The Lake Placid Pub & Brewery has an extremely popular beer called the Ubu Ale. So much, in fact, that their website is named after it. Dubbed by Lake Placid as an English-style Strong Ale, it was hard to pass this up for a review. At 7% ABV, you’re given a somewhat sessionable brew worthy of a try.

To really enhance the volatiles in any Strong Ale, I recommend using a snifter glass. Glassware is important to enhance certain characteristics for each different style of beer. If you’ve read my article on beer glassware, you’ll know what I mean. The pour on this English-style Strong Ale was a really deep and dark amber-brown color. In the light, the reddish hues shined, but down on the table, it was brown as coffee. The head was light brown and tiny. It formed and kept a nice ring around the glass and left really no lacing.

The glass made it easier to pull some immense flavors from the nose. I can smell the barley, whoa. It’s really upfront and smells dark and roasted. Some sweet hints of raisin and plum were present as well. Also, (and don’t let this deter you) I got a really light whiff of Sharpie marker. I kind of think this may be the alcohol I’m smelling, but that’s the easiest way to describe it.

Anxious and also eager to sample, the taste was not what I expected. The immediate flavors are dominant by an alcohol backbone. To me, I can taste the booze way too much for a 7% ABV beer. After accepting the wild alcohol taste, I did get some dark fruits in the immediate mouthful; prunes and raisins, as well as a hint of musky Colombian coffee. The finish was super dry and left a sticky, bitter linger in my mouth. A drastically different taste than I had expected but overall, it wasn’t too bad.

Fortunately, this beer is worth more than a rating that wouldn’t even make it to the website, but unfortunately, not by much. I can’t see this being sessionable for myself, but can for others. The booze taste is there, but it’s fairly light at 7% ABV, although on the higher end of a session beer. The fruit characteristics could be a bit more dominant and the alcohol hidden way more. Nothing terrible and overall a nice beer.

Overall: 6.5/10