Unibroue's Raftman

Alright, I saved what I hoped would be the best of the Unibroue variety pack for last. Let's see if they can screw up an amber.

Pours an unfiltered amber with a tan head. So far so good, although the head is probably too big.

Damnit. It has that Belgian yeast smell. Goddamnit. Smells more yeasty and like old fruit than malty and slightly hoppy, like an amber should.

I guess Unibroue doesn't understand that amber is a style, not just a color. Tastes like a weak trippel. With the same odd twangy aftertaste that the Noire had.

Lesson learned. No more Unibroue, ever.

Unibroue's Chambly Noire

A beer in honor of a French regiment? I hope it puts up a better fight than they do. Or at least isn't known for massacring a bunch of indians.

Head's too big. Yes, too big. Pours opaque black with amber edges and a big tan head that gets in the way. I pour into a glass that's twice as big as I need for a regular 12 oz. bottle, and I had to stop pouring. It fades, but it shouldn't have been that big from the start.

Smells decent, but I hope the head isn't throwing off all the flavor. Malty and a bit sweet, it smells like the schwarzbier I had yesterday but with that Belgian overly ripe fruit smell.

Yeah, it actually feels like a lager because of the over-carbonation, but tastes like a Belgian double. And as you know if you've read any of this blog, I'm not a Belgian fan. Nor am I a Unibroue fanboy. On top of that it has an odd twangy aftertaste that can't go away fast enough.

Glad it was a part of a mixed pack, so I didn't have to spend too much for it.

Unibroue's Blanche de Chambly

This is kind of the worst of both worlds for me--French-Canadian Unibroue, and a Belgian wit. But like the other recent Unibroue beers, it was part of a mixed pack that was cheaper to buy and try like that than to buy four packs or bombers of each separate beer.

Poured like Duvel, although I'm not sure it was supposed to. Good cloudy light yellow appearance with a huge off white head and strong carbonation. Looks right on type.

Smells on type too, with that odd plastic smell. I think this is like cilantro. A person is predisposed to hate it, and to me cilantro tastes like freezer burn. And wits smell like plastic.

You know, it's better than most wits. It has that light, airy, white grape flavor but a decent amount of malt as well. Almost no hops at all. I'll never reach for a wit when out, but I wouldn't mind of someone handed me one of these.

Unibroue's Ephemere

I'm not a Unibroue fanboy, although I do like La Fin Du Monde. They just lean a little too Belgian-y for my taste. But, I've always kind of wanted to try this one, and because it come in a mixed four pack it meant I'd be able to try all four types and pay 1/4 as much as usual, so I had to pick it up.

Pours a hazy yellow, with a crisp white head and huge carbonation that throws off the green apple smell aggressively. The smell is overwhelmingly green apple, but it can't completely hide the Belgian wit smell that I feared would follow the wit appearance.

Yep, that's exactly what this is. A tart Belgian wit. The tartness makes it much better than most, I'll give you that, and the apple flavor isn't over the top probably because I'd rather taste it than the wit, whereas in most beers this level of fruit (or spice, or smoke, or nut, or whatever) flavor would be too much.

Glad I had the opportunity to pick this up as a mixed pack. It'll prevent me from having to buy it in a larger quantity. But if you like wits, and think that fruit flavors should be overpowering, you'll like it better than I do.