Tag: Belgium

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The Beers of Christmas – Day 8

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We land in Belgium and St. Feuillien and their Cuvee de Noel.

I consider this one of the beers that I associate with holiday drinking and their website describes it as a ….”beer has a generous head – compact and firm. Its slightly brown colour is the result of the roasted barley. It has a dark ruby brown colour and a very intense aroma. The aromatic herbs and spices used greatly enhance its delicious smell. This beer is full-bodied with a smoothness that is the result of the synergy of caramelised malts, carefully controlled fermentation and long cold storage. St-Feuillien Cuvée de Noël has a very subtle bitterness that is the dominant flavour in this harmonious ale that strikes a perfect balance between all the different ingredients.”

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Cantillon-line

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Iconic and lauded Belgian brewers Cantillon and Drie Fonteinen have added their calls to action regarding the re-selling of their rare and special beers and have called on the government authorities to do something about it. Barring the ability to take down websites or at least tax the bejesus out of these sellers who really mark the prices up, the pair may try to institute online sales.

All in an effort to get these limited bottles into the hands of the people who will drink or cellar them instead of the scalpers. Maybe the Anonymous Collective needs to be called in too.

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16 Years Later

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Old School Belgian brewers sometimes don’t get the press but I think that Brouwerij Rodenbach will. Why? They are bringing a beer back that was last seen 16 years ago!

Alexander is another in the vein of the Flanders red style like their Classic and Grand Cru. It is described as a blended version of the Flanders aged in foeders with sour cherries”.

Apparently the call for the beer’s return plus the demand in America is what prompted the return. So best buy some and they might make it a regular.

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Dry hop that Cuvee

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You really can’t go wrong with Saison Dupont. The traditional saison is a hallmark of the style, their holiday beer is a perfect present for the beer fan and for five years they have been into Dry Hopping. Each year this special offering, brewed in limited quantity, is hopped with a different and usually under the radar hop. This year the hop “Minstrel” from England was the choice. Minstrel is an aroma hop with herbal, orange, spice and berry aromas.

Pick one or two up.

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Beer in the Pipeline (Literally)

I gotta admit as both grand publicity and outside the box thinking, a beer pipeline from one facility to another is perfect. Whether in practice it works is another story.

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But if De Halve Maan gets this up and running and working without changing the beer, I would be rather amazed. My concern is about cleaning. If tap lines are problematic and need replacing, wouldn’t a pipeline need it as well? If it is just one base beer flowing things shouldn’t be too risky but eventually, that line will gather some strange critters.

I hope it works but some added quality control will be needed.

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Up From the Cellar – Chimay Blue (Grande Reserve)

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The Chimay characterized “Grande Reserve” or more simply as the “Blue One” is a dark Belgian ale that was initially a Christmas beer and that the website says  “improves across the years.”

Chimay goes on to describe Ol’ Blue as an “authentic Belgian beer, whose tinge of fresh yeast is associated with a light rosy flowery touch, is particularly pleasant. Its aroma, perceived as one enjoys it, only accents the delightful sensations revealed by the odour, all revealing a light but agreeable caramelized note. ”

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I first reviewed this beer back in October of 2009, This is a strong beer. My glass was from a 2008 jeroboam of the Grande Reserve. Alcohol and yeast flavors dominate with a golden ale taste in the background.

How will my more educated beer palate and the cellaring in the 4+ year old beer change that initial thought?

Let’s see….
The cork popped out of this 09 09 vintage very easily to my immense relief. Cork fighting is not fun. A little whiff of smoke twirled out of the bottle. The taste seems off here. Very light and watery. Cola caramel notes are the main feature with a lingering bubbly ness. What is throwing the taste off are some metallic notes that start small but grow on the palate. If there was more malt heft left, the discordant note may have been hidden but age has taken that out it seems. The Belgian yeast adds a little spice but more cidery notes to the proceedings.

As it warms up, the lightness and bubbles are replaced with a cloying sugary flavor. It mitigates the metallic note but now the taste is more apple / maple and a bit in the syrup side.

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The Verdict? – This counts as a failure. Probably the biggest of the series. I can handle metallic but both the wateriness at the beginning or the sugariness at the ends are a big turn-off for me and I will chalk that up to age not the highly esteemed brewery.

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Session # 91

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After the haterade that was Session 90, we have moved on to a wide open discussion on Belgian beers for Session 91.

The topic comes to us via our host, Belgian Smaak.

Many of the suggested writing prompts piqued my interest but I thought I would just take a chance and see what Belgian beer I first rated on Ratebeer.

And I found it within five ticks, Golden Valley French Prairie Blanche. A witbier brewed in my ol’ college town of McMinnville (Go Wildcats!). Sure a saison from Portland favorite Upright followed soon after and the requisite Bruery beers were there in the early days of craft beer fandom. But what some may call a starter Belgian was the first for me.

My brief thoughts back in 2009 were as follows, “Nice spice smell on this one. Possibly a little too dark for a wit. The taste is spot on. Light with many different notes.” I gave it a score of 3.8 out of 5.0.

Nowadays, I am more apt to drink a tripel or an American tinged Saison then I am to have a Witbier. But the wit style, along with the German Hefeweizen have flavor profiles that I can easily identify and enjoy. The coriander from one and the clove of the other are familiar guideposts to lean on.

Whereas a Belgian Strong ale may be too heavy on the palate or a Belgian IPA may be tilted too far towards yeast in one direction or hops to the other. The simpler Wit along with the Belgian single seem to always work, if I can generalize.

And I say that after participating in a Wit Bier tasting.

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Cantillon Bulks Up

No, no steroids here just more capacity for the beloved Belgian blender, Cantillon.

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They have apparently been in the market for additional space since last year and have found a new space in an old blender building that held Brasseries Limbourg up until the sixties.

Due to the lengthy process of aging, you won’t see an immediate impact but once 2 to 3 years/vintages pass they will eventually be able to double their production.  Which is great news for those who can’t get enough of their stellar line-up.  Soon they will brew the wort at the main brewery before transferring (after cooling) to mature at the new location.

 

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This + Craft Beer

L.A. is not Belgium (yet) but one thing that might be translatable from there to here is the combo.

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Check out this article with photos from PopUpCity right HERE. Why can’t we mix and match? Restaurants have been slow on the uptake.  Either grafting on beer to a menu (looking at the lazy people and Bourbon Steak in Glendale) or ignoring it all together. So how about Pet grooming and beer?  Pets get treated real well here in L.A. so why not combo with some craft beer?  Or follow the Wasbar example.  Maybe a combo coffee house in the morning, craft beer at night concept?

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Up from the Cellar – Cuvée Renee from Brouwerij Lindemans

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Brouwerij Lindemans is coming up from the cellar in April!  I started with the Faro and now we tackle the Cuvee Renee. A refermented in the bottle Gueuze that the label declares “Improves in bottle with age”

I always dread corked bottles.  You never know if the cork will behave or if there will be a geyser.  But this cork came out easy and cleanly.  No trouble at all.  It pours a really clear orange with a bit of lacing around the edge of the glass after the initial pillow of foam recedes.  The aroma is pure funk.  I get grass, hay and barn wood.  And this probably sounds strange but I also get that smell just before rain starts.  Weird.

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Boy, this a puckery inducing beer.  My first thought was of sucking a lemon.  It has that citrus note that is punctuated with tart.  It is twisting my mouth into different shapes.  It is really sharp at the front of the mouth which makes finding other notes a little harder.  But I do get some oak wood notes.  Very minor but there.  A little bit of apple cider vinegar as well.  I have had beers that are more sour but this is definitely at that end of the spectrum.  Not an easy drinker and a sharp contrast to the sticky sweetness of the Faro from earlier this month.

Both were bought at the same time.  So I will “assume” that they were close vintages.  And yet they couldn’t be further apart to me.  This is super tart and that doesn’t let up much as it warms either.  In fact, I start to get more grapefruit pith notes now.  My palate is in a state of sour shock.

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The Verdict – Part of me thinks that this beer has turned a little too vinegary and that I may have held it a good half year too long.  But the acid isn’t super high and I still do get some citrus notes and the barnyard funk is in full bloom.  So, I am conflicted.  Let’s split the difference and say that this would have been better back in January.