Nothing evokes more of an emotional response than the color red. It seems people either love it or hate it, and there are fewer people in the middle than other colors. I fall in the middle, I think some things red are great, and others are not so good. Take for example hair. My wife is a red head, and I like it that way. I have always had an affinity for women with red hair and I always will. On the other hand guys with red hair are usually kinda freaky. Take for example Conan O’Brien…freak parade! Then there is Bozo the clown, for that matter most clowns have red hair. So what about beer? Can red be a good thing? Or does it relegate a beer to the realm of freaky?…
I personally have had a lot of red ales. I like them a lot. However one day I found that they didn’t like me too much, and gave me weird allergic reactions, so I now drink them very infrequently. One amber beer I recently tried was Chimay Ale, their red label ale that poured a golden amber color with a decent head that quickly dissipated, and comes with its own bar ware. My understanding is that if a bar is going to offer the Chimay brews it must purchase the accompanying bar ware. The company must think the larger surface area allows it to breathe properly.
So was this a freaky ale, or was it really great? Well the truth is…neither. It isn’t freaky like some of the blood red holiday brews, and it was good, but not great. Certainly for the price I probably could have found something I liked better, like a glass of Knob Creek bourbon! But this was interesting. It was the first time I have ever had a beer with a sour aftertaste that I liked. So let’s start at the beginning. The nose on this beer is unique, very yeasty like a bread aisle in the supermarket. That yeasty flavor came through when I took my first sip too. It started out sweet and full with a great creamy mouth feel and big flavor, then the yeasty flavor came in and finished with a sour note on the back of the tongue. It reminded me a bit of taking a bite out of a piece of sourdough bread with honey on it.
I liked the Chimay Ale and think it is worth having again. I probably won’t order it in a bar because of cost, but I think I will buy it for the home. It is a good brew for winter and would go well with winter meals like chili or spaghetti.
-Don
Beer & Whiskey Brothers 
This is the beer that got me into craft brews. I still remember how that first sip blew my mind. It’s a great example of what I consider to be a classic Belgian ale.
I liked it, but having had the Grand Reserve first might have jaded me a little towards this brew. Don’t get me wrong this was very good, complex and a great beer for a meal, but the Grand Reserve was truly special and it might just be the beer that totally blew my mind!
-Don
The Bluer the Truer. I like the Red but my money is on the Blue as well.
Now don’t be goin and getting all political on me! Even Obama drinks Beer, And I’ll bet he could be talked into a good bourbon and a cigar too. That would be a good post, who are better drinkers, Reps or Dems! They all get equal time here…Right Jim!
It’s been a while, but when I had them I really couldn’t tell a difference, except the blue cost more, so it was better, right? I probably could pick up the differences now, but I’ve kind of http://www.moveon.org ‘d.
I just find it totally Ironic that Chimay Red Blew your mind, and Chimay Blue blew mine!
I get it…you were talking about the beeeer. OK I’m a little slow but eventually I catch on!
I forget which of these I had last year – I think it was the blue and it was pretty good. I got that sampler pack that has one little bottle of each (red, white, blue) one of these days I’ll sample them back to back to back for a nice comparison.
I also hate brake lights.