Brewery Ommegang Three Philosophers

This is the second Ommegang beer I have had since I started my Year of Beer.  The first was an Abbey Ale that I really enjoyed but haven’t written up my review yet.  Ommegang is based in Cooperstown NY but does a wonderful job at making Belgian style ales.  According to the bottle, Ommegang is a division of Duvel, a beer I have heard a lot about but haven’t yet tried.

As much as I enjoyed this beer, I didn’t like it as much as the Abbey Ale, I look forward to picking up another to drink and review in the near future.  BUT, the fact that I didn’t like it as much shouldn’t detract from the fact that this a pretty damn good beer.

My wife bought me this beer while she was in New York on business.   She bought me a half dozen different beers and this was one of them.  She got in in the 750 ml size which I always like.

The bottle says it is 98% ale and 2% ale with cherries added but it’s actually more interesting than that.  The 98% ale is a nice rich and malty ale, the 2% ale with cherries is actually a cherry lambic.

I poured my first sampling of this beer into a pint glass.  It had a wonderful aroma.  There was a very nice scent of malt and cherries.  I think I would actually describe it more as a sour cherry smell.  The beer has a cloudy dark amber color and a nice head on it.  The head had a slight orange tint to it and there was a bit of lacing.

As you would guess, one of the main flavors comes through on this beer is the cherry flavor but it’s not an overpowering flavor.  It’s subtle and quite nice.  I was a bit worried that it was going to be an overpowering flavor since the lambic I tried recently was anything but subtle.

It had a wonderful and developing flavor.  At first you get a nice cherry with a slight hint of chocolate flavor but it develops into this deeper, raison flavor on the tounge.  It finishes with a slightly bitter, but sweet cherry after taste.  Again, the cherry flavor is there but it’s subtle.

The beer has an alcohol level of 9.8% so it’s certainly not lacking in kick.  The alcohol flavor is there but I didn’t think it was as noticeable as it is in the Ommegang Abbey Ale.  Still, I think that flavor tends to linger in your mouth and detracts from the overall drinkability of this beer.