Unibroue Trader Joe’s Vintage Ale 2013

Trader Joe’s Vintage Ale is a Belgian Strong Dark Ale, brewed by Unibroue for the supermarket chain. This review is for the 2013 vintage which I held on to this for a year for no particular reason. It turned out to be a good beer to open and share at one of our family Christmas gatherings.

This pours with a nice dark brown/red color, and a rather active fluffy head. I really like the aroma, malty and sweet with fruit notes of cherries and strawberries. More of the fruit in the taste (although the strawberry is much more muted) mixing with some raisin like dark fruits, Classic Belgian yeast and some general spice round out the flavor.

I’m not sure the year in the cellar helped all that much, but at such a fantastic price point ($4.99 for a 750ml!) it’s well worth a bottle or two to have on hand to enjoy whenever you want. We don’t have a Trader Joe’s here in Savannah, but I’ll gab more than one bottle next time I have the chance!