La Terrible - Unibroue

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BA SCORE
93
exceptional
-
1,391 Ratings

rAvg: 4.18
pDev: 11.96%
Reviews: 855
Hads: 536

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Brewed by:
Unibroue

Quebec, Canada

Style | ABV
Belgian Strong Dark Ale | 10.50% ABV

Availability: Year-round. bottle (811), on-tap (42), nitro-tap (1), growler (1).

Notes:
No notes at this time.

View: Beers (32) | Events (0)

Reviews

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Reviews by basica:

basica

Singapore

4.53/5 rDev +8.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Bottled in 2004. Vintage Aged.

A - Pours an intense dark brown black (almost jet black actually) into my Rochefort chalice with a one-finger thick head sizzling noisily down to a very well retaining and almost permanently stagnant half-finger thick milky tan layer, well sustained by the surprisingly active carbonation despite the opaqueness and age (4.5)

S - Lightly vinous nose with some yeasts and dashes of dark fruits; fairly subdued generally. Not sure if this detracted due to the aging process (3.5)

T - Upfront brown sugar sweetness, yeastiness and the familiar pleasant vinous notes from vintage aged Belgian Dark ales. Some breadiness and malts towards the middle followed by the unleashing of dark fruits with suggestions of raisins, grapes and plums; beautifully mellowed with age and blended with vinous flavors, lasting well into the finish. (5)

M - On the lighter side of medium-bodied, probably due to the age, with a milky smooth texture and above average carbonation, to my surprise. Goes down pleasantly with a nice light warming. (4.5)

D - It's been a while since I last had a nicely aged vintage Belgian Strong Dark ale and this one held up really well on the vinous, mellowed fruity flavors and the milky texture, again familiar on vintage beers, which was really pleasant. Finally, it's almost unbelievable that this beer is a whopping 10.5% ABV from how deceptively easy it's been going down (4.5)

This is #2 of 3 in my American (ok this one's Canadian) brewed BSDAs; this one is a 2004 Vintage aged La Terrible to be put up against a 2009 Pelican Grand Cru and a a 2008 Lost Abbey 10 Commandments; a very interesting horizontal comparison.

First of all, the La Terrible held up pretty well with aging except for the nose which I have to admit was disappointing. Generally, I think La Terrible is CLEARLY better than the Trois Pistoles and Maudite both from Unibroue and may well be Unibroue's best (or amongst the better) BSDAs. For this particular evaluation, the Pelican takes the lead for now though the Terrible has did really well though may not exactly be fair as the vintage years and aging conditions are different. Appearance, nose and nose and the feel probably has to go the Pelican but the taste is pretty competitive albeit on different vintage years.

Serving type: bottle

01-13-2011 18:39:23 | More by basica

More User Reviews:

GinsuDave

Michigan

4/5 rDev -4.3%

05-21-2013 23:18:43 | More by GinsuDave

InspectorBob

New Jersey

4.25/5 rDev +1.7%

05-21-2013 20:27:51 | More by InspectorBob

BeerForMuscle

New Jersey

4.5/5 rDev +7.7%

05-20-2013 19:04:44 | More by BeerForMuscle

Kmat10

Alberta (Canada)

4.5/5 rDev +7.7%

05-20-2013 04:52:10 | More by Kmat10

craftbrew502

Kentucky

4/5 rDev -4.3%

05-20-2013 01:12:12 | More by craftbrew502

NJB145

Michigan

4.25/5 rDev +1.7%

05-20-2013 00:58:38 | More by NJB145

tom10101

Quebec (Canada)

3.75/5 rDev -10.3%

05-19-2013 17:12:28 | More by tom10101

Zaphog

Michigan

3.75/5 rDev -10.3%

05-17-2013 16:58:00 | More by Zaphog

ElizabethEleanor

Texas

4.5/5 rDev +7.7%

05-17-2013 03:16:48 | More by ElizabethEleanor

Hopinista

Nevada

4.61/5 rDev +10.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75

750 ml bottle poured into Delirium snifter.

A: Poured a serious brown with 2 fingers of tan head. This is about as brown as you can get without being black.

S: I'm immediately hit with huge dark fruit notes. Figs, dates, prunes, cherries assault me right away, but then there's a subtle clove/cinnamon backbone. Just the faintest hint of yeast and alcohol creep through, but this is predominately a mulled dark fruit aroma.

T: The dark fruit comes through here as well. I get a nice malt flavor I didn't pick up at all in the nose. This reminds me a lot of chocolate covered dried figs, very delicious. Getting a slight espresso flavor as it warms a bit. I see that other people detect the ABV in this, I do not personally. I would never guess this was at 10.5% (But I would assume it's strong.) this one packs a punch so I'm sipping slower than I want to.

M: Velvety smooth. Moderate carbonation (even a bit toned down for Unibroue.) Feels surprisingly light given the complex flavor and ABV.

O: I'm just going to come out and say that I am absolutely in love with everything Unibroue makes (Except one beer in particular, which I won't name names[Maudite]) But this is actually pretty different from any of their other offerings I've had. Very complex and enjoyable. I love the depth of flavor which comes with no cost to the drinkability. If this beer wasn't 10.5% I could drink it all night. Another reason Unibroue has my vote for top 3 breweries on the continent.

Serving type: bottle

05-13-2013 04:50:30 | More by Hopinista