La Botteresse Ambree
Brasserie la Botteresse de Sur-les-Bois

 

 

 

 

11.2 ounce bottle served cold. Poured in 16 ounce round glass beer challis

A) Medium brown with a murky look. Probably some leesage seeping through! Poured with a big white head, large carbonation bubbles, dissappated quickly and almost no lacing.

S) Malty sweet caramel.

T) At first I thought this was a sour. Wasn't quite what I was expecting, however, I enjoyed the flavors, spices, and complexity of the beer.

M) Carbonation is disappating quickly. Kind of a letdown.

D) Definitely dark for an amber. In French Ambree' means 'Ambered" so maybe it is meant to be Amber-ish? Or an Ambered dark beer?

This beer is 8.5% alcohol and you can barely taste that! I would definitely drink one again. The expiration showed to be 6/2012 so I wonder if this bottle suffered from some poor storage conditions to taste a little sour/oxidized. Overall I would drink this beer again and am thankful for the friend that gave it to me to try!

Serving type: bottle

A: cloudy burnished deep copper. Minimal fleeting head. Poured by the bartender.
S: toffee, spice, funky, earthy, dried stone fruits.
T: quite sour. Toffeeish medium sweet malts. More of the above.
M: medium bodied and chewy. Puckering.
O: not my thing and I never woulda guessed this to be a bpa.

Pours a murky chestnut brown with lots of bubbles rising up to an inch of off white head. The head falls quickly to a small ring, and island. What lacing there is falls back into the drink.

I smell caramel, tea(leaf, bark, and root tea), almonds, and fermenting fruits. Not very complex, but an overall nice mild aroma.

It is slightly sweet, and slightly tart. Earthy, with faint bitterness. Rich toffee, plums, and almonds, with a slight hints of tea. Like the nose, the flavors are mild, and lack complexity.

Medium body with a moderate, fizzy carbonation that gently scrubs my tongue. It leaves a slight coating on my tongue.

Not a bad beer. The mouthfeel, and flavors do not pair up well IMO. I would drink it again; if you were buying.

11.2 ounce bottle served cold. Poured in 16 ounce round glass beer challis

A) Chocolate brown murky soup with lots of suspended, bottle conditioned carbonation. Fine sediment and yeasties floating around. Short lacy white head is gone in minutes.

S) Sweet caramel, toasted almonds, mild alcohol, root beer

T) Complex mixture of dark fruit, baked breads, hint of citrus fruit zest. Hardly an amber in color or taste -- more of a traditional Belgian (brown) dubbel

M) Thick with fine carbonation. Holds up well and is consistent for over 20 minutes

D) I enjoyed this strong ale with only comment being it is rather dark for an 'Amber'.

Carefully poured to leave the lees behind, La Botteresse Ambree displays a gleeming ruby-accented chestnut body beneath a creamy head of tan foam.

The nose welcomes you with soft fruit, gently sweet caramelish malt, and some sweetly herbaceous, gently grassy, and mildly spicy notes.

The flavor delivers a burst of sweet and gently tart fruitiness at the front of the mouth, followed by softly sweet and creamy caramelish and chocolatey malt as it warms across the middle. The leafy hop and spiciness are present throughout, but they mainly becomes clear at the swallow and into the soft finish. The malt fades fairly readily, and the grassy hops and spice are left behind, leaving it fairly dry. A moderate bitterness balances it; the alcohol never shows; and it's really smooth and supple across the palate. It's really nicely rounded and balanced!

Despite its 8.5% alcohol by volume, it's really, really drinkable. There's just enough malt, yeasty fruitiness, and elusive spice to intrigue you and keep you coming back for more. Superb!

Reviewed on 05/27/2009. Bottle. Pours a murky light brown with a small white head. Aroma is very sweet with lots of sweet caramel malt and yeast. Flavor of sweet fruits (fig, apple, pear) and a nice malt backbone with spices in the finish. Pretty nice, solid BSA.

Pours a fully clouded brown with a thin tan head. Nose is thick caramelized sugars. Flavor brings a lot of the same as well. Thick brown sugar profile. Full fruit tones. Feel has a large carbonation to it and the liquid is smooth and silky. Nice to drink, though the intense carbonation and high amount of sugary sweetness puts it near being over the top.

Coming in a short 330ml brown bottle, with a freshness index unmarked on the front label, served chilled in Hapkin's deep tulip-shaped bowl.

A: pours a semi-murky, dark reddish copper hue, coming with a tremendously thick and tight beige rocky head with superb retention, on top of lively but fine carbonation.
S: the aromatic esters and hops are dancing in the face, on top of a delicious amber-malt backbone, added with lightly green-banana-ish yeastiness, dusty hints, Chinese-green-bean like candy-sugary aroma and plenty of salty prune-ish fruits. Pleasant and very estery overall.
T: medium-spicy, sour-sweet fruity as well as chewy due to the yeastiness with a mild input of hop bitterness at the back of the palate. The aftertaste is slightly tea-ish sweet-bitter as well as herbal, on top of a yeasty mouthfeel and a lightly white-grapey finish. Not terribly complex, but overall a balance is reached for an amber ale of its own class.
M&D: spritzy but not fizzy, refreshing enough to suit the flavour profile and the hop/yeasty elements; plus, the finish is free from the trouble of the syrupy sugary mouthfeel that many Belgian ales are prone to. Overall a very decent amber ale, perhaps the more delicious amongst the three La Botteresse ales I've tried.

Brown, dumpy 33cl bottle.

Poured into my Brugse Straffe hendrik chalise glass.

Very livelly, came out the bottle before I could pour it, bringing all the sediment from the bottom with it. My glass was therefore full of bits and a cloudy dull, dish water brown coloured liquid. This dish water had no head, not even some grotty scum on top. Not a good start.

The smell was weak, almost aromaless, some hop esters maybe, malt smells too.

I liked the taste, sharp, sour yet also a sweetness to it. Complexed in every way, but enjoyable too.

Once I got over the non-aroma and no head, cloudy bits and dull colouring, I really thought this was OK. I will allow the bottle to sit for a couple of days before opening next time, or maybe let the beer age a while.