Tonight I'm drinking Seduction by Brewery Ommegang which is a 6.8% abv Belgian... style porter, or Belgian Strong Dark Ale. Online I see it listed one way, and on the bottle another. Now, I should get this out there now, but this is my very first Ommegang beer. I've never bought one, never tried one, never... well, never had it. So why Ommegang?
Well long story short, my mother in law is from New York as is Ommegang, and she decided to get crafty with my wife the other weekend. They used a few corks from different wines/beers and I told her that there was a New York brewery that had a pretty cool cork. So, a few bucks later and here we are. But enough story. Let's get Seduction poured and see how I like it.
Seduction pours out a really nice mahogany color that once in the glass is incredibly dark. It's not pure black but you definitely can't see through the beer. There was about a finger to a finger and a half of an off white, sort of tan, foamy head with a lot of tight bubbles. The head doesn't stick around for very long at all and really doesn't leave behind much of a lace. Overall, it looks like a typical porter. Nothing too crazy. Let's get the nose.
First thing I get is some sweet chocolate. Definitely reminds me of a good Belgian chocolate. It's sweet and creamy. I'm picking up a little bit of dark fruits, some figs, maybe a little bit of a plum character, and the slightest hint of cherries. I'm getting some ripe banana in here as well, most likely from the yeast. There's a little bit of caramel as well. There's some underlying dark roasts, dark malt type characters coming through, maybe even a dark chocolate or coffee character. Nothing is more pronounced than anything else except for maybe that initial sweet chocolate. Let's see how Seduction tastes.
So first thing I pick up is a little bit of that chocolate and maybe a little hint of banana. Not a lot going on right away. Middle of the mouth you get the sweet chocolate and some of the dark fruits. A little bit of that cherry character comes through. It's a very creamy beer with a fairly medium mouth feel. Back end on this beer is where you get those roasted malts, the darker chocolate maybe even a bit of that coffee character. I'm not getting a lot of that Belgian yeast that I was expecting. I actually think that might help some of the chocolate and cherry notes to pop a bit more.
Overall, Seduction is pretty much just OK at best. There's nothing in this beer that stands out and really makes you take notice. I think this is an average porter but it definitely doesn't make me think it's a Belgian strong dark ale. In fact, if someone poured this for me and I tasted it blind, I don't necessarily think I'd say it's a Belgian. I don't think I'd ever buy it again and I don't know that I'd really suggest going out of your way to check it out.
Rating: C
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