Trader Joe's 2009 Vintage Ale
Trader Joe's Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Continuing a tradition of opening these 3 years aged, perhaps waited a little long on this one. Stored in a dark area, refrigerated a day before opening.

A - Dark cola color with a light tan one finger head that diminishes to a thin lace on the surface.

S - Sweet candied fruits (pineapple, apricot, passion fruit, mango), caramel, pine, yeast.

T - A little musky with aging, but still a pretty good tasting brew. Sweet candied fruit tastes come through in the taste as well. Lots of pineapple and other tropical fruits. A bit of traditional holiday spices, orange, pine, cloves. Roasted malty aftertaste.

M - High alcohol leaves mouth a bit dry, but balances well with the sweetness of the beer.

O - Not bad despite the overaging. Unibroue rarely makes a bad beer and this one certainly stands up to the years, pleasant end of the year drink.

 

 

Saw this lying in the back of my cupboard, checked the Best Before date = 09-12-2012, whew, time to drink this!

A dark ale on lees.

I don't know what the proper technique is in opening, but, upon popping the cork, a lot of foam came running out. Perhaps, this is past it's prime?

Appearance: Dark, Chocolate., hazy brown. Lots of sticky creamy coffee colored foam over flowing my goblet. If not for the overflowing foam, would be a 4.0.

Smell: sweet citrus and spice like christmas, yeast back-end.

Taste: sweet spice up front, then, some cocoa and malt. Finishes with heavy spice and citrus, a touch dry and bitter.

Feel: wet, slippery, initially carbonated, but, disappears after few minutes.

Overall: Spice dominates with citrus. Lighter tasting than it looks. Alcohol sneaks up on you. Enjoyed this, but, 1 bottle is more than enough.

Note: Brewed by Unibroue exclusively for Trader Joe's, of course.

Pours dark garnet, borderline black. Opaque and thick. Nice off-white head sits nicely in a Teku glass. Strong smell of yeast.

Rich with hints of mocha, cherry, spice, and ginger, this is interesting to have in its aged form. The suggested "drink by" date is coming up: 9-13-2012; suffice to say that this might be a touch past its prime but, nonetheless, has a spicy, malty, almost sour presence to it that is really refined for $5 a bottle. Smooth. The booze is all but buried in the back, making this dangerous drinking. Cola-like in mouthfeel and actually has a "Cherry Coke" flavor to it. Medium to medium-heavy bodied but super easy on the palate.

If you have any of these lingering about in your stash, break them out ASAP. Bring out the cheese plate while you're at it.

Review from 8/2010 notes. Poured into a Gulden Draak tulip. Pours a dark, dark red amber. Very nice heavy tan head and tons of lacing. Looks very nice. Malt and dark fruit up front with spices an fruit in the middle and light malty finish with a bit of bitterness. Somewhat of a dry, abrupt finish. Not very heavy bodied, but the flavors are well integrated. These Trader Joe's Vintage ales seem to do nicely with about a year or so of aging.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

brown with a huge frothy head. Smell was very spicey, grassy and earthy tones with a hint of sweetness. The taste was classic belgian and very nicely done. Fruitness and spices predominate, no hint of alcohol, which at 9%abv is incredible. Really smooth and effortless in drinkability. This is a fantastic brew, way too easy to drink, honestly the easiest 9% I have ever had