Belgian

Saisons are a style I struggled with for the longest time. The paleness reminded me too much of a Pilsner and the all too common dry finish left me with a bad taste in my mouth... literally. Through what I like to call perseverance, I've come to terms with this style of beer and I've found aspects of Saisons which I enjoy. It's still a love-hate relationship at time, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy a great Saison every now and then.

This beer showed up a couple weeks ago as part of a mixed case of bottles. The 330ml bottles are pretty low key, they've got simple red and green labels that are pretty bland. I opened a bottle of this beer because I felt like drinking something Belgian... I was in the mood for something yeasty, maybe sour or a little tart. What I got when I poured this bottle of De Koninck was a dry and malty Belgian Amber. Not exactly what I was expecting, but I wasn't disappointed... yet.

This stout little bottle is quite unassuming. It's got a curvy upper half that looks a bit like soft serve ice cream atop a cone. The label is pretty plain, with it's blue background and curiously menacing stork icon. You can never really judge a beer by it's label so I tried not to develop any preconceived notions about this little Belgian bottle from a brewery I'd never heard of. When I poured this beer into my glass I noticed a pretty big aroma coming off the beer. There was a good deal of malt at first but hints of candied fruit, chocolate and caramel were all present. An odd aroma for a Dubbel, but a great combination nonetheless.

So for the longest time I honestly thought the name of beer was "Golden Carolus" ...I can't tell you why, it's just one of those things. I've seen bottles of Gouden Carolus on the shelves next to other big Belgian names and I've largely glanced over them in favor of something a bit more rare or interesting. A couple of weeks ago I started the process of moving into my first house, knowing that I'd be insanely busy for the next few weeks, I stocked up on beer so I could try and squeeze in a few reviews whenever I had time. I decided to pick up some "familiar" beers that would make this new house feel like "home" ...and it's hard to have a bad time while drinking a Belgian Tripel.

I was wary of this beer for a couple of reasons... This beer's name and label remind me of of all the sketchy vodka I saw in Eastern Germany. These cheap bottles of vodka were named after historical figures like Putin, Gorbachev and Stalin. These products had nothing to do with their namesake, it was just a marketing ploy to cash in on the name recognition... it struck me as being super tacky. When I first saw this bottle of Bruegel Amber Ale with Pieter Bruegel's Peasant Dance slapped on the side of it I couldn't help but Gorbachev Vodka with a birthmark logo on the bottle...

This bottle of Augustijn Ale is a smallish stubby dark bottle with a curious label on it. On the label is a scene of a bald(ing) fat monk stirring a barrel of what I assume is barley. The label is drawn in a way that reminds me of Disney's animated Robin Hood movie from the 1970s. There are no anthropomorphized animals in this monk's cellar but there are a couple of curious medieval banner with animals on them. One banner has three lions in silhouette and the other has three deer or elk... It seems a little out of place but maybe that's because I'm not part of this beer's target audience... I'm not a 14th century monk that looks like he just stepped out of a Disney animated movie.

Westmalle ranks right up there with Orval and Chimay as far as Trappist mindshare in the average craft beer drinker goes. Trappist beers are held in high regard, and for good reason. They're high quality beers with unique characteristics. Westmalle's Tripel is a spicier take on the Tripel style that packs a lot of alcohol and yeasty funk into an outwardly modest looking beer. I poured this Tripel into a tulip glass and noticed a couple things that were worth mentioning right off the bat. The color of this beer is a little lighter than I was expecting, this made sense when I went in and got a good whiff...

I'm not really sure what to make of this beer... Brasserie Lefebvre's Barbãr Bok is a very dark Strong Ale that has some very dark strong flavors. The aroma of this beer should have been enough warning that this was going to be a wild ride. The aroma is sweet in a medicinal sort of way. There is a minty Schnapps freshness to this otherwise dark beer. The sweet fruit flavors taste most like fig or plum thats been stewed or candied. On top of all that, there is a layer of toffee malt that seems just about as out of place as everything else...

When I bought this Chimay sampler a few months ago I didn't really plan ahead as far how I was going to drink these three bottles. I ended inadvertently drinking them in the most american way possible, which would be Red, White and finally Blue... I started off with the Red because it is the Chimay I see most widely distributed. I drank the White next because it was the end of summer and I was wanting something a bit "lighter" ...like I said, I didn't do much research ahead of time. That left me with a bottle of Chimay Blue which I was a hesitant to open up, at least until I was ready for a nearly double digit ABV beer. I recently went to the grand opening of a new liquor store in town and they had all of their beers sorted in order by rating, from highest to lowest. I couldn't help but notice that Chimay's Blue garnered a 100 point score, ranking right up there (at least according to this liquor store) with Nøgne Ø #100 and Old Rasputin. Since I recently drank an Old Rasputin, I figured the time was right to finally crack open the Chimay Blue that's been waiting so patiently for me.

Brouwerij Achilles was unknown to me a week ago. I happened upon a dusty bottle of this Serafijn Celtic Angel at the store and thought I'd give it a try. The bottle has all the markings of an eccentric Belgian brewery, it's label is Spartan and the colors are faded, the spelling looks familiar but there are a few extra Js in there... and it's in a 750 with a foil wrap around the top. What little information the label does contain identifies this as a Belgian Dark Ale. After pouring the beer and taking a few sips I'm convinced this is really more of a light dark ale... if that makes any since. The As a lighter version of a Belgian dark ale this beer the Celtic Angel had all of the basic flavor elements of a dark ale, just in lesser quantities and potency. Yes this beer is sour, citrusy and malty, but all of these flavors are mellowed out quite a bit. Don't get me wrong, this beer isn't watered down, just mellowed out.