Bière De Belœil - Brasserie Dupont sprl

WhiteOak

Connecticut

4.73/5  rDev +19.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

A- Opens with an explosive cork release like Champagne, but was not a gusher. Displays a cloudy dark copper color - on the dark side for a BSPA. The off-white/beige head is mountainous, leaving copious amounts of sticky lace.

S- Mustiness blows right off, revealing an alluring aroma of cut hay, apple, yeast phenolics, caramel malt, clover honey, pink peppercorns, and faint hops. Very appealing.

T- Sweet, rich, delicious candy sugar, apple, yeast, husk, and spice flavors draw you in further, and call you back for more. A faint hop note on the finish.

Superb drinkability, offering generous amounts of rich flavor, complexity and finesse simultaneously. Recommended!

Serving type: bottle

03-24-2012 01:48:18 | More by WhiteOak

tbeckett

Ontario (Canada)

4.43/5  rDev +11.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Bottle from Harvest Wines. From notes.

A - Poured a really cloudy dark gold. Good carbonation and a one finger eggshell head. A little lace and a finger of retention.

S - Hoppy, fruity, grassy, floral. Pretty great aroma.

T - Grass, hops, fruitiness, some funk, bubblegum, and caramel. Again, pretty awesome.

M - Mild bitterness with a sweet note as well and good carbonation with a medium body.

O/D - This was a terrific beer. Really tasty and easy to drink while being extremely complex with layers of flavours I certainly wasn't expecting to find. Lovely combo of hop/yeast/malt profile made for a very enjoyable experience. Great stuff.

Serving type: bottle

07-10-2012 07:38:37 | More by tbeckett

paterlodie

Belgium

4.25/5  rDev +7.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

BB 10-2007. Nice white head and beautifull bronzeamber foggy beer. Nose probably the best of the brew. Fresh grassy, pepperspiced, little bretty, full malty with wheat, alcoholic and gives the farmhouse nose well but very clean. Taste is dry and strong alcoholic, very salty and peppery, fine malts and litle winelike. Bitter and alcoholic aftertaste. Good brew with lots of carbon dioxide for fresh and spicy mouthfeel. Very refreshing and enjoyable brew, quiet saisonlike.

Serving type: bottle

08-08-2005 21:20:00 | More by paterlodie

NeroFiddled

Pennsylvania

4.22/5  rDev +6.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

La Biere de Beloeil
750 ml bottle, corked & caged.
No apparent freshness dating.

Poured carefully from a long-standing bottle the yeast remains sedimented, and it delivers a fairly clear orange-amber body beneath a creamy head of off-white. Subsequent pours are hazy, even to the point of becoming cloudy. Head retention and lacing are decent, but not great.

In the nose it's a touch musty, gently mineralish, and sweet with juicy red apple.

Not surprisingly, the flavor follows suit. The mustiness is pleasant, and a bit stronger than what you find in the aroma. It's also just lightly mineralish, which helps to balance it in conjunction with its very firm bitterness and herbaceous finish, as it's got a good bit of sugar to it with notes of honey, apple, and berry rounding it out. There's a touch of pepper and grassiness across the middle and through the finish, and it ends dry and a touch spicy amidst a bitter, herbaceous and earthy backdrop. The 8.5% alcohol by volume remains hidden throughout a first glass, but becomes more apparent in a second serving.

In the mouth it's effervescent, but not more than mildly prickly; and it's got a dextrinous medium/medium-full body that becomes a bit creamy once it warms.

Overall it's quite charming, mainly due to its fruitiness and musty component, but also due to it's 'chubby' nature... it's a touch bigger than some medium-bodied beers, but it's not overdone with malt (or spice, or anything else). It's just complex enough to keep you interested, while still remaining very drinkable because it's not so much so that it distracts you from your conversation or meal. Quite unique, and well worth trying.

Serving type: bottle

01-19-2012 23:12:53 | More by NeroFiddled

BeerForMuscle

New Jersey

4.2/5  rDev +5.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A - Deep maple syrup colored with an orangey glow. Very turbid with a huge, choppy head.

S - Acidic, tart, funky yeast. Dry and tangy with some mild citrus notes, and a subtle spice. In comes some sweetness in the way of dates, prunes, molasses and raisins. A hint of fennel.

T - Spiced and sweet with a warm side. Sweet dry fruit sugars, slight barnyard funk and yeast notes. Grape skins and fruit nectar, with a bitter component also. Pretty complex flavor profile.

M - Mellow bodied with a soft effervescence. Clean drinking with a dry finish.

O - A good BSPA with what I hoped for, a complex palate.

Serving type: bottle

10-18-2012 22:49:31 | More by BeerForMuscle

Beerenauslese

California

4.18/5  rDev +5.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

I bought a bottle of this because it's from Dupont, and it commemorates Belgium's famous chateau that I once visited after a tour of Dupont.

Bottle opened with a loud champagne pop. Poured slowly into a tulip, it produced a big meringue head that settled into a dense foam. Excellent head retention, leaves lots of sticky lacing on the glass. Body is a hazy amber gold.

Smells of fruity Belgian yeast, caramel malts, candi sugar, toffee, earthy hops, and orange.

Has a caramel malt taste up front, and husky, earthy, and slightly metallic Dupont yeast flavor midpalate (like the yeast in Avec Les Bon Voeux), a bit of ginger, and a dry finish with a bit of orange zest and just a lovely fruity sweetness.

Has a vigorously carbonated mouthfeel that feels as mousse-like as a fine champagne; it scrubs the tongue clean leaving lingering notes of grassy hops, ginger, and green tea.

This is a very good Belgian pale ale, with a flavor that is somewhat light and delicate cold and a bit more robust as it warms, very well balanced and very refreshing. It would be hard not to quaff this on a hot afternoon, like ginger ale, but the 8.5% ABV dictates sipping. An ideal beer to pair with a variety of fatty and/or spicy foods, I am thinking of getting another bottle and having this with grilled salmon.

Serving type: bottle

01-17-2012 03:18:17 | More by Beerenauslese

Billolick

New York

4.13/5  rDev +4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

A new one for my neck of the woods from Dupont...a must try...green bottle, caged and corked, of course.

Cork says "2.011"

Pours super cloudy darker apricot/chestnut, the beige head is over the top large and equally long lasting. Going to a meraingue and very thick and coating irregular bands of sheeting/lace. Great looking beer.

Nose of honey, flower, Belgian yeasty goodness and toasted malts.

More honey, pepper, more pepper, earthy hops and more yeasty notes. Yum yum yum.

Quality, complexity, flavorful goodness. Label says this goes well with rustic cheeses..gave it a try..they are right...will def. buy more of this one..well worth a try..Belgian lovers rejoice....

Serving type: bottle

11-27-2011 02:08:27 | More by Billolick

metter98

New York

4.09/5  rDev +3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

A: The beer is clear amber in color and has a high amount of visible carbonation. It poured with a two finger high light beige head that has excellent retention properties and took a very long time to slowly die down, also leaving lots of lacing down the sides of the glass.
S: The smell has moderately strong aromas of earthy yeast.
T: Like the smell, the taste has flavors of earthy yeast but also has added complexities with flavors of biscuit and hay like malts plus hints of floral hops and fruits. Notes of peppery spices are present in the finish. There is a light amount of bitterness.
M: It feels a bit shy of medium-bodied and very dry on the palate with a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: This beer shares some similarities with a saison, but is much more complex in taste and is also a little fuller bodied. No traces of alcohol are detectable.

Serving type: bottle

01-23-2013 02:05:23 | More by metter98

wl0307

United Kingdom (England)

4.08/5  rDev +2.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

Coming in a 750ml green bottle, corked and caged; vintage 2005 (as marked on the cork), BB 08/2008, served lightly chilled in a large tulip-shaped wine glass.

A: superb in presentation, the colour is light chestnut-brown-ish amber, coming with millions of microscopic bubbles, while the beige froth head proudly retains the texture throughout the drink.
S: a light hint of musty yet aromatic apple-ly estery-fruits comes hand in hand with the rich and full-bodied maltiness in the background, underlined by a pronounced mixture of candy sugar, cane sugar, and even sticky barley candy (as in a rich barley wine, in a sense), as well as pleasant fruity notes like Chinese prunes and rose-flavoured pale plums. The overall sugary elements came slightly too much for my liking, as they manifested in a really dense form with loads of way-overripe fruits, but a swirl would help balance off these heavy bits with more "breezy mustiness"(?!).
T: as in many Belgian Amber Ales (and some English Strong Ales), the foretaste is lightly sour-sweet estery-fruity on top of a fairly solid backbone of amber and caramely malts, brown sugar, with hints of mashed&sweetened kidney beans; pretty soon, a lengthy aftertaste takes over from this, lovely and mixed, suggesting dried prunes, dried red dates, slightly spicy-savoury dried hawthorn fruits, and a touch of herbal sweetness as from the hops. The finish goes slightly chewy and always with a moderate flow of hop bitterness, as well as mustiness that is only very restrained (indeed, for a Saison brewer), before the liquid rounds off the tasting and renders a soothingly warming feel down the throat.
M&D: the carbonation is executed at a nearly-perfect level, soothing, refreshing, full of tiniest bubbles to highlight the intriguing taste and a sound body. All in all, this is an easily likeable Strong Ale - but one bottle is satisfying enough!

Serving type: bottle

05-31-2009 20:34:57 | More by wl0307

augustgarage

California

4.08/5  rDev +2.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

The label looks like it is from the era of whern Moinette was initially imported to the states, but the cork says "2011" - so I'm going to assume this isn't nearly as old as it looks. In any case...poured from a caged-and-corked 750mL bottle into my Troubadour tulip:

Mahogany, cloudy body with a towering mountain of beige foam. The slow moving merengue dissipates very slowly leaving behind thick tendrils of lacing. Perpetual retention.

Lovely phenolic yeast aromatics with a touch of winter fruit and alcohol in the nose. Candi sugar, honey, and very faintly toasty malt notes are hinted at as well.

Herbaceous/floral palate entry with touches of pink peppercorn and hay. Low bitterness; faintly soapy; finishes dough-y yet slightly dry. Well balanced and unique.

Heavily effervescent, though when the carbonation does finally settle down, the body is a touch thin.

Maybe the darkest "pale" ale I've encountered - this is still packed with yeasty goodness.

Serving type: bottle

03-21-2012 02:23:05 | More by augustgarage

draheim

Washington

4.05/5  rDev +2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

750mL (L11250A 13:20) into a saison glass. Pours a clear, rich amber w/ a fluffy off-white head, moderate carbonation. Nice looking beer.

Aroma is fruity, floral and spicy. Belgian yeast, sweet caramel and pale malts, some Old World hops. Green hay, pleasant phenols. No single element dominates, great balance.

Taste follows nose. Sweet fruity malt, floral hops with a bitter bite, Belgian yeast, generic spiciness and clean water. Granny Smith apples.

Mouthfeel is spot-on. Smooth with just the right carbonation. Crisp, light, refreshing w/ a dry finish.

Overall another solid beer from Brasserie Dupont, one of my favorite breweries.

Serving type: bottle

06-01-2012 00:42:20 | More by draheim

Naerhu

Japan

4.03/5  rDev +1.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 5

750 ml. bottle shipped to Japan in Reefer container.

Opaque orange/peach color body, with agressive very off-white finger thick head. Thick coat of lacing.

Belgian yeast and candy sugar nose.

Strong foward malt flavor. Floral notes mixes well with the bitterness. The belgian yeast cloaks the rather high alcohol beautifully. The noble bitterness lasts a long time.

The first beer in my five year marriage over which my wife and I fought for the last glass. Yummy stuff.

Serving type: bottle

05-30-2004 18:09:17 | More by Naerhu

LiquidAmber

Washington

4.03/5  rDev +1.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured into a Gulden Draak tulip. Pours a cloudy medium to dark orange amber, just about the color of honey. Massive very light brown head with good retention and tons of lacing. Looks very good. Aroma of light stone fruit, Belgian spicing and light caramel malt. Flavor follows, dominated by caramel malt, peach and apricot fruit overlayed by bitterness from hops and spicing. Finishes somewhat dry malt, fruit and residual hop bitterness with slight caramel aftertaste. Medium bodied, but active carbonation gives it a lively mouth feel. Flavors a bit attenuated, but pleasant. A nice pale Belgian with an interesting flavor progression.

Serving type: bottle

08-14-2012 02:47:15 | More by LiquidAmber

Phyl21ca

Quebec (Canada)

4/5  rDev +0.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Bottle: Poured a dark dirty beige color ale with a large foamy head with great retention and good lacing. Aroma of Belgian malt with some notes of peppery yeast. Taste is also dominated by some semi-sweet Belgian malt with some notes of peppery yeast and a final dominated by some dry floral hops. Body is full with some limited filtration and some great carbonation and no alcohol was apparent. Very complex and very well done for this fine brewery.

Serving type: bottle

02-08-2008 20:08:56 | More by Phyl21ca

lacqueredmouse

Australia

4/5  rDev +0.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Light cloudy amber golden colour, with a big and frothy head of off-white foam. Some floaties in the glass, little visible carbonation. Body looks quite thick. Overall, pretty nice looking.

Lots of floral notes on the nose, good dose of honey, and some meaty Belgian yeast. Some medicinal characters coming through as well, perhaps an alcohol aroma as well. Not bad, pretty robust.

Very smooth on the palate initially, with a rather unexpected hop character mingling with a piquant alcohol heat. Some sweet Belgian yeast character coming through as well, some cellar-like mustiness, with a very dry finish. Overall, a tasty drop.

A drinkable Belgian strong, with some characters to give it a lift, and make it a tad more confronting that I would have otherwise expected. Still, there's a lot to enjoy, and Dupont have another winner here for me.

Serving type: bottle

10-14-2009 07:29:40 | More by lacqueredmouse

johnmichaelsen

Oregon

4/5  rDev +0.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

On tap at Max's.

The beer pours a slightly hazy, copper amber color with good head retention and lacing. The nose is pretty nice as well, as I pick up some sweet malt, light clove and orange citrus. The flavor profile replicates the nose, though there's a touch of licorice in the finish as well that helps to counter the modest sweetness. There's a nice dollop of spice as well in the finish, which adds to the enjoyment. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with adequate carbonation, and the finish is fairly long and spicey.

Nothing extraordinary here, but for all that, another tasty beer from Dupont.

Serving type: on-tap

07-18-2012 23:18:37 | More by johnmichaelsen

TheLongBeachBum

California

3.9/5  rDev -1.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Presentation: Sampled at the La Caves Dupont in Tourpes after a Brewery Tour of Brasserie Dupont, which is just over the road. Wangled a 750ml bottle of the brew from the Cooler and shared it with my good friend Barry Smith a.k.a. the “Mad Axeman”.

Named after the Château de Beloeil, a tourist attraction which is about 5km from the Tourpes, the green glass 750ml bottle comes with a brown on cream, almost sepia toned, main label which has the wording “La Bière de Belœil”. Listed at 8.5%, with a Best Before Date of 06/2008.

Appearance: Sits easy in the wide-mouthed Moinette goblet with a careful pour. Dark horse chestnut torso sits underneath a controlled, rather foamy but uniform white head. Solid conditioning. Top-ups from the 750ml produced a creamier head. The cap eventually rescinds and relaxes down to a thin covering towards the finish.

Nose: Not much on the nose when first poured, but it livened up a little as it warmed. Malts, caramel, yeast and a dark fruit-laden sourness in the backend. Some hop-induced aspects to the aromas I feel.

Taste: Malts start the proceedings; these are soon joined by dark fruits, yeast and a soft spicy character that has a little sourness to it. Finish has a sweetish caramel aspect to it, with a little bitterness and some more of the low key sour fruits. A gentle offering that seems like it could develop complexity given time.

Mouthfeel: Nice conditioning supports the malts. Spices and the yeast add depth to the texture whilst the hops add a low tingling feel so common in Dupont brews.

Drinkability: I ended up sharing the 750ml, which is good, because this one soon gets bogged down by an indescribable something, it promises a lot but seems to fail to deliver on its potential, so after a while (i.e. a whole one and a half glasses) it soon gets a little boring. That may seem a tad harsh, because it is a drinkable brew, but its just not one that I could take too much off though.

Overall: Described as an Amber Ale by Dupont, but feels more like a Belgian Strong Pale Ale which is lightly spiced and benefits from a soft hop character and a laid back Drinkability. Somehow it just fails to live up to its promise for me, maybe time improves this one, I’m not really sure as I drank it fresh. Nice to get chance to try this one nonetheless.

Serving type: bottle

05-07-2006 20:55:05 | More by TheLongBeachBum

dgilks

Australia

3.9/5  rDev -1.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Hazy but not cloudy orange-gold colour with a creamy, off-white head. Decent head retention.

Spicy, clovey aroma with distinct citrussy, orange notes. Slight higher alcohol note in the finish which isn't good.

Smooth, sweetish malt with a robust spicy, phenol profile, mild banana and pear esters and some nice alcoholic dryness.

Medium to medium-light body with moderately-high carbonation is good for style.

A tasty Belgian style ale with lots of flavour. Very good.

Serving type: bottle

03-17-2011 08:04:24 | More by dgilks

UCLABrewN84

California

3.85/5  rDev -3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

On tap at Little Bear in Los Angeles, CA.

Pours a slightly murky honey orange with a foamy bone colored head that settles to a film on top of the beer. Foamy swaths of lace form around the glass on the drink down. Smell is grain, malt, grape juice, and some spice aromas. Taste is much the same with a medium amount of spice bitterness on the palate with each sip. This beer has a lower level of carbonation with a slightly crisp mouthfeel. Overall, this is a good beer with a better taste than smell in my opinion.

Serving type: on-tap

06-24-2012 08:32:14 | More by UCLABrewN84

OWSLEY069

Pennsylvania

3.8/5  rDev -4.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pours a hazy, deep orange-ish color with an off white head. In the aroma, light earthiness and a note of fruit. In the taste, apple fruitiness and a dry earthiness, with a nice yeast presence. A small bite and a medium bodied mouthfeel, with a dry green apple and earthy aftertaste. Earthy and a light fruitiness, a small abrasiveness but nice.

Serving type: bottle

07-10-2012 17:16:11 | More by OWSLEY069

spicelab

Australia

3.75/5  rDev -5.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3.5

With thanks to Lukie@IBS.

Deep amber, clear on the first pour but sediment creeps in later, capped by an immense, pillowy off-white head that leaves sparse laces spots as it falls to a final rasied ring.

Intriguing blend of yeasty goodness and rich malt character. Marmalade on toast, sour apple, hazelnuts, brazil nuts, fairy floss, marjoram tree bark and other spicy floral herbs that I can't place.

Flavours are oriented more towards peppery phenols and mild dark fruits. Nutmeg, prunes, sour apple, grapefruit pith, marmalade.

Medium mouthfeel with lively carbonation and a relatively dry finish, marred badly by booze heat.

Great and complex flavour profile, but the overt booziness is impossible to overlook. Oddly, I've had this a few times before and never noticed booziness at all. Resolved to try it again and establish if my palate was having an off-day.

Serving type: bottle

03-23-2012 07:14:03 | More by spicelab

Halcyondays

California

3.73/5  rDev -6%
look: 3 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

On-tap at Beachwood I,

A: Pours a dark red with a small off-white head, solid retention, some lace.

S: Dark bread and yeast, hint of plum and pear.

T: Fairly dark malt for the colour and style, some hefe similarities. Classic ester flavour, nothing really huge though.

M: Medium-bodied, creamy and fluffy, smooth, easy drinking.

O: A pretty standard representation if bordering a bit on BSDA and dubbel, but still carries the gamut of flavours of the BSPA. But don't expect anything close to Duvel. That's fine, the Belgian styles are fluid and allow for a lot of experimentation as Dupont has showed lately, showing why they're one of the best out there.

Serving type: on-tap

11-12-2011 23:34:05 | More by Halcyondays

northyorksammy

Ontario (Canada)

3.68/5  rDev -7.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

L`autre Oeil, with Mathieu. Nice Belgian pale style that is in fact cloudy brown, with a half ince of head and very yeasty.Above average mouthfeel, this is a nice drinker with any meal.There are spices in the yeast, pepper, cloves, vanila, honeyish,coriander.A little sweet.

Serving type: bottle

10-09-2009 00:24:08 | More by northyorksammy

cpetrone84

Pennsylvania

3.68/5  rDev -7.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pour is a rustic amber copper with a large bubbly off white head and a moderate lacing. The nose has a fair bit of yeast and peppery spice, dusty farmhouse notes with a lemon twang and lightly toasted biscuit to balance. Taste has less yeast to it, still nice and spicy in back lingering through the finish with toasted grains and lightly doughy malt body with a faint citrus hop in behind. Medium body with a creamy palate and assertive dry finish. Drinks more like a saison.

Serving type: bottle

10-22-2012 13:05:31 | More by cpetrone84

laituegonflable

Australia

3.5/5  rDev -11.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Pours a nice earthy orange with a nice thick haze, and hugely generous beige head that sinks all webbed out in sparse bubbling. Specks of lace but not much. Nice haze, great head. Would like more lace but otherwise near perfect.

Nose is very hoppy, and quite European in the hop character. Quite pilsenery actually, with a slight floral edge and a hint of pineapple, but mostly grassy and herbal. Bit of malt coming through but minimal. Not bad but lacks something.

Taste is very sour and quite phenolic, with a slight tangy citrus juice character on the mid followed by a longer rind kind of bitterness at the end. Quite acrid at times with lots of funk kind of character and some quite herbal phenols like Chinese medicine. Leaves a bit of a bitter hand which isn't tasty, but not overly offensive. Interesting is the best I can say about this.

Fairly nice mouthfeel, full body with some sedimenty texture, goes down pretty smooth and leaves a little dry. A good amount of slick.

Yeah, not too bad overall. Had a nice "flawed" character, with kinks that make it interesting, but not so much as to spoil the drinking experience.

Serving type: bottle

10-26-2009 23:46:43 | More by laituegonflable