Oh gee, I've had this beer in my hoard for just about three years ago, forgetting all about it! It's time to clear out my hoard and actually taste them. Belle Époque is a Belgian IPA that was introduced for Flying Monkeys' 10th Anniversary back in 2015.
The beer is fermented with a Belgian Ale yeast coupling a true artisanal tradition with the Flying Monkeys New World reputation for benchmark IPAs and creative hopping. Sparkling with poetry and gaudy with Glacier and Citra hops, the uniqueness of Belgian Ale yeast imparts notes of pepper, spice, and fruit with a graceful dryness in this gilded imperial strength, dry-hopped Flying Monkeys creation.
The beer tops out at 10% ABV and 72 IBUs. Seeing that it's over 3 years old now, I'm not really going to review it, more so just say what I'm noticing about this beer, as it's definitely not going to be comparable to what the beer was like three years ago.
Appearance: A thick, murky copper brown ale with a moderate amount of a light yellow/beige head on top. Good amount of lacing on side of the glass.
Aroma: The hop profile definitely has seen better days, it has that aroma where the malt takes over. It's sweet, caramelly, nutty, and liberally boozy. Notes of banana and lemon pop up here and there.
Taste: Malt forward with a syrupy presence to it, caramel, good amount of booze, an ever so slight amount of pine bitternesss that pops up once every few sips, and even more of a booze presence.. seeing that this is 10%. It reminds me quite a bit of a Barley Wine at this point - sweet, boozey and syrupy. I wish I wasn't a hoarder so I could've tried this when it was still fresh. Light amount of banana and lemon popping up in the flavour as well.
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