Burning Beard Belgian Ale

In brewing Belgian beers, I always have a rough idea of what I'm wanting, but often times am surprised and excited by the end result. That's part of what I love about Belgian beers, the freedom to be creative without worrying about strict guidelines. Unlike other beers I brew, there often times are no commercial examples to compare the final beer too. This happened with two of my better beers, El Jefe and Bangy Tangy. Both of those beers were concepts that turned out to be great, and unlike any other beer I've had. Such is the case with the Burning Beard.
This beer actually came from my label design of all things. I had wanted to name a beer this for awhile, and had brewed several beers (one that was terrible) and also designed several labels, but none of them felt right. One night driving home from El Jefe's house I came up with the label idea in my head. I liked the label so much I decided to brew a beer based on a couple ideas, including the use of cherries (I had been drinking Three Philosophers a lot at the time). I created the recipe and then on brew day dumped in some extra ingredients that I had around that I wanted to use up. When I transferred it to the secondary, I transferred it on top of 24 oz of frozen cherries and stuck in the fridge for a week. I had read in a couple books about a short period of lagering for Belgian Triples and Strong Ales, so I "lagered" it for a week at about 38 degrees. After bottling it and letting it age a couple weeks, I was impressed with the results and its only gotten better.
The name fits because the color is a dark amber, with reddish and copper hues. It has a foamy two finger white head. The aroma and flavor are a bit harder to pin down. It has some nice fruity esters and some yeastiness in the nose. There's a nice subtle, underlying cherry aroma that isn't overpowering at all. I upped the carbonation to give it more of a "Belgian" feel and it worked, with a nice fizziness that gives way to a soft mouthfeel. It's sweet and spicy with just a subtle cherry presence in the finish. I was worried about the 2 tablespoons of coriander I added, but there is very little if any lemony/coriander presence, but instead some nice complex spiciness. Definitley one of my more complex but well balanced beers, I am very happy with the turn out.
I'm crazy busy with the start of school so I will be posting (and brewing) less frequently coming up, but I will be posting some beer reviews of some beers I've had lately.
Salud!
Bearded Brewer