Beljoe
Southern Tier Brewing Company

Solid belgian strong ale from Southern Tier

 

 

 

 

 

 

From 08/21/12 notes. Had this on tap at Stag's Head in NYC at their Southern Tier event. Was excited to see it on the list as I had never heard of it.

a - Pours a hazy golden, yellow-orange color with one inch of bright white head and moderate carbonation evident.

s - Smells of Belgian yeast, spices, bananas, pepper, cloves, fruity malts. Very nice nose.

t - Tastes of Belgian yeast, bananas, pears, fruity malts, spices, pepper, cloves, and bready malts. More fruit than the nose, less pepper, which I like a lot.

m - Medium body and low carbonation. Body is smooth and alcohol is not noticable.

o - Overall a very good Belgian style ale and a cool thing to see ST doing. Nice mix of fruit and spice, and doesn't feel like 8.6% ABV. Would like them to bottle this.

 

 

 

 

 

Appears bright golden with flowing streams of carbonation coming up from the bottom of my glass, bright white head flowing thick and powerful. Aroma has spicy notes of Belgian inspired yeast with grassy earth notes and a bit of skunked whatever the fuck. Big malty layers, sugar infused notes with herbal highlights and bubblegum notes...a real interesting Belgian style triple from Southern Tier. I'm liking it being so big and not hop friendly like their average big beer offering quite tasty and different from their norm. Full bodied even carbonation slightly stick with residual sugars, yet beautiful inspired Belgian offering. A tasty overall beer that I;'m pleasured to share with brewers of this caliber.

a: pale golden with very good clarity, almost no head but I'm attributing that to the glassware at this pub
s : the aroma is primarily clove, pepper and pear followed by a soft pilsner malt sweetness and floral hops. Anything else is lost to patchouli wafting over from from the nonconformist next to me at the pub
T: malt sweetness quickly checked by a hops bitterness that takes over along with a peppery and clove yeast derived flavors. Floral hops flavors are hanging out there as well.
M: medium body with a sparkling medium high carbonation. No astringency. There is a nice soft alcohol heat hinting at alcohol content.
O: a wonderfully smooth and soft beer with spicy, hop driven flavors balanced by a soft sweetness.

 

 

Draft offering at the Ithaca Alehouse. Served in a standard pint glass, the brew appears a hazed golden yellow color. A finger of white sits atop and maintains fairly decent retention. Some spots of lacing effect stick to the glass.

The aroma includes lots of belgian phenols. Clove nearly dominates all other aspects with some peopery quality and dried mild fruits somewhat like pear. Banana is evident along with a tingle of alcohol and earthy hops.

The taste includes a dominating amount of yeasty spices. Clove is at the helm with some peppery inclusion. Banana, pear and more dry fruity alcohol notes. A light inclusion of wheat. For a brew that is under 9% alcohol this packs a serious punch of heat/warmth down the back of the throat despite being served colder than ideal.

This is a medium bodied brew with modest carbonation. I approached this brew with an open mind since I never heard of it before. Keeping that in mind, this was a pretty decent offeing. However, this is a huge spicy brew that is unbalanced in that regard. I would have liked to seen less focus on the spice and alcohol. Finishing my glass was not particularly easy.