Abandoned Abbey - Big Rock Brewery (Canada - Alberta - Calgary)

Abandoned Abbey - Big Rock Brewery (Canada - Alberta - Calgary) 9.2%

A strongly yeasty, herbal aroma; cloves and banana. Very dark in a glass without much of a head of foam.

The taste is also strongly yeasty: banana, herbs, cloves. Lightly spicy, the faintest bit of licorice. Sweet with some dark, dried fruit flavours. A bit of chocolate comes out in the finish, and dark crusty bread out in the aftertaste. These same flavours are there in the main body but overshadowed by the Belgian yeasty tones. A well constructed Belgian Style Dark Ale that conceals it's hefty alcohol content dangerously well.

Strong Dark Belgian - Bridge Brewing (Canada - Nova Scotia - Halifax)

Strong Dark Belgian - Bridge Brewing (Canada - Nova Scotia - Halifax) 8.0%

It pours a glowing red hued amber with an off-white head that leaves nice lacing. Sweet, candied and roasty caramelized sugar aroma with floral and clove-like nectary yeast tones. The taste is along much the same lines, plenty of floral yeast tones with roasty sweetness balanced out (or perhaps more than balanced out) by quite a bit of bitterness and a fair amount of alcohol comes through in the taste at 9 C'. There is also a little acidity adding some tartness.

This beer's balance improves as it warms: the alcohol mellows and blends a bit better, some brandy and cherry flavours come out along with roasty red/dark malt to sit nicely in the aftertaste. Additionally, and most importantly, the bitterness and acidity are now playing nicely with the malty sweetness rather than standing out all on their own. Strong Dark Belgian is at least 8.0% as I can certainly feel its effects after splitting only half of a 750 ml bottle.

So, when you try Bridge Brewing's Strong Dark Belgian be prepared for a strong, full flavoured ale and be sure to let it warm up quite a bit - I think you'll enjoy it a lot more if you do.