REVIEW 122: LA FIN DU MONDE

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:  Canada

BREWERY:  Unibroue

STYLE:  Tripel

ABV:  9.0%

PURCHASE:  Four-pack of 12-oz. bottles, $14.99

SERVING:  12-oz. bottle, poured into tulip glass (pictured below). Standard 20-sec. pour--slow in this case, since it's a smaller tulip glass--resulted in only about a half-inch initial head, which dissipated rather quickly. For the second beer, I switched to the Chimay branded chalice (pictured above). The difference: A spongy, dense head of almost two full inches, with very good retention.

APPEARANCE:  Translucent, hazy body with an apricot-orange color. Off-white tinted head. Steady, "narrow" bubbling in the tulip; a little more pronounced--and concentrated--in the Chimay chalice. Minimal lacing, if you want to call it "lacing."

BOUQUET:  Bready and malty for the most part. With a deep whiff, you will pick up spice notes like coriander and clove--which gives the aroma a witbier quality. Yeasty as well, with a tease of citrus.

PALATE:  At first, carbonation was very quick to assert itself, and very biting. In the Chimay chalice, it was still prominent and more mellow. Slightly heavy mouthfeel. Settles down as the beer sits. Front palate actually seems shallow in terms of what I call "actual beer qualities." Things pick up at mid-palate, with spice notes entering the fray and slowly gaining in presence. Fusel-like finish--though not as in a malt liquor--leading to an aftertaste with an even more pronounced spice factor; I'd even call it peppery. Hop bitterness is not something you would closely associate with a tripel, but there seems to be a bit of it at the very end here.

MUSINGS AND METAPHORS:  Tonight's session was a lesson in the role of glassware in the beer-drinking experience. The first bottle, which I poured into the tulip, was sharp and aggressive, though it eventually mellowed out. The second bottle, poured into the Chimay chalice, was mellow right from the get-go. The carbonation was still conspicuous, but it didn't overtake my mouth.

Whatever. It's the taste that matters, and this is top-tier. Quebec seems to be a major player in the craft beer scene these days, and with Unibroue, it's easy to see why.




GRADE:  A-