Mouette à Trois
Karl Strauss Brewing Company

This “fruitcake ale”, which is officially classified as a Belgian strong dark ale, pours a very dark amber color with a healthy layer of tan foam. The scent, which is faint, is of yeast and fruit, possibly cherry. The initial taste is mild, but the flavor grows in the aftertaste. It is certainly complex and full bodied. It has a very strong malt backbone, which is very bread-like with a significant caramel flavor also. It also has definite complex fruit and spice flavors, which include cherry, apricot, vanilla, gingerbread, and nutmeg. Not to mention a hint of alcohol flavor, which isn’t surprising considering it’s 8.5%. It has a somewhat sweet finish. Karl Strauss I’ve found to be a fairly mediocre brewery, but I think that this is for me their best offering that I’ve tried despite it getting fairly low ratings. The ratings were very varied in their descriptions of the beer also though, so this might vary from batch to batch. I don’t think this would be for everyone, but I think it has a nice holiday comfort feel and is very interesting. It does start to get a little old when you’re most of the way through it though. I probably wouldn’t want to drink more than one at a time.

 

L: Pours brilliant deep amber brown under a rapidly dissipating 1” cream to tan colored foam collar.
S: Big fruit cake aromas
T: Fruit cake, Christmas spices, cherry, light clove, coriander, cherries and apricots. Spicy fruit cake aftertaste with toffee and dark bread. F: Full body, medium to medium low carbonation.
O: Cloyingly sweet, not much hops, with all of the spices to gets close to some pumpkin beers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Had this on tap at the Karl Strauss tasting room tonight. They were saying that as it aged, the cherries in the beer soured and completely changed the profile. I asked if the bottled beer aged the same way, and they said that the bottles were exactly the same as when it was bottled. Based on the other reviews, I don't know if I would be excited to try that version, but this beer on tap was delicious. I would gladly try it again if I ever see it on tap again. It seems to me like this Belgian Strong Dark Ale became a Flanders Style Red.