a beer like this needs to be around 50 degrees to be properly enjoyed.

Taste:  We all enjoyed the taste of this one, with one comment being, "way better than the aroma, dark fruits and sweet malts."  All scores here were 30+ out of 40, a sure sign of a good beer.

Mouthfeel: "Creamy, smooth, easy to drink despite the 9%" and another round of upper 25% scores for this one.

Overall: Everyone predictably enjoyed the Chimay Blue but I do think it fell a little short of the world class rankings it has one some sites.  This one warms up well and with it's global reach it's a no-brainer whenever you're staring at an aisle of beer and don't know what to reach for.

Overall Rating:80

My Rating:81

Reviews: Green Flash Trippel & Grand Cru

Alright, two more beers from Green Flash Brewing (@greenflashbeer), a microbrewery out of Vista, California which is really close to San Diego.  I reviewed their barleywine as part of a trio of reviews recently and this time I have the Trippel and Grand Cru to check out.  Both are Belgian-style ales, which is a little bit of a departure for a West coast brewery, but the barleywine was great, so here's hoping these deliver as well.

First up, the tripel.  True to the style, I poured from a bottle into a Chimay goblet... and if lives up to the Chimay name then I'll be one happy camper. It's a bright orange color, hazy with a small white head.

This beer has a very floral aroma, with hints of honey and citrus. Not bad, and a typical flavor profile for the tripel style.

The taste is about the same but a little bitter with the floral hops coming through. The honey notes aren't as strong, but it's still a pretty good beer.

All in all a decent tripel. Not the best American version and not as good as the Belgians but I like it and would have another.  

My rating: B

BeerAdvocate: B

Tripel

Second beer on the menu... the Green Flash Grand Cru.  "Grand Cru" is a non-technical beer term typically used with Belgian-style ales, indicating a more elaborate and usually stronger version of a beer.  Oddly enough, in this case the Tripel was 9.7% abv while the Grand Cru weighs in at 9.00% abv.  Still though, both are pretty strong beers, so watch out!  This one is listed as a Belgian Strong Dark Ale (BSDA) which is a very similar style to the quadrupel ales. 

Just like the tripel, this one was poured from a 12 oz. bottle into a goblet. It's a dark Brown, a little hazy with minimal head.  A very typical color for a BSDA and such a high alcohol content lends itself to less head.

The aroma is faint but what I pick up is good. A little chocolate, followed by some plum notes.  The taste also has a bit of chocolate in there. A little odd for a BSDA but it's not bad. Theres even a little roasted note on the end. Double checking... yep this is the grand cru.

It's very drinkable and I like it but it's just a little out of character.  The chocolate and roasted notes were a little odd for me, and I see a lot of BA reviewers were getting similarly odd flavors.  Despite all that, it's not a bad beer, just different.

My Rating: B-

BeerAdvocate: B+

Belgian Strong Dark Ale

In conclusion, neither of these are bad beers, but for my money there are much better Belgian style ales out there, including the real things from across the pond.