Recently in Belgium Category

In the Beer Justice System the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important groups. The drinkers who investigate crime and the District Attorneys who prosecute the offenders. They meet once a month at a local BYOB to sample beers. These are their stories:

The following notes, compiled by our resident stenographer, should be taken with a grain of salt as I'm pretty sure the stenographer was also drunk (as evidence, well, the stenographer was me). In order of drinking (not in order of picture, and sadly, we didn't get to all beers in the picture either):

• Starr Hill The Love - A pretty straightforward but enjoyable hefeweizen. Super carbonated, overwhelming head, but a nice banana/clove weizen yeast character, highly drinkable stuff. B
• The Captain's Brew House All American - This is actually a buddy's homebrew, and I arrived a bit late, so I only really got to try the yeasty dregs of the bottle, but it seemed pretty darn good - easily the equal of the previous beer. Would like to try it fresh sometime. Still, truly a beer worthy of Captain America (i.e. the namesake of my buddy's home brewery).
• Ommegang Hennepin - You know, I've mentioned this beer numerous times on the blog, but I've never actually reviewed it. It's a really nice beer, one of my favorites, the beer that introduced me to the world of good beer. Nice Belgian yeast character, light, crisp, refreshing, quaffable stuff. I might be into chasing more funky varieties of saison these days, but it's always fun to revisit this beer and it holds a special place in my heart. A
• Ommegang Rare Vos - The slightly maltier sibling of Hennepin, I also love this beer (which, yes, I've actually reviewed before), one of those beers that is also probably impacted by nostalgia for me, but it's just as good as ever. A
• The Captain's Brew House Shameless IPA - Another homebrew, this one is actually a Northern Brewer Dead Ringer. It was very good, with a big malt backbone, but also a nice hop character. I'm not a huge fan of centennial single hopped IPAs, but this one was solid.
• Kaedrin Dubbel - My homebrewed dubbel continues to evolve, with an almost coffee-like character emerging right now (but not straight coffee, and not really a roast either, somewhere perhaps between those flavors). It's actually quite interesting. I'll be interested in trying this again in isolation, as beer club isn't exactly the best setting for my palate!
• Trappistes Rochefort 8 - Truly a classic beer, one of my favorites of all time. Previously reviewed.
• Boulevard Collaboration No. 3 - Stingo - A collaboration with Kaedrin favorite Pretty Things, this one goes a more English route, though it's souped up a bit more than that might lead you to believe. Nice subtle hints of breadiness and toffee with maybe a hint of dark chocolate. Didn't really strike a big chord with me, but it was certainly a well made beer. B
• Starr Hill Double Platinum - A solid, if a bit boozy DIPA. Nice hop character, but the booze was more prominent than I expected for an 8.5% ABV beer. It was probably a little warmer than it should have been, but I'll leave it at a B for now.
• Lost Abbey Red Poppy - Another of my contributions for the night, this is still a spectacular beer, and made a lot of waves with the attendees, even folks who don't normally go in for "beer". Previously reviewed, and still an A in my book.
• Firestone Walker §ucaba - Very generously contributed by Kaedrin friend Dana (she's not a huge bourbon fan, but knows that some of us other beer club members are), this sucker is as good as ever. Previously rated and still an A in my book.

Ever since Oude Gueuze Tilquin made a believer out of me, I've been on the lookout for more lambics, with a keen eye to acquire some Cantillon and Drie Fonteinen (aka 3 Fonteinen, which I guess means 3 Fountains or somesuch). These are both classic lambic breweries that have experienced an explosion in demand while not really being able to increase production all that much. It doesn't help that something like an Oude Geuze takes at least 3 years to produce, not to mention other concerns (Cantillon, for instance, has pretty much maxed out capacity, and given the exigency of spontaneous fermenation, they can't just open a new brewery somewhere). Drie Fonteinen seems to be the easier to acquire of the two, but I still haven't seen any of it around in the past half a year or so. I finally broke down and ordered some direct from the source. This cost a pretty penny, but from what I understand, there've been issues with people charging outrageous prices for this stuff, so it was probably worth it (thanks to Rich for the link).

What we've got here is the "basic" Oude Geuze. Scare quotes because while 3 Fonteinen has their fair share of one-offs and rarities, this is still a blend of 3 year old, 2 year old, and 1 year old lambic, which is no joke to the tune of being a top 100 baller on BA. I've got fancier stuff stashed away for later, but let's not get too carried away. Here goes:

Drie Fonteinen Oude Geuze - Pours a deep golden color with half a finger of white, bubbly head. Smells of twangy funk and oak. Taste has lots of that funky Brett character, a pleasant sourness, and lots of oak too. Well balanced flavors here, with no component overpowering the other. It also evolves well as it warms. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, plenty of carbonation though it does seem a little light for the style. Has a more winelike character than I'm used to. Not that that's bad. Overall, I could get used to these Oud Geuze things. I don't like this as much as the aforementioned Tilquin, but I'll still plant a firm A- on this sucker.

Beer Nerd Details: 6% ABV bottled (750 ml caged and corked). Drank out of a Cantillon Gueze tumbler on 4/19/13. Label sez: bottled on 21/12/2011. Good until 21/12/2021.

Up next in my summer of lambic will be some sort of Cantillon (probably the Kriek), but I've got a bottle of 3 Fonteinen Golden Blend that is just begging to be opened.

I think I've mentioned before that my craft beer revelation occurred sometime around the turn of the century: a bottle of Hennepin, picked randomly off a well appointed beer menu at the now defunct Moody Monkey restaurant of Norristown, PA. Given that I'd spent the previous four years celebrating the entire catalog of Natty beers (you know, Light and Ice), Hennepin was a mind blowing eye opener. Of course, I still had no idea what good beer was, and given PA's draconian liquor laws, my beer wonkery grew slowly (one case at a time). The only thing I knew about Hennepin was that it was made by Ommegang and that it was a "Saison". Exploring Ommegang's other offerings was rewarding. Exploring every saison I could get my hands on was... confusing.

It was around that time that I began to suspect that Saison is the least coherent beer style in the history of beer. Here's a quick glance at a typical saisons run back in the day:

I drank those three beers one weekend and was floored. I actually liked all three, but they're absurdly, comically different. The one that really threw me for a loop was Fantôme. That's the one that popped up at the top of the Beer Advocate best saisons lists, so I pounced on it when I finally found a bottle somewhere. Then I drank it and my eyes popped out of my skull. What the hell is this stuff? Nothing at all like Hennepin or Dupont, this thing was weird. It was all lemony and tart and earthy and I had no idea what to make of it. And the damn label wasn't even in English, so I had no idea what I was drinking. It was super complex though, and even as a nascent beer nerd, I was picking up on that. I'm now a full-on Brett and sour fan, so this is no longer a problem.

Ghost hunting has thus proceeded over the past few years, even as these beers have become harder and harder to find. I've partook in a couple other tastings of Fantôme's "regular" saison (as well as some variants), and I've noticed something curious. Let's call this the strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Fantôme: sometimes the beer is sour and spicy and funky, and sometimes it's just plain funky. And sometimes it's inbetween. My most recent experience leaned heavily towards the funk without the corresponding sour. I have to say, I don't like that as much, but then, it's still pretty great:

Fantôme Saison - Pours a hazy golden orange color, almost fruit juice looking, with a couple fingers of ghostly (sorry, couldn't help myself) head. Nose is filled with earthy, musty, funky Brett, along with some unidentified spice character. Taste is sweet and spicy, peppery, maybe coriander too, lots of that earthy funk makes an appearance as well (along with all those weird Brett descriptions like horse blankets and damp cellars), and a hint of lemony zest too. Not nearly as "bright" as I remember, and only a faint hint of tartness. In fact, I even sometimes got a little smoke out of that Brett character. Not nearly as much as La Dalmatienne, but it's there. Mouthfeel is well carbonated and crisp, but still smooth and generally easy-going. No trace of booze at all. Overall, funky, complex, unique, and fascinating, as always... though I wish there was a little more of that tart sourness, which I know from experience takes this to another level. As such, tough to actually rate: B+ or maybe an A-?

Beer Nerd Details: 8% ABV bottled (750 ml capped and coked). Drank out of a tulip glass on 3/30/13.

Fantôme is infamous for being inconsistent. This is normally a fatal flaw in a brewery, but given the nature of wild yeasts and bacterial beasties, most beer nerds give Fantôme a pass on this, as when it works, it's a face melting experience. When it doesn't, it's actually still pretty good. I'll just have to break out that PKE Meter and hunt down another bottle. Speaking of which, I actually have acquired some other Fantôme offerings (and some other wild Belgian offerings), so be on the lookout for those soon.

Update: Apparently the smokey character evinced in this bottle was part of a larger issue with Fantôme's entire line of beer that lasted about a year and is generally referred to as Smoketôme. This is probably the same thing that was going on with La Dalmatienne. Good news is that the issue has apparently been resolved, even if Fantôme bottles are as unpredictable as ever.

I wasn't originally planning on drinking a bunch of smoked beers last week, but you never know what you're going to get from Brasserie Fantôme, and when I cracked this one open and realized that it featured smoked malts, I figured I'd just go with it. What can I say, it was a smokey weekend.

Fantôme was never easy to find, but it's even more difficult these days, so when I saw this La Dalmatienne, I pounced. Background information is sparse, but it appears to be one of Fantôme's trademark funky, almost sour saisons, but with a touch of smoked malt, just to further confuse the saison style definition. There's also another version La Dalmatienne that has a black label with white spots, but I'm reliably informed that the one I had was the better version. What dalmatians have to do with any of this is anyone's guess (they ride on fire trucks, smoke comes from fire, ipso facto a smoked beer?), but let's strap on our proton packs and hunt some ghosts anyway:

Fantôme La Dalmatienne - Pours a bright, mostly clear golden yellow color with a couple fingers of white head. Smells funky with some more traditional saison spice lurking in the background, and a rather prominent (but not overpowering) smoky aroma. The taste is lemony sweet, a very light fruity tartness, some funk, and that smoke from the nose. That smoke is the odd man out, though not in an unpleasant way. Mouthfeel is well carbonated, crisp, and lightly acidic, making it a sorta bright brew. Overall, an interesting brew, that smoke could have been a disaster, but I think they pulled it off. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 8% ABV bottled (750 ml capped and corked). Drank out of a tulip glass on 1/19/13.

I need to find me a regular hookup on Fantôme beers. They were never plentiful around here, but they seem to have gone the way of the loon in recent times. Anywho, after I had this beer, I threw caution to the wind and embraced the smoked beer theme that had been developing, which lead to tomorrow night's beer, a puntastic New Zealand entry that sounded like it would be a disaster, but was actually amazing.

Philly Beer Week is generally an occasion for special releases, brewery openings, and collaborations. The Brotherly Suds team of Philly area brewers always puts something interesting together, but the past two years have also seen a Belgo-Philly connection. There's a contest of sorts in which a lucky raffle winner picks a local brewer to go on a trip to Belgium and collaborate on an official Philly Beer Week brew. 2012's entry was a collaboration between Iron Hill and Brasserie Dupont, and it was quite nice.

What we have here today is the 2011 Belgo-Philly collaboration between De Proef and Sly Fox, Broederlijke Liefde (which means Brotherly Love in Dutch). It's a 37 IBU saison fermented with traditional yeast, then dosed with Brettanomyces for good measure. This bottle's a year and a half old, so it may be showing its age, but Brett beers tend to evolve interestingly over time, so let's see how this sucker is holding up:

De Proef and Sly Fox Broederlijke Liefde - Pours a cloudy bright golden orange color with a finger or two of fluffy white head, lots of lacing, great retention. Smells heavily of funk, earthy and fruity, maybe a little spice too. Taste is sweet and spicy, some bright fruit, relatively light on the funky Brett character, but it's there and it works. Mouthfeel is well carbonated and spicy, drying out towards the finish. Easy to drink, slight warming from alcohol, but nothing unpleasant. Overall, this is a really solid funky beer. Perhaps not in the running for best evar, but it's certainly worth a try if you can still find it. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 8% ABV bottled (750 ml caged and corked). Drank out of a goblet on 1/5/13. IBU: 37. Hops: Target and Styrian Golding.

I wish I sprang for some of this stuff back in 2011, just to see what it was like fresh. In any case, this year's collaboration was just announced, with Chris Wilson from Weyerbacher heading to Belgium to brew a beer at Brasserie de la Senne. No news yet as to what they'll be brewing, but I can pretty much guarantee that you'll be reading about it here sometime in the June timeframe.

The past few years, I've cracked open a big, effervescent saison beer to ring in the New Year. Such saisons are a solid fit for the occasion, but they're not quite the champagne of beers, which is clearly the Gueuze style. A blend of spontaneously fermented beer aged in oak, incorporating beer that's at least 2 years old, Gueuzes are also quite bright and effervescent. They are usually even caged and corked, just like champagne. Alas, I appear to have misplaced my sabre, so I had to open it the old fashioned way.

This Girardin variety seems to be pretty well regarded for a gueuze not made by Cantillon or Drie Fonteinen, so let's see how 2013 began, beerwise:

Girardin Black Label Gueuze 1882 - Pours a bright orange color, slightly hazy, with a finger of white head. Smells of fruity funk, with that twang that indicates sourness. Taste is very sweet, with some tart fruit hitting in the middle and evolving into true sourness in the finish. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, but crisp, well carbonated, drinkable, but that sweetness gets to be a bit much as you finish this off. Still, it's all pretty well done. Not quite the revelation that, say, Tilquin was, but very good in its own way. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 5% ABV bottled (375 ml, caged and corked). Drank out of a tulip glass on 1/1/13.

The sour march goes on, some other exciting stuff in the pipeline too, so stay tuned.

The two main Rodenbach beers are blends of oak-aged beer and "young" beer. The Grand Cru is mostly 2 year old oak aged beer, while the Classic leans more heavily on the young beer. Well, a few years ago, Rodenbach started putting out these Vintage beers, which are unblended and comprised solely of 2 year old oak aged beer from a single foeder (the giant oak vats they use to age their beer). This particular bottle was released back in 2011 and came into my possession by a fortuitous turn of events. By which I mean that it was sitting on the shelf and I happened to pick this over the 2010 edition... I'm a huge fan of the Grand Cru, so my hopes were high for this one:

Rodenbach 2009 Vintage Oak Aged Ale (Barrel No. 145) - Pours a relatively clear, dark amber brown color (robey tones, so much clarity) with half a finger of bubbly white head. Smells of vinous fruit, cherries, oak, and vanilla, with that sour twang. Taste starts off very sweet and fruity, tons of sour cherry flavor, maybe some jolly rancher, all of which is more prominent than the Grand Cru. The sweet and sour vinegar character is more prominent than the Grand Cru, but then the oak and vanilla kicks in, tempering that sweetness a bit, evening out the brew. Sourness is present and assertive, but not overpowering. Mouthfeel is a little brighter and more acidic than the Grand Cru, but it's well carbonated, rich, and full bodied. The sourness keeps it from feeling heavy though, and it goes down pretty easy. Overall, this is fantastic stuff, a little more vinegar and less oak than the Grand Cru (odd, considering the unblended nature of this one), but certainly worthy. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 7% ABV bottled (750 ml caged and corked). Drank out of a tulip glass on 12/28/12.

Rodenbach Grand Cru is one of those beers that turned me into a lover of sour beer, so perhaps it's hard for these other vintages to stack up. They clearly share a similar character, and I'll probably continue to seek out any of Rodenbach's specialty batches, but the Grand Cru just hit my tastes perfectly.

It's been a while since I've played Belgian beer roulette, so I figured I'd take a flier on this beer, cryptically designated a "Grand Cru". Just what is a Grand Cru, you ask? That's an excellent question; it doesn't mean anything.

In wine, the phrase is clearly organized and regulated. It refers to the highest level of vinyard classification. Something about terroir. I don't know, what is this, a wine blog? The point is that while it's formally defined for wine, it was basically adopted in the beer world as a marketing tactic. Most beers labeled as Grand Cru seem to be imply that it's a style, but that's not at all the case. You can get a Belgian Strong Pale, like the 9.5% ABV Southampton Grand Cru, or today's beer, Bink Grand Cru, which is a 13% ABV Belgian Strong Dark monster, or even Rodenbach Grand Cru, which is a sour Flanders Red weighing in at just 6.5% ABV. That's a pretty disparate range of flavors and styles right there.

I suppose you could say that it generally represents an improved or more elaborate offering than the brewer normally makes, perhaps their "grandest" beer. Or not. Like I said, there's no actual rules for what constitutes a grand cru in the beer world. So roulette it certainly is, with Brouwerij Kerkom's winter beer (aka Winterkoninkske!) in my glass:

Bink Grand Cru - Pours a very dark brown, almost black color with minimal light tan head. Nose smells quite sweet, a little Belgian yeast character, maybe some molasses, a lot of chocolate. The taste is filled with rich, sweet, dark malts, a little spice, a hint of dark fruit, and again with that big chocolate character. Oh, and booze. Very boozy. Intense flavors all around, but not overwhelming. Mouthfeel is surprisingly well carbonated for such a big beer, making it seem perhaps a bit less heavy than it really is, which is actually nice. Spice and booze make themselves felt, but nothing too unweildly. The booze also warms things up a bit, maybe just a hint of burn in the mouth. Full bodied, but not super chewy or anything. It's a sipping beer, but it's not hard to drink. I wouldn't call it well balanced, but it's working pretty well. Overall, big, complex, uncommon flavor profile, I enjoyed it upon first taste, but it just got better as I drank, which is nice for such a big beer. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 13% ABV bottled (750 ml caged and corked). Drank out of a snifter on 12/7/12.

This actually reminded me a little of Tired Hands' Westy 13, though it's got a more chocolate and booze component than Tired Hands' brew. Ok, so maybe it's just that they're both 13% and dark and rich. Still, both are excellent. Another successful session of Belgian Beer Roulette, and I live to play again.