While visiting Monk's Café in Philadelphia, I was fortunate enough to come upon one of the very limited number of bottles of Achel Extra that have hit North American shores. I had heard good things about this ale and was anxious to try it, but none of these positive rumblings prepared me for the deep amber-brown liquid that was poured into my glass.
First, a little background. A few years ago, I visited the Achel Trappist monastery on the border of Belgium and the Netherlands shortly after the brewery had been built and brewing commenced. At that time, the brothers' intent was to serve their beer at the monastery café alone, and since the abbey was a popular cycling destination, three beers of Reinheitsgebot purity and moderate alcohol content were the all that were being brewed. I tasted all three and was singularly unimpressed.
But that was then. Since that time, Achel has released a steadily improving tripel and an impressive brown ale, both in bottled formats and both exported to the United States. The buzz surrounding the brand new, 9.5% alcohol by volume Achel Extra was significant.
It was also well deserved. I was nearly knocked off my seat by the intensity and malty complexity of this beer, from its licorice and dark chocolate aroma accented by notes of Asian spice, to its full body showing rich maltiness, more chocolate, a complicated blend of background spice notes and long, lingering and warming finish. It may be still a bit early to declare this a fitting addition to the short list of classic Belgian brews, but the potential is undeniably there.
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