Brewery: Unibroue
Style: Fruit/Vegetable Beer
BeerAdvocate.com Rating: B+ (Community) B+ (The Bros)
RateBeer.com Rating: 3.73 (93rd percentile)
Serving: Champagne bottle
First of all, yes, I am alive. Things have been ridiculously busy lately and unfortunately my blog has suffered. I hope to completely redeem this lack of attention by reviewing a beer I’ve been holding onto for a while.
Normally I have plenty to say about a beer before I taste it, but this one is just plain odd. I’ll let Unibroue do the explaining for me:
This versatile beer was specifically developed as a winter beer because, when warmed to 70ºC (160ºF), it can be taken as a hot drink. On the other hand, on the rocks, it is a wonderful aperitif. The cherries are soaked for months in slightly bitter ale before being blended into the beer. Quelque Chose is made with dark roasted malts, and the end result is something commonly known as an authentic nectar. The most original of the Unibroue line, it is highly appreciated by winter-sports enthusiasts.
I absolutely had to try this beer, if for anything, because of how incredibly odd it is. Best served over ice or warmed to 160F? Maybe I’m a little old school, but I’m going to drink this chilled. I’m not comfortable with ice in my beer yet. Let’s see how this goes:
Smell - Smells just like spiced wine with cherries. For some reason I didn’t believe the bottle and, for that, I look stupid.
Appearance - A light mahogany with a consistency much more similar to wine. In fact, you could easily fool somebody into thinking this is wine.
Taste - Tastes like spiced wine with cherries! I like spiced wine, so I’m a fan. However, I can see how traditional beer fans could be turned off. The cherries are very apparent, but in more of a vehicle used to bring the spice to your pallate.
The taste is alright slightly chilled, but I’m going to go the suggested warmed route and see what happes:
Taste (warm) - Bolder cherries, spicer spice, and way more apparent alcohol! This is really, really good stuff when warmed. Luckily it’s snowing here (yes, I know it’s late March), so this is the perfect beverage for a night like tonight.
I’ve still got some left, so let’s see what it’s like with ice:
Taste (iced) - Definitely more refreshing and drinkable, but the tastes are very much muted. My personal preference thus far is warmed.
That was officially the most unique experience I have had thus far with a beer. Warmed is definitely the way to go, but I can also see how some people would prefer to drink this over ice. I honestly can’t think of a beer even remotely similar to this, so kudos for Unibroue for trying something unique. If you’re a fan of hot spiced wine, give this a shot.
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