Beer Review: Ommegang Three Philosphers

I first drank this on draft at the Publick House a few months back and thought it was delicious. When I saw a big bottle at Trader Joe's, I had to purchase it for home consumption to see how it compared to on draft.

This beer is 98% Ale and 2% Ale with cherries added (couldn't they just say 100% ale with minimal cherries added?). 9.8% ABV. 25.4 oz. bottle with champagne top purchased at Trader Joe's for $6.99. Pours a dark brown-orange-red color with dark foam. There is a wonderful sweet malty aroma. Upon drinking a malty delicious taste with fruit backbone of cherries, raisins, and a hint of orange. Despite the high ABV there is no excessive alcohol taste. Incredible.

Despite being from Ommengang Brewery and therefore brewed in upstate New York, this beer transports the consumer to Belgium. You can almost hear the flemish arguments and laughs in the air while drinking this (I'm being a bit cheesy, but this beer really is awesome). I say flemish instead of french or dutch (the two other main languages spoken in Belgium) as the beverage I associate with french is wine and I don't know what I think of when I hear dutch, but flemish is undeniably beer. (Walloon is also spoken in Belgium by a minority, but I don't know anything about that language).

As an extra plus my wife really likes this beer too! Hiiigh Fiive! She hardly likes any beer!

I poured this beer into my 'Het Kapittel Watou' chalis glass I picked up in Belgium in 2002 and it was awesome. Highly recommended. The only flaw/complaint I could possibly give about this beer is the bottle has a champagne top so cannot be reused for home beer brewing (although now that I think about it, maybe there is a way...) Very minor complaint indeed, this beer is still fantastic.
3.5 beer bottles out of 4