La Fringante
Unibroue

750ml bottle from 2003.

Pours clear gold with a short-lived head of white. Minimal retention or lacing. Apple skins and cloves in the nose. Medium bodied with a tacky, slickish mouthfeel. Red apples drizzled with honey on the palate. Finishes a bit sweet.

 

Something strange and magnificent happened, I will expand after the review is done. For now, a full four finger head with a rocky, creamy, and did I mention rocky? White head appears, a mix of densely packed bubbles at the bottom and increasingly large, circular ones towards the top. I do the little tip and spin you see the Unibroue brewers do, which I surmise wakes up a small amount of the yeast into the pour while leaving most heavy sediment behind. The beer is a hazy, deep amber-orange. It’s, well, quite magnificent to look at.

Sweet yeast, doughy malts, caramelized cereal grain aroma of delicious barley. Notes of citrus zest, a little bit of spice. As the head slowly fades, new aromas becomes apparent. Buttery esters, spice, gentle farmyard funkiness, banana bubblegum, and much more.

Quite a delicious evolution on the palate. The strongest flavours, carrying everything else on its back, is a chewy, doughy, tasty delicious yeastiness and sweet maltiness. Delicious spices abound here, light pepperiness of black pepper, the spice hint of white pepper, and tasty cloves. In and out is a general barnyard funkiness that adds to the savouriness of the beer, less grassy funk and more leathery, wooden even. Because of the large ester hits of the yeast, the fruit flavours take on a new dimension from the nose, towards candied orange and lemon citrus peel. Lightly buttery banana is apparent as well, if this is a flavour you enjoy I suspect this flavour would come out a lot more as the beer warms up.

Medium bodied, good carbonation, bubbles are small and tightly packed. Reading the reviews after I posted this, there seems to be quite a variation in the perception of the effervescence and creamy vs foaminess of the beer on each sip. I found it a pleasant mix, sitting in between both. The head may prepare you for otherwise, but I found the sip not overtly prickly or over carbonated. A pleasantly long, predominantly doughy, chewy yeasty and malty finish, which is on the sweet side.

Here’s where I explain the story from above — I did the quick twist before the pour as I’ve seen them do at the brewery. Alas, I opened the bottle too soon. I did let it sit for a bit but as soon as I popped it open it foamed like it was champagne exploding at a wedding. A three finger head appeared, before… slowly expanding over the next three minutes? What a show, it was like a Guinness, Belgian style. It expanded almost 50%, bubbles clashing and exploding all over, as if the battle of the 300 Spartans was going on in my glass. Or to use a Belgian Canadian reference, as if it was the great Battle of the Scheldt. I’ve never seen bubbles clash and foam, move around in the glass like that. Streams were going sideways. Not sure if the glass had weird nucleation points, the yeast was super active, or the beer was Uber fresh (or all three) but it was amazing.

To top off my review — I’m a heretic, and typically don’t rank Unibroue as highly on many of their styles as their Belgian brothers. This beer, however? Again, heresy for some but I enjoyed this more than La Fin du Monde. This is probably one of the best beers I’ve ever had. Must buy for absolutely anyone. Must try for a draught/tap version. Absolutely delightful

Unibroue 'La Fringante' @ 10% , served from a couple of 341 ml bottle's
A-pour is a light gold from the bottle to a slight hazy gold in the glass with a small off-white head leaving a fine spotty lace ring along the goblet
S-Unibroue's Belgian yeast , almost sweet
T-smooth & strong ,
MF-ok carbonation , feels full bodied
Ov-very similar to a Tripel , more Belgian yeast on the swallow
prost LampertLand

 

La Fringante from Unibroue. Got a 24 mix pack at Costco for 29,99$

Look: Beautiful hazy amber colour, about 2 fingers of white head. Wait about 5 min for the head to go down

Smell: Citrus, Orange peel, Roasted caramel, peach, banana.

Taste: fruits, banana, citrus, orange peel, yeast, some pepper.

Feel: Medium body, light to medium carbonation, easy drinking for a 10%

So overall would I recommend it? Sure, very nice trippel overall. Love that style

Would I buy it again ? Yes if I can find it but La Fin Du Monde is perfectly find

Look: Beautiful Amber colour on the pour,. Just a slight bit of cloudiness .,.,big head stick to the walls lacing
Smell: very reminiscent of a number of Abbey beers,. but the head is a big scent block.,
Taste.,: Loved it; smooth for 10% ABV,. but tasty and fresh all the way
Feel : Feels like a Tripel., I didn't find the carbonation tight and thick as others have noted.,.,but then again I deliberately opened this from the box without refrigeration to get right to heart of the taste
Bears more study,. but I would order this on tap in a heartbeat.,

Hazy amber color. Poured a head about 3 times higher than the level of the beer in the glass; pour very slowly. Left many patches of lace on the glass as I waited for the head to drop down over several minutes. The top of the head formed marshmallow-like mounds and valleys as it dropped. High flow of very fine bubbles starting at all levels of the fluid.

Smells of medium roasted caramel malt. Spice. Yeast. A light citrus fruit. Sometimes a bit of fresh mint. The foam seemed to block off a lot of the scent. Swirling the glass kicked up a light barnyard and a stronger mint with that citrus. Then the foam seemed to block off a lot of the scent again.

Starts off with a very light and fresh malt flavor; minty fresh, but without the mint flavor. The malt gets stronger as it warms up. Spice and citrus join in, with some heat building up with the spice. It could be the high alcohol level, but it doesn't really taste like alcohol or feel like an alcohol burn. Light bitters. The aftertaste is a strong burst of the malt, citrus, and spice. Some yeasty funk follows. Most of the flavors fade out leaving a light malt with a stronger citrus. Then the spice returns with a bit more burn.

Super foamy. Doesn't go through a creamy phase, somewhat coarse. Has a bit of a burn which feels more like spice than the high alcohol.

Overall had a much lighter scent and flavor profile than I expected. A little hard to drink with the high carbonation level; I don't think it would be possible to take a couple of quick swallows. This must be rolled around in the mouth for a while. Nice for a minor change of pace, but I still prefer La Fin Du Monde.

Sampled bottle, RBNAG 2007 in Grimstad. ABV was 10%. Pale golden colour, floaties in the bottle. Moderately spicy aroma, a bit "unfresh". Nice flavour, spicy. Warming mouthfeel.

 

Unibroue La Fringante

An early birthday gift from my old man. Apparently according to this site this brew wasn't widely available and likely isn't even made anymore? No idea where he snagged it up at. But if this is anything like La Fin I expect it to be quite good. Let's see what we get.

Look - From the 750ml corked bottle hard poured into a goblet. Brew pours a tint of orange with a tint of yellow and a tint of amber. What the hell is going on here exactly? The head amounts to the densest of all density and sit at a whopping two and a half fingers of beauty. Suffers a long, dragged out death down to still yet a thick finger and frothy dense cap amongst the top of the nectar. A small bit of floating sediment can be noticed when held up to the light and the carbonation appears lively. Lacing and stick are very slight.

Smell - The fruit esters in this beer are absolutely superb with notes of fresh peach and banana and ripe passion fruits. Also has huge quaffs of fresh juicy fruit gum and that very Belgian yeast factor going on. Alcohol is there as well and pleasantly teases the hairs in your nostrils. Touches of barn yard funk and mustard seed along with traces if what is called ' horse blanket '. This smell delivers but if I had to complain the alcohol could be turned down A TOUCH. Smells like a Tripel.

Taste - Basically alcoholic juicy fruit drink. Lots and lots of fruits, all the ones I had mentioned in the nose without getting too deep into the philosophy. The esters are simply magnanimous. The yeast is as perfect as you could possibly get and in comes a new challenger known as fresh squeezed pear juice long with the skins. Touches of mustard seed and Belgian whorehouse with small traces of the horse blanket. Alcohol is only noticeable on some sips. Banana also strongly enters the fray as the beer warms.

Feel - The feel on this brew is full as can possibly be given the relatively placid nature of body in this specific style with a bit of a bread like feeling coating the mouth as it continues to sit there. Carbonation is exceptionally lively and the alcohol isn't nearly as present as you'd think for a 10 percenter. All flavors remain much the same with the fruit aspect dominating and the funk falling to the back ground. Swallows easy as can be and is very drying.

Overall - I'm saddened. Not about the beer, but the fact that apparently many people didn't get to try this. Absolutel quintessential rendition of the Tripel style. I didn't even like La Fin THIS much. If this were available regularly and locally you would see my obituary from alcohol poisoning. Unbelievably drinkable for 10% and tasty as all get out. IF I had to complain, the carbonation could have been turned down just a bit..

 

 

 

 

 

 

Appearance - Pours a hazy gold/amber with two fingers of effervescent head.

Smell - Unibroue traditional strain of yeast, clove, banana, tropical fruit.

Taste - A lot of fruity esters and the strong yeast flavour. Clove and banana are strongly present as well.

Mouthfeel - Medium bodied with moderate carbonation. Nice foaminess.

Overall - Another strong and solid product made by Unibroue. Hits the right marks on the style.