In 1685, the explorer La Salle claimed Texas in the name of France, landing at Matagorda Bay on a ship called the Aimable. In honor of Texas’ French and Mexican heritages, we created a complex Belgian-style ale with a name to match: La Bestia is Spanish for “The Beast,” while Aimable is French for “friendly.” This devilishly friendly dark strong ale has a rich, complex nose of deep berry and fig with cinnamon, nutmeg, and black pepper spicy notes, and a superbly drinkable body full of rich, dark fruit flavors. The use of Texas honey and a well attenuated body in the Belgian abbey tradition make this beer superbly drinkable despite its high alcohol content. La Bestia Aimable pairs well with carbonade, lamb, game and fowl, rich cheeses such as triple-crème and Gorgonzola, as well as decadent desserts like sticky toffee pudding, dark chocolate and raspberry cake, and tiramisu.
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Special thanks to Aaron from www.beermetaldude.com for donating this beer to me. It has been sitting around until today, 6/25/2014, exactly 1 year from the date it was bottled. This is a Belgian quad that you can only find in Texas. Ranger Creek is straight from San Antonio Texas. This is the second beer I try from them. Their other beer was really good so I cannot wait to try this one too. Cheers Aaron and Cheers to Ranger Creek for making this!

Aromas:
Dark fruits like plums, raisins, dulce de leche caramel, oak, funky sour hints, stone fruits like peaches, apricots, honey, apples, rye, smoked peat, cinnamon, dark chocolate, tart raspberries, candi sugars, brown sugar, molasses, anise and flowers.

Flavors:
Caramel, chocolate, tart raspberries, dark fruits like plums and raisins, lots of oak, sour wine grapes, coffee, espresso, port wine notes, cinnamon, vanilla, cherries, molasses, raisin bread pudding, pecans, prailines, honey, apples, rye bread, smoked peat, stone fruit apricots, peaches, mild clove spices and bananas.

Aftertaste:
Raisins, plums, caramel, earthy notes, sour grapes, figs, cinnamon. No alcohol in the aftertaste. A sipping beer, with a medium mouthfeel.

Overall:
Very delicious! This beer reminds me of a Sour Quadruple hybrid. It is not all sour but mostly fruity and tart. The tart aspect with the oak gives it some balance to the sweet quad. I would say, it almost drinks like a Flemish brown like the beers made in the French speaking areas of Belgium I would recommend giving this one a try. It does seem like age has made this one more refined. Be careful when opening this beer as it’s contents could spill upon opening. Best opened over a sink or have the glass ready as to not to spill a drop!!

Anime Corner:
Evil Monster daughter by unknown artist was used in this pairing to pair with the label and the aspect of La Bestia Amaible which is the Friendly beast. The colors pay tribute to an array of flavors provided by this beer. Lots of things going on. The high ABV can be said to be so well hidden that you cannot tell if she has good intentions or not. Either way, delicious and awesome. You decide if the voyage through this beer is well worth your while.