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Notes on beers brewed by

Brasserie de l'Abbaye du Val-Dieu
Rader Blonde

Rader Blonde

May 6, 2007

750 mL, corked & caged, Green's on Ponce, Atlanta, GA, USA, $6.95. A close look through the brown bottle reveals plenty of easily disturbed sediment. This settles quickly. Lively pour into the Duvel tulip with a good head that leaves some thin lace. Color is a macro-like golden hue. Nose is a medicinal herb mixture with some lemon pine bathroom cleaner and a little Belgian yeast! Not quite as disgusting as that combo sounds! The taste is VERY unusual. A combination of lemon, pine, soap, yeast,...

Rader Blonde

Rader Ambrée

Apr 28, 2007

750 mL corked & caged. Green's, Ponce, Atlanta, GA, USA. $6.95 from memory. 06/06/09 on the label. Given that this is the Ambree (compared to the Blonde) I was expecting a deeper copper colored hue than I got. It was surprisingly light in color. Huge, billowing head in the Duvel tulip, it looks pretty good. Some nice lacing. Fine carbonation, slightly prickly in the mouth. Sweet nose, a little Belgian yeast. As others have mentioned, the label says 10.5% ABV and it certainly drinks above the...

Val-Dieu Grand Cru

Val-Dieu Grand Cru

Dec 2, 2006

Additional notes 11/27/22 (pictured): Dark, rich cherry notes abide with great depth and an insanely drinkable 10.5%. Notes below refer to me adding it to the beer advocate.com website back in 2006. Original notes 12/02/06 I am adding this beer since I feel sure it is a "new" version of the Winter offering from Val-Dieu. Beautiful pour with initially what looks like an almost black pour, but becomes more brown as the contents of the Val-Dieu chalice are emptied. Nice head, good sticky lacing...

Rader Blonde

Val-Dieu Winter

Jan 14, 2006

This is designed to be a sipper, but because of its sheer deliciousness, its actually difficult not to gulp this down at an alarming rate of knots. Conker (Horse-chestnut) brown body, with a lovely, spotty creamy head with ultra-fine bubbles of carbonation present. A little lacing, but nice thin film retention. All the dark fruit aromas (plums and balck grapes) that one would expect from the style, but we get the additional smells of vanilla and deep, smooth alcohol thrown in. The sheer depth...

Rader Blonde

Val-Dieu Brune

Dec 8, 2005

Quite a dark pour, much more so than I expected. Lots of floaties that took some time to settle down. Some head, but it is airy and then disappears quickly to leave some lacing and a spotty, creamy thin head. Aroma is pretty non-descript, some alcohol and a little dark fruit. Obviously Belgian yeast presence in the taste and increasingly bitter as I drink it. Decent alcohol in the finish, and a little dry as the drink ends. A little prickly carbonation takes something away from the mouthfeel,...

Rader Blonde

Val-Dieu Blond

Dec 4, 2005

Part of a 3-bottle gift pack that included 11.2 oz bottles of this, the Brown and the Tripel and a Val-Dieu goblet for $11.99. Good value I thought. Very light, almost dare I say it, macro lager like appearance, with some fairly aggressive carbonation. The carbonation is a little too much for me, and it leads to a rather thin body, mouthfeel and light, non-persistent head. Definite Belgian yeast taste, but the "Pale" in Belgian Pale is really the dominant feature of this brew and it is...

Val-Dieu Triple

Val-Dieu Triple

Jul 3, 2004

Additional notes 11/27/22 (pictured): From the date of the original notes, this must have been one of the very first beers that I purchased in Atlanta after the cap was popped. Interestingly, the exact same beer, from the exactly the same store, 18 years later, $5.14. Beautiful high head, same classic, drying, peppery alcohol laden sweet notes. Undeniably 'Tripel'. All of what you read below applies 18 years one. Original notes 07/03/04: $2.75, Greens Beverage, Atlanta, GA, USA. I was...