Oh Brother
Papago Brewing

I gave this beer a perfect score. I don't know how Papago Brewing does it but they not only are making the best beer in Arizona I have to say that this beer is of world class caliber. As many know they have their beer contract brewed for them using their recipes by other Arizona breweries, but their beers are so much better than the places that actually brew the beer for them it is amazing. This beer is really good and has all the Belgian character that is expected. To steal a quote from Tim Webb, it is a deep, dark, potent, warming cosmic meltdown of a forcefully contemplative brew, begging to be the last of the evening. I would compare it to Rochefort 8 or Scaldis Prestige. The beer is a deep rich brown color with red hues. It has an initial Belgian Candi Sugar sweetness but because of the high alcohol it finishes out nicely and is not sickly sweet. No hops are evident but they weren't expected anyway for this style of beer. They also bottled 200 bottles of it. I bought a couple of bottles and plan on laying them down for a year or two to age. With 12.5% alcohol I think I know it will age really good.

This is a pre-release sample; it has a hazy deep orange color, with red highlights to it. This does not have any real head to it as it is currently only lightly carbonated. The aroma is quite fruity, almost sweetly so, but the sweetness is actually from the fruity aromatics; I get notes of plum and a hint of tart apple.

The taste is still a tad yeasty, but actually this adds to the complexity of the beer. Overall this beer is quite fruity in the taste as well, with notes of sweet plum, raisin, plus a rum-like note to it which includes the alcohol in the finish, which is here yet still soft and does not distract from the easy drinkability of this beer. The alcohol is pretty well integrated and subtle for the actual percentage. As beer ferments a tad more and becomes a bit more carbonated it will become quite a bit drier. I really like the intense, up front fruit notes found in this beer.