Urthel Samaranth
The Urthel brand is one that I’ve heard about in passing throughout the years, but had never actually come across a bottle of any of the Belgian brewery’s products. As luck would have it I finally came a cross a bottle of Urthel Samaranth rather randomly while walking around downtown Culpeper with the family earlier this Spring. Knowing that it was a beer that had gotten pretty decent reviews online, I decided to sit on it for a while and not rush into opening it the moment I got home.
The time finally arrived in mid-September on a rather cool Friday evening. The mood for a big Belgian ale struck as I was getting ready to fire up the grill. What better way to end a long week and start the weekend than with a tasty brew?
Appearance
Urthel Samaranth pours a bright copper in color with a smallish cap of tawny foam that dropped quickly to a thin collar.
Aroma
The beer is wonderfully fruity and yeasty with hints of plum, raisin, apple, caramel, bready malt and an appropriate measure of alcohol — the beer weighs in at 11% ABV.
Taste
Samaranth leads in with a solid malt sweetness that lingers through fruit notes, yeast and caramel before the warm glow of alcohol arrives in the lasting finish. There’s a bit of a peppery character to the yeast present as dark fruits mix nicely with the caramel malt base. I’m not sure of how old the bottle was (the store I found it in is known for retaining old bottles), but this one didn’t taste overly dated. It wasn’t fresh, but certainly carried a great flavor.
Overall
I do love a good Belgian Quadruple and Urthel Samaranth hit the spot on all marks. Big, fruity and still quite smooth drinking, the beer was exactly what I had hoped for when I first picked it up earlier this year. Now, if only I can find some more of it.
Rating: 4.25/5
