Brewery: Unibroue
Where: Quebec, Canada
Beer: Trois Pistoles
Style: Belgian Strong Dark Ale
IBU: 15.5
ABV: 9.0%

This is the fourth of four reviews I have written on Unibroue's big guns.  Their four big big beers have each met my taste expectations with flying colors.  The Trois Pistoles is a good example of a belgian strong dark ale.  With a very malty base and low IBU, this beer is quite sweet to the taste with notes of chocolate and roasted malts without bridging into the category of stouts and porters.  The body falls into the medium category.  At 9%, it's another beer that you should be wary of as you drink.  It will sneak up on you rather quickly.  This beer would be an excellent after dinner drink, possibly even as an accompaniment to a nice dessert... cheesecake comes to mind for me! 

I was at Gail's Hops and Grapes on Saturday and picked up another four-pack sampler from Unibroue that features four of their not-so-big beers that we'll take a look at in the near future.  For what it's worth, I also acquired a bomber of Stone's Russian Imperial Stout!  We'll get to that one when the time is right!

Cheers...

As we slowly approach my 100th beer tasting, I decided to have another sampling from the Unibroue sampler pack that I recently purchased.  This is the 98th beer I have tasted since I started this project in December of 2008.  I have purchased a (hopefully) really good beer to have as the 100th, so stay tuned...

Today's sampling is the Maudite from Unibroue in Quebec, Canada.  This is yet another heavy beer from the 4-pack sampler I purchased.  It poured with a deep reddish color and a cola-like head in the glass.  This beer poured with some cloudiness due to the bottle conditioning.  The malty aroma of this beer came through immediately.  It has an excellent malt and hop balance and actually tastes decent right out of the fridge without warming it up first.  From the sampler pack box:

The robust maltiness and spiciness of our amber-red ale is counterbalanced by an assertive hop finish, offering a distinctive flavor that is cognac-like in complexity.  Whether it is paired with pasta marinara, a brick-oven pizza, Flemish stew, spice-rubbed pork tenderloin or dal makhani, Maudite is devilishly satisfying.  Maudite (Damned) was the first strong beer to be retailed in Quebec.  It's deliciously complex flavor improves with age.

I have two more left in this sampler that we will get to soon enough...  I'm making a run to the World Market this afternoon where I hope to pick up another assorted six pack of new beers to try...