Mont Saint Guibert Brune
Brasserie De Mont-Saint-Guibert

From my notes 6/6/07 - Pours a five-finger light tan head that fades slowly to a thin layer leaving a good lace. Deep copper color. Almost a raisin nose. Good carbonation and medium bodied. Flavor is like rusty raisins with a slight metallic finish. Best by Aug 2011. €3 ($4.11) for a 330ml bottle from Battle of Bulge War Memorial gift shop in Bastogne, Belgium. Label is picture of General Patton.

Brewed March '06, picked up at the Battle Of The Bulge U.S. monument gift shop in Sept. '06, outside Bastogne, Belgium. My bottle is clearly named 'Patton', with a picture of the general on the label. Otherwise it matches this very beer, same brewery, same style, same ABV, etc. [A name change/update seems in order, so I reported it to the Bros.]

Got an enormous creamy head consisting of tiny bubbles, which mellowed very slowy and sat on top of a dark ruby brown boasting tons of bubbles trailing up into the head. Beautiful.

The aroma is big and juicy, fruity and fragrant, almost raspberry-like. I even smell Trix cereal. Funky yeast smell appears too. Faint echoes of chocolate and raisin also, but it's dominated by the fruitiness, and is one of the most unique and enjoyable Belgian dark ales I've ever sniffed a whiff of.

The flavor, while good, doesn't live up to the great looks and smells. It leans too much toward the heat of the alcohol and a bitter cardboard/wood smack in the finish. The dark fruits, blueberry, strawberry, yeast dirtiness, pepper and cocoa I detected are unfortunately pushed to the background. In a word: unbalanced.

Carbonation is a bit much, breaking up in the mouth with too much fizz, rendering that uncertain flavor profile even more elusive.

There's a really good beer in here somewhere, and the beginning of the experience is wonderful. The flavor is even good to very good, but it's got problems and a real identity crisis. I hope to find another one of these in my lifetime and see how it evolves.

No freshness date. Good presentation with lasting yellowlightbrown head and dark brown beercollor. Nose is lots of dark candy, plums and litle strawberryfruits togeter with good and fresh maltiness. Overal fine nose with litle funky note. Taaste is also full malty, sliight but heavy tick of alcohol, good bitter aftertaste and an haylike impression. Yes this is an enjoyable brew that has good carbonisation; quiet high but fitting. Fine mouthfeel and easy drinkable overall and IMO worth seeking out.