Review: Unibroue Lune de Miel

I've been waiting a few months for Unibroue's À Tout le Monde to come to Manitoba but at this point I don't think it will ever come out west. I heard about Unibroue's newest beer, Miel de Lune (Honey Moon) a few weeks ago and one of the liquor store employees said "you're going to want to buy this!" as I was looking for a beer just to savour last night. I knew the beer was going to come to Manitoba but seeing that the product isn't even listed yet on the Liquor Marts website, I didn't expect it yet. This isn't the first honey beer I've had by Unibroue, I've had their "U Miel" in the past but that one is a discount honey lager. Miel de Lune is a Belgian style amber ale inspired by the old tradition where father of the bride would give mead to his new son-in-law for the first month of marriage. Let's try out the beer!

Appearance: Lune de Miel pours a bright honey orange with a thick cloudy body to it, several lines of micro-carbonation are swimming from the bottom of the glass towards the top, reaching the head. The head itself is a very thick off-white frothy head, it gradually diminishes into the body but even after leaving the beer to settle for 10 or so minutes, there's still about two and a half fingers worth of foam still on top.

Aroma: You can't deny that this is a Unibroue product, it just has that smell to it. The aromas I'm getting remind me of a combination of Blonde de Chambly meets Don de Dieu, it's a somewhat pungent scent of lemon, Belgian yeast, a moderate amount of honey and a nice aroma of wildflowers - while this isn't in any way meady, there certainly are notes that remind me of various Manitoba wildflower meads I've had over the years. The beer is fairly sweet, a light to moderate grassy hop presence and a hint of peppery spice at the end.

Taste: The honey is the very first thing I can taste in this beer - Right as the beer initially hits my mouth I get a sweetness I don't tend to see in most Unibroue beers. The beer is dominated by the honey at first but then I get the notes of wildflower and then notes of your typical golden Unibroue beers such as bubble gum, a doughy Belgian yeastiness, lemon, coriander, a light hop bitterness that leaves a bit of a grassy aftertaste and a hint of pepper for spiciness. The mouthfeel is very smooth and silky, reminiscent to a good white mead. Somewhat boozey but really easy to drink.

Overall Thoughts: So.. what do I think? You already know that I'm likely one of the biggest Unibroue fans in the world so you should take this review with only a grain of salt but honestly.. I really really really really like this beer. It's a very sweet honey ale that is very easy to drink, has a great floral aspect from the wildflower honey. I would consider this both a dessert beer and a savouring beer. It's not overly sweet but it's certainly sweeter than most Unibroue beers (sans-Éphémère line). The aroma reminds me of Blonde de Chambly meets Don de Dieu but the taste itself is a beer of its own. At $6.99 per 750mL bottle, that's a great price.. but knowing Liquor Marts.. if this beer catches popularity, they'll likely up the price in a few months time.