Brewery Ommegang: Rare Vos

As mentioned in prior posts this summer, I was recently visiting Massachusetts and New York and had a blast trying east coast breweries. Fellow blogger Maxwell just made the trek out east for vacation and 801onTap featured writer Hofer is firmly planted on the right coast for a while. I started becoming nostalgic and then jealous of their opportunities to try East coast beers; so I went out to find some of my own.

While not that many New York breweries are out in California, I remember Hof use to get Brewery Ommegang beer out here. After a quick search, I had no trouble finding some of their brews. I went with Rare Vos Belgian Style Amber Ale and Hennepin Belgian Style Saison (second review to come later).

Rare Vos reminds me of some beers that I sampled in Brussels: Strong yeast flavors dominate even though its a darker brew. After the typical Belgian yeast tastes dwindle, strong fruit flavors quickly emerge. Mostly prune/plum flavors. The fruits really begin to dominate, and in my opinion are a far too prominent part of the beer's taste. There is a touch of pepper spice but it doesn't quite seem to fit with the yeast and heavy fruit.

As you can tell from my review, this isn't my favorite of beers. But that being said, I did enjoy trying a beer and brewery from NY, that I've never had before. Cheers.

Dogfish Head: Raison D'Etre

The very first beer I posted on this blog was a "hybrid" brew: a hefeweizen-amber ale. Well here's hybrid #2: Dogfish Head's Raison D'Etre. I've labeled it a Belgian Amber Ale, but it less thoroughly "Belgian" than Leffe Brown. I don't even know how to put a name on it, but you probably know that distinct Belgian blond or Belgian brown taste (and if you don't, go grab a leffe and you'll immediately see what I'm talking about). So it's a little less sweet, and a little earthy, and very very malty. Raison is very mildly hopped and, true to its name, tastes vaguely like raisins. However, it's decently carbonated, which keeps it from tasting syrupy.

To those of you who have a taste for Belgian Ales, I highly recommend this one. And if you also like brown ales, a la Fat Tire, then it's a double bonus. Cheers!