#21/86 AHS New Belgium Abbey Ale

This is one of my favorite beers to date.  This has been a great winter beer.  This beer sat for six months before we had our first taste.  

Winner of four World Beer Cup medals and eight medals at the Great American Beer Fest, Abbey Belgian Ale is the Mark Spitz of New Belgium s lineup - but it didn't start out that way. When Jeff and Kim first sampled the beer at the Lyons Folks Fest, reviews were mixed at best. One of founder Jeff s first two Belgian style homebrews (along with Fat Tire), Abbey is a Belgian dubbel (or double) brewed with six different malts and an authentic Belgian yeast strain. Abbey is bottle-conditioned, weighs in at 7.0% alcohol by volume, and pairs well with chocolate (or boldly served by itself) for dessert.

BJCP Style 18B Date Brewed 6/2/2012 ABV 7.09 OG 1.065 FG 1.011 Calories 183 SRM  14.9

Grains 6 lb Amber LME 2 lb Cane Sugar 1.5 lb Munich Malt .25 lb Cara-Pils Malt .25 lb Chocolate Malt .5 lb Crystal 75L Malt Hops-Bittering .75 oz Target Hops-Aroma .25 oz Willamette Yeast WLP500 Trappist Ale

The original beer produced by New Belgium.

Birthdate: June, 1991

ABV: 7.0%

IBU: 20

Calories: 210

Hops: Willamette, Target, Liberty

Malts: Pale, Chocolate, Carapils, C-80, Munich

Body: Medium - Full

Aroma: Candy banana, sweet chocolate malt, clove, bubblegum, sweet spice cake, cinnamon, dark fruits

Mouthfeel: Full mouthfeel, creamy and rounded start and middle, slight warming and peppery perception give it a clean and slightly dry finish

Flavor: Spiced banana bread, slight peppery/clove/herbal, sweet caramel and bitter roasty chewy chocolate malt, nuances of pipe tobacco

Visual: Clear (kegs) or Hazy (bottles) with a deep redwood-mahogany, tan head with elegant billowing lacing