Saint Barb's Abbey Ale
The Brewhouse

 

On-tap at the Brewhouse

The pour is an amber color with an off-white head. Nose starts off with an overwhelming aroma of raisin. Plenty of other dark fruits such as plum, prune, and black cherry. A lot of caramel and brown sugar sweetness are also present. The flavor is sugary with lots of dates, plums, raisins, and prunes. Some brown sugar, caramel, and toffee. A slight graininess to it. Very minimal yeast or spice, which could have been helpful.

Pours a clear reddish brown with a half finger soft, offwhite head that is gone as fast as it forms. Some lacing that hangs around the inch above surface level for the duration of the drink.

Smell is very slightly spicy while cold. Distinctly Belgian yeast starts to open up as this warms.

Taste is very much like BA bulletrain76 describes: like a Belgian pale ale and an amber ale had a tasty lovebaby. A bit gingergy and sweet, malty and slightly citrusy. Somewhat similar flavor profile to Witkap Pater's singel, but not as strong. Not bad at all.

Clean and very crisp mouthfeel.

This would make a great session brew. In fact, I'm halfway through the growler already...

Draught at the brewpub. Dark red-amber with a small head. Fuity and sweet malt aroma with subtle belgian yeast notes. The flavor is quite malty with melon and pear notes, but not too sweet or yeasty. Like a belgian influenced amber ale. smooth and clean body. Good stuff.

Draft at brewery, 02/18/08.

ABV for this batch was listed as 6.7%. Amber colored, coppery. Good head retention, but bubbles were gone by the time I got to the glass. Slight aroma of yeast and bananas. Banana, sweet orange and a dash of black pepper appear on the tongue along with sweet maltiness.

A valiant effort.

Again, served too cold.

A: Nothing special. Medium amber/golden color with almost no head.

S: Not too much going on. Slightly yeasty/bready smell, some sharpness (maybe a couple hops lending to this?).

T: Fairly standard Belgian Single (ie Belgian Pale). Semi-sharp taste from a slightly higher level of carbonation, slight sweetness - can't really place the sweetness though. Maybe some orange and coriander flavor thrown in - also shares some malt characteristics with some of the American ambers. Also, definitely some spiciness in there too.

M: Pretty good - carbonation subsides some as it warms up. Lighter body than the dubbel, but substantial enough.

D: It's pretty tasty, and not very heavy, so drinkability is good. Although, I'd take the dubbel over this most any time.

This would be a better beer to have on a warm, sunny day. I drank it while it was cold and raining outside. But, this would work well for the classic warm, sunny Santa Barbara day.

Overall, not my favorite, but recommended.