Belgian-Style Dark Ale
pFriem Family Brewers

Look: A solid ‘pop’ as the cork is removed and my pour sends a rich, amber liquid into the glass as a silky khaki head quickly follows

Aroma: Warm bread, Belgian yeast, toffee, dried and fresh dark fruit, some dough, wafts of chocolate, and ripe apples

Taste: Whoa baby. Kicks off with dried prunes, ripe apple flesh, and fresh black fig, along with some luscious chocolate notes and these immediately develop depth. Dough, lightly toasted bread, and aromas of freshly baked bread follow and begin building a complex combo along with the fruit and chocolate notes already present. Closes out with more dark fruit, bread, and some lovely yeast phenolics

Mouthfeel: Full, immensely smooth, clean, nice, soft-feeling carb, and soft and smooth on the finish

Overall: This is an amazingly deep and tasty beer. Given how I feel about these folks and Belgian Dark Ales being my favorite style of Belgian ale, I couldn’t believe I’d never reviewed this so had to. It’s delicious, complex, and extremely well-made with great depth of flavor/aroma, plus it is unbelievably good at hiding its 10% ABV. Do yourself a favor and try this beer if you haven’t already as you will not be let down. Highly recommended

Uncaging and uncorking the bottle resulted in a fine airy pop; the body is a clear, light brown tone; a very dense and creamy head; gently rocky with plenty of foam strands cascading down the inside of the glass; dense and long-lasting sheets of foam inside the glass. Mildly sweet nose; subtly bready and yeasty. Very mild chocolate flavor with a notion of hop spiciness; phenolic bitterness adds depth; very faint sense of figs; mildy boozy. Medium body; smooth and airy; velvety and pillowy; a kind of delicate sharpness on the palate; alcohol heat.

This is a strange bird. A generally pleasant beer bringing subliminal balance and nuance to the palate. The malt flavor somewhat reminds me for some reason of zweibach crackers. Overall, I find the beer enjoyable. It is bready with a fine sense of muted sweetness yet also has a somewhat powerful boozy quality. I think this beer would be a fine candidate for some short-term aging to round off the rough edges.

ABV: 10.0%; pouring temperature: 56.8 °F; bottling info: 01 24 25
Source: Tavour

Had last night as a night cap. Pours a reddish-brown color with almost no head. The aroma is mild with notes of light roasted malt and dried fruits with a touch of caramel. Nice easy drinking dark beer that doesn't taste like a 10% ABV. I've had this bottle for a while BOD 5-7-2018 38 IBUs Rated 3-20-2024

Look - ruby brown with a nice head and lacing
Smell - dark fruits, fig bubble gum yeast
Taste - dark fruit, chocolate, toffee
Feel - medium body and medium carb
Overall -decent example of the style

375mL cork-topped bottle, bottled on 11 04 23, served in a tulip. Beer is red-tinged brown and mostly clear, and forms loads of chestnut color head. Not much in the way of aroma. Flavor has a bit of roasty malt flavor and a hint of candi sugar. But actually it doesn't have a lot of flavor at all. It does hide the supposed 10.0% ABV incredibly well, to its credit. But for a BSDA I want a lot more complexity and interesting flavors.

I've never been impressed with a pFriem beer and I continue to not be. The best I can say about this one is that at least it was on sale for $2.99 at QFC.

 

 

Taster at brewery. Amber with small creamy head. Aroma is yeast and malts, malt becoming more dominant in the taste. Still has some of that Belgian funk.

Look - brown clear with a great head and lacing
Smell - dark fruit fig and some Belgian bubble gun yeast
Taste - dark fruit fit with a slight bitterness
Feel - medium body and medium light carb
Overall - pretty nice Belgian

 

 

Beer Connoisseur mag gave this brewery high ratings - just tryed three of their beers and did not think there was anything special about them . this one was a nice belgium style ale slightly strong

I really wanted to like this beer. We're big fans of Pfriem, but this one just didn't do it. Yes, it's 10% ABV but the beer had a very strong and unpleasant alcohol taste. The carbonation was extremely high and the beer was fizzy in the glass and in your mouth. Both the alcohol taste and extreme carbonation washed away most of the flavor. The look was light for a dark ale and the smell was mildly caramel. I would take a pass on this one.

A little dead inside, over-carbonated, big bubble foam, dark ruby x fluorescent ruby, soft vanilla, extra stank, no true body, no where, gone.

Chestnut body that tails to the lighter side when pressed into a position. Nice tight fizzy offwhite head that has really impressive staying power. Nice lacing down the glass as well.

Nose is immediately alive with belgiany esters: banana leads everything, but there's some caramel and some rye-like spice. Honestly smells like something a bit lighter than it is in my internal heuristic analysis structure.

Flavour brings forward a classic profile of the 'lighter' end of the dark belgian spectrum. Spicy and fruity, with some ribbon of caramel and a broad dull nutty tone draped over the whole thing. The finish takes that spicy note and brings it into a playful little bitter bite.

Creamy and fizzy so it's kind of thin, but with some depth and smoothe. Like the whole thing is made of foam.

This is aight. Part of it is my own fault for misreading the label and expecting something bigger/stronger/bolder/darker, and part of it is this just isn't really my favourite style in general. Pfriem are imminently talented brewers and this does nothing to dissuade that, but it also just doesn't really do that much for me.

 

“Bold complex notes of fig dipped in dark chocolate, ripe fruit and toffee.”