Noire De Chambly / Chambly Noire
I have to admit that I find the Chambly Noire kind of dull. I don't think that the dark malt adds anything to it, and in fact, I think it detracts from what could otherwise be a great beer because it masks some of the delicate flavors underneath. Now, normally, I'll review a beer the first or second time I've had it, but as I'm quite a fan of the Unibroue line, I've given this one quite a few go rounds, and each time I find myself looking for something that's not there. This one just falls short. It looks good in the glass, and that's great; and the nose isn't bad at all, it's just that there's not much there (some mild spice, a touch of lemon rind, some apple or orange-gold fruit and the yeast). The mouthfeel is good, just like the appearance, that's hard to hurt. But the flavor should offer more, and it doesn't. There's some darkish, wheaty malt but it's non-descript... there's no cocoa or chocolate or roastiness to it, and it doesn't really lend to adding any dark-fruit flavors. (Perhaps it just doesn't have the sweetness behind it that would usually bring that type of malt flavor round, it is a kind of light and dry style anyway). And it's lightly spicy, but I think that's kind of covered up too. I don't get the differentiation between the cloviness and the more black-pepper spiciness that I find in the regular Blanche De Chambly. And it's yeasty. I think that the regular might benefit from a little less yeast as well, but within the confines of this beer, I think it really hurts. Either the dark malts have muddled the yeastiness, or the yeastiness is blanketing the darkness. I don't know. It finishes powdery dry with some residual, low key malt and subtle yeasty spice. Final analysis... muddled.