Review: Parallel 49 Vow of Silence Belgian Strong Ale

It really doesn't take much to aggravate or stress me out, hell - I get anxious about stuff that's not even important. I'm feeling a bit annoyed with a dosage of anxiety, I posted a Tweet the other day about how one of my favourite local restaurants was selling Bud Light for $15 per 341mL bottle. If you follow the tweet, it blew up a bit. Well, Global News reported the same thing on their website today. I feel a bit frustrated because they only found out about it through my Tweet the other day and no mention of my name? That sucks, but I'm absolutely happy that the restaurant is getting some free publicity out of it - they'll get more publicity out of it than through this small blog.

Anywho, thankfully I have a beer waiting next to me to be reviewed. Tonight I'm reviewing Parallel 49's Vow of Silence Belgian Strong. Vow of Silence is a Belgian-style dark ale that tops out at 9.0% ABV. For hops, it contains Hallertauer Mit, and for malts it contains Sup Pils and Munich Malt. The label portrays a Danny Devito a Frank Reynolds-lookalike as a goblinish Monk with his mouth sewed shut, P49 always has great artwork!

Appearance: Vow of Silence pours a heavy, bright ruby red body with a decent amount of carbonation and a half finger's worth of yellowish-beige head on top.

Aroma: Pretty much your typical Belgian Dark Ale, it has notes of caramel, dark fruits (prunes, raisins), a hint of sourness that seems to be a bit of a sour cherry aroma, and a bit of a dark molasses aroma at the end.

Taste: Wow, this is on point - this is your typical Belgian dark ale right there. The flavour is sharp as it hits the palate, but it quickly diminishes to a smooth, easy drinking beer (if that somehow makes sense). There's notes of dark fruit, caramel, an earthy hop presence, a reasonable boozey burn in there, slightly bready, a tad spiced.

Overall Thoughts: A solid Belgian Strong Dark Ale, comparable to many of the ones I've had over the years like Trois Pistoles. Nicely spiced, sweet, and starts out with a bite, but ends up being pretty smooth on the palate. I'll be buying another bottle soon, especially with the price point of $6.95 for a 650mL bottle.

http://parallel49brewing.com/beers/25