This weekend we helped our friends Paul and Sandi with moving, and along the way they had uncovered a bottle of Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence that they had been holding onto—apparently for nearly 4 years! They had originally picked up bottles of this back in 2008 and I wrote about sharing one then; this is a 10th anniversary limited edition beer that Ommegang released in 2007.

Back in November of ’08 I wrote about this:

Dry, bitter, dark, pure unsweetened chocolate. Everything about the beer screams “chocolate” but don’t look for a candy bar flavor—it’s the real thing. Lighter than I’d expect—I expected a full body, it’s more medium. Long, dry, chocolate finish—very nice.

Long, drawn-out bitter character—almost like it’s bittered with chocolate instead of hops, as Paul noted. I think the name is totally apt, this is indulgence in the extreme and a superb sipping beer. One I quite enjoyed.

Now, three and a half years later, I’d have to say the chocolate has mellowed and smoothed out quite a lot, fairly decadent, and it’s (probably) a bit drier. It’s held up incredibly well so if you can find a bottle of this floating around I’d say now is a good time to drink it.

A couple other notable beers that I remember this weekend:

BridgePort Stumptown Tart: I enjoyed this on draft at the Broken Top Bottle Shop, this year’s three-berry version,

Fort George Roses on Roses XVIth Chapel: This five-year anniversary ale—a Double Belgian IPA aged in Four Roses Bourbon barrels—is frankly amazing. One of the best Belgian-style IPAs (not the same as the “White IPA” which is the Belgian-style Witbier/IPA fusion) that I’ve had. Buy up a bunch of this before it’s gone.