Ommegang Biere de Mars

My buddy Jordan brought over a bottle of Ommegang Biere de Mars. The beer pours a dark golden color with a lofty and frothy white colored head. The aroma consists of lemon, grass, hay, barnyard funk, pepper, brett, and spices. The taste is light and funky with a brett funk to it. The beer says it was bottled in November 2008 (batch #3), and the age seems to show in the beer with some cardboard flavors. It finishes dry with some pepper, hay, and grass with a light lemon accent. The alcohol consists of 6.5% ABV. I’m not sure about this beer, and it may be because of the age. It wasn’t terrible and had some decent flavors, but it had a cardboard flavor that did get in the way of the total enjoyment of it.

Ommegang Biere D’hougoumont

My buddy Matt brought over a bottle of Ommegang Biere D’hougoumont to share at our weekly bottle share. The beer pours a viscous golden color with a frothy white head. The aroma consists of grass, lemon, wheat, maple syrup, and oak. The taste is dry and sweet with a light grassy flavor with some lemon accents. It has a bready mouth feel. A bit of maple syrup comes out in the finish and dries out with oak. The alcohol content is 7.3% ABV. This was a very different beer that played with a nice dryness and that is complimented well with maple syrup, yet I feel that it fell a little short of being overly enjoyable.

Ommegang-Liefmans Seduction

I picked up a bottle of the Ommegang/Liefmans collaboration Seduction from Brass Rail in Campbelltown, and decided to share it with some buddies. The beer pours a black color with a frothy beige head. The aroma consists of chocolate nibs, cocoa powder, and light hints of tart cherry. The taste is dark and chocolaty with roasted malts, but it is built upon a powdery chocolate mouth feel. Cocoa dryness, a hint of cherry, and a bitter hop flavor come out in the finish. The alcohol content is 6.8% ABV. This beer struck a positive chord with the slight tartness, although the chocolate in it was very powerful and dominating over all the other flavors. It was pretty good, but could have been better if more of the tart cherry shone through the dark chocolate flavors.

Ommegang Adoration

My buddy Matt picked up a bottle of Ommegang Adoration and decided to share it with us one night. The beer pours a dark amber color with a foamy off-white colored head. The aroma consists of raisin, banana, cinnamon, coriander, orange peel, and cardamom. The taste is spicy and boozy with a light alcohol burn. Raisin and sweet banana flavors do surface, but the coriander, cardamom, and orange peel flavors bitter out the mouth feel. The alcohol content is 10.0% ABV. I liked the flavors in the beer, with their bitter spiciness, but I feel this beer could greatly benefit from another year or two of maturing.

Ommegang Aphrodite

My buddy Matt brought over a bottle of Ommegang Aphrodite to share. The beer pours a ruby red color with a thin filmy off-white colored head. The aroma consists of raspberry, yeast, pear, vinegar, cherry, and some brettanomyces. The taste is lightly sour with some raspberry pucker on the front end. There is a bit of vinegar, Belgian yeast, pear, and cherry flavors. It has a bubbly mouth feel, and the finish brings out a dry grassy flavor. The alcohol content is 8.9% ABV. This wasn’t quite as sour of a beer as I expected, but it was very delicious and had a good raspberry flavor with hints of vinegar.

Ommegang-Brasserie d'Achouffe Gnomegang

When I saw that Al tapped the Ommegang/Brasserie d’Achouffe collaboration Gnomegang, I immediately rushed over to Al’s of Hampden to get a glass. The beer pours a yellow gold color with a frothy white head. The aroma consists of Belgian yeast with pepper, cloves, and banana. The taste is big and peppery with a good amount of Belgian spice, banana and yeast comes into play to provide a nice sweet balance. The after taste brings back peppery and earthy hops that dry the mouth. The alcohol content is 9.5% ABV. The light bodied and well carbonated beer has a wonderful spice taste that is balanced well with the sweet Belgian yeast. If you can get your hands on a bottle of this beer, I highly recommend doing so.

Ommegang Abbey Ale

I was given a bottle of Ommegang Abbey Ale, and I jumped at the change to review it. The beer pours a reddish/dark amber color with a lofty and frothy off-white colored head. The aroma consists of Belgian yeast, raisin, fig, bread, and sweet malts. The taste is bold and very present in the mouth with a biting alcohol presence. The flavor transitions into a smooth malty flavors with yeast, orange, tangerine, fig, and raisin flavors all mixed in. On the finish, a breadiness takes over the mouth, drying it out a little bit. The alcohol content is 8.5% ABV. The maltiness in this beer is perfect with a great fruit accent. While there is not much bitterness in the beer, it is not needed, as the beer is balanced by the alcohol content.

Ommegang BPA

I picked up a bottle of Ommegang BPA, Belgian-style Pale Ale. The beer pours a golden color with a lofty bubbly white head that subsides somewhat quickly and leaves a residue on the glass. The alcohol content is peppery and grassy like a spring field with an undertone of banana and Belgian yeast. The taste is smooth and sweet at first with banana peel and orange on the tongue before the carbonation takes over on the tongue and unleashes the peppery and grassy hops. The finish leaves lemon on the tongue and dries out the mouth a little bit. The alcohol content is 6.2% ABV. The BPA has a wonderful earthiness about it and I love how natural it tastes. There is a wonderful compliment of yeast, banana, lemon, pepper, and grass hops all mixed into one amazing concoction.

Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence

I picked up a bottle of Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence at Al’s of Hampden, and I have really looked forward to trying this beer. The beer pours a black color with a lofty and frothy tan head that leaves a nice lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of lots of sweet Belgian chocolate with toasted malts, caramel, and coffee. The taste is is dry and chocolaty but rather smooth as the beer goes down. There are hints of coffee and cream in this beer with a finish of vanilla and toasted malts. The alcohol content is 7.0% ABV. This beer has it all: toasted malts, lots of chocolate, vanilla, and coffee. I highly recommend trying this beer if you like any of those flavors, and it is quite smooth drinking.

Ommegang Ommegeddon

I picked up a bottle of Ommegang Ommegeddon from Al's of Hampden. The bottle indicates the beer is Batch Number 1, June 2007. The beer pours an orange color with a frothy white head and lots of yeast flakes floating in the beer. The aroma consists of Belgian yeast, candisugar, banana, and pepper. The taste is smooth yet bitey with yeast, candisugar, pepper, banana, and a carbonated mouth feel. The alcohol content is 8.0% ABV. The Brett in the beer really enlivened the mouth feel and has a wonderful accompaniment of flavors, with banana, candisugar, and pepper.