-
Stop lurking! Log in to search, post in our forums, review beers, see fewer ads, and more. — Todd, Founder of BeerAdvocate
Grand Cru Abbey Ale
New Belgium Brewing Company
- From:
- New Belgium Brewing Company
- Colorado, United States
- Style:
- Belgian Dark Strong Ale
- ABV:
- 9.5%
- Score:
- 89
- Avg:
- 3.99 | pDev: 11.03%
- Reviews:
- 173
- Ratings:
- Status:
- Retired
- Rated:
- Jan 27, 2023
- Added:
- May 11, 2002
- Wants:
- 55
- Gots:
- 43
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Reviewed by Lone_Freighter from Vermont
3.99/5 rDev 0%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
3.99/5 rDev 0%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Poured into a chalice, the appearance was a murky semi-dark red to brown color displacing any sort of light allowed through it. Just a finger's worth of white foamy head sat atop and softly fell off to leave some mild messy sliding lace.
The aroma had some soft sweet dark fruits muddled by some Belgian sugars, light Belgian yeasty/breadiness, red apples, eventful allspice/Belgian spice blend, some floral sweetness, and a moderate long sweet earthiness coming about.
The flavor was a fine blend between sweet and bready - Belgian sweet to Belgian spicy pummeling the aftertaste just I expected it would, but there was some faint breadiness in the aftertaste - very little.
The mouthfeel was about medium bodied with a fair sipping quality about it. Carbonation felt fine rolling against my tongue nicely. ABV felt appropriate.
Overall, pretty nice as a Belgian Strong Dark Ale that I wouldn't mind coming back to.
Jun 29, 2017The aroma had some soft sweet dark fruits muddled by some Belgian sugars, light Belgian yeasty/breadiness, red apples, eventful allspice/Belgian spice blend, some floral sweetness, and a moderate long sweet earthiness coming about.
The flavor was a fine blend between sweet and bready - Belgian sweet to Belgian spicy pummeling the aftertaste just I expected it would, but there was some faint breadiness in the aftertaste - very little.
The mouthfeel was about medium bodied with a fair sipping quality about it. Carbonation felt fine rolling against my tongue nicely. ABV felt appropriate.
Overall, pretty nice as a Belgian Strong Dark Ale that I wouldn't mind coming back to.
Reviewed by StonedTrippin from Colorado
3.95/5 rDev -1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
3.95/5 rDev -1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
2011 edition, absolutely delicious. have been wanting to get into one of these for a long time. the base abbey i think is by far the best of the all the time new belgium stuff, and its cool to see this bigger brother special edition of it. looks deep red in color, softly hazy, well carbonated but also delicate, great lacing and head retention, and a nose of amazing belgian yeast with white pepper and clove spice. its got a great malt base, specialty malts i assume, copper and sweet reds, belgian candy sugar too i would assume to spike the abv. the yeast and the grain work amazingly well together, it tastes a lot like the base beer, just more of it, bigger, concentrated, delicious. clove spice is more subtle in the flavor, but the yeast is vibrant, i get dried cherry and plum, as well as brown sugar in it, but its all real gentle and well integrated, obviously very mature at this point. this is really special beer overall, an amazing yeast strain and it ages extremely well. good enough to have come from the likes of la trappe or bernardus or something, very genuine old world belgian style with brilliant execution. this makes me yearn for the days all new belgium beer was this good! stoked to have finally gotten to have a glass of this, i have heard a lot of rave reviews, and it lives up to the hype. hopefully cross paths with this again sometime...
Mar 27, 2016Reviewed by Kylemif from Oregon
4.52/5 rDev +13.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
4.52/5 rDev +13.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
Opened a bottle of this last night that I had cellared. Bottled on 3/21/2011 and it was phenomenal. Was dinner-partying and a few buddies tried with me, enjoyed thoroughly by all.
Aug 26, 2015Reviewed by pat61 from Minnesota
4.5/5 rDev +12.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.5/5 rDev +12.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Had on tap at the Bryant Lake Bowl L: Clear amber to chestnut, not much head. S: Light fruit and spice, some Belgian yeast. T: Yeast driven with a little caramel, hints of chocolate, light fruit. Moderately sweet. F: Medium body and slightly above average carbonation. O: A well made easy to drink Belgian Strong Dark Ale.
Jun 23, 2015Rated by jarheadduk from North Carolina
5/5 rDev +25.3%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5
5/5 rDev +25.3%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5
Working off old notes. Will update with more details if/when I have another.
Jan 23, 2015
Grand Cru Abbey Ale from New Belgium Brewing Company
Beer rating:
89 out of
100 with
335 ratings
We love reviews (150 characters or more)! Check out: How to Review a Beer. You don't need to get fancy. Drop some thoughts on the beer's attributes (look, smell, taste, feel) plus your overall impression. Something that backs up your rating and helps others. Thanks!