Date Night
Big Dog's Draft House

a delicious belgian dark strong ale with dates and maple, desserty and sweet, but among my favorite beers i had in here, really flavorful and interesting, the dates add a lot, and its quite unique, fun stuff. deep amber to chestnut colored liquid with an ample layer of tan bubbles on top, not quite belgian level rise and retention but it looks lively enough, lighter than expected body to me, bubbly and shiny. the nose is sweet, the dates are obvious, raisin-like in here with some brown sugar and the aromatic maple syrup element, dark candy sugar, sweet oak, pralines, and long boiled malt with that abbey type richness, less belgian yeasty than expected but thats okay, there is enough happening here. the yeast in the taste is a bit generic to me, a bit like american belgian, the same thing everyone uses, light esters, peppercorn, clove, works great with the dates and maple for sure, i dont need more from it than it gives here, even if its unexciting. notes of roasted nuts and cut wood, fig and molasses, very very sweet, couldnt drink a lot of this, and with some exposed alcohol too, but the flavors are great, love the concentrated maltiness and the date together, maple is mostly late, right on the swallow, they work real well together. i get white pepper and coriander in the yeast now, light bitterness there but stil very sugary overall. a little lighter on the carbonation than id like it to be, and a touch thin feeling even, but the flavors are big, it coats the palate and has a nice aftertaste, and it warms up nicely. a delicious and creative slow sipper, lacking epic refinement but i like where this is at anyway. smart recipe, great showcase of the dates especially, solid base beer!