Belgian Style Ales — Full Sail vs. Lazy Boy

Full Sail Sanctuary
(Belgian Style Dubbel)
ABV 7%

Color: Bronzy amber.
Aroma: Sour bananas, orange caramel, cloves.
Flavor: Sweet, malty, toasted nuts and banana.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Malty
Finish: Sweet, yeasty banana bread.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Good

Lazy Boy Brewing Belgian
(Belgian Style Golden Ale)
ABV 8.7%

Color: Orangey gold.
Aroma: Vanilla yogurt.
Flavor: Floral. Bitter yogurt.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Malty
Finish: Sweet, metallic and more yogurt.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Mediocre -

Blow by Blow
In celebration of the holiday weekend we staged a Bottle Battle featuring interpretations of Belgian style beers done by two Northwest breweries. Joining us for the battle were esteemed family members Tempa, Jim, Tom & Candace. In one corner we had the Belgian Golden from Lazy Boy, in the other corner we had a Belgian Dubbel made by Full Sail. The fight didn't last long.

Basically, the Sanctuary came out and just leveled the Lazy Boy. First round knockout. Game over.

The Sanctuary was a real nice, solid Dubbel with classic Belgian yeast aromas and flavors and a nice medium body. The Lazy Boy, however, was messed up. Tempa immediately noticed that it smelled like vanilla yogurt and every one of us agreed. It was very strong and very strange. Definitely unlike any other Belgian any of us had ever tried. A couple of us wondered if it could have anything to do with lactobacillus which is a bacteria that is used in yogurt and sometimes beer (to make sour beers). So we weren't sure if the Lazy Boy was infected or not, but whatever it was we didn't care for it.

Happy Thanksgiving from Bottle Battle headquarters. Hopefully your turkey went well with your beer.

Winner by unanimous decision: Full Sail.