Tasting The Booty... Belgian and French Style

Have continued to be quiet on the beer front over the last few weeks... dieting for wedding dress fittings has taken priority (not done too badly if I might say so myself!). A couple of the bottles, however, have been sampled over the past few weeks.

160: Motuecha, Struise, 5%
Have had this hop before (spelt differently however!) and found it very punchy. This was a single hopped Belgian pale ale. I'm guessing that in this style, the hop was used in a very different way, or in different quantities to other styles I've tried this hop in as it certainly wasn't punchy. Smooth to drink, lightly carbonated. Flavour-wise I found that the hops were hard to distinguish. Mr Ticker suggested this might be due to the yeast flavours. It wasn't what I expected from a single hop beer, but I think I was making assumptions about IPA rather than thinking about Belgian style beers. My verdict, OK, but not awesome, but that is probably my own fault.

161: Faro Lambic, Foudroyante, 4.5%
Smells sours, like I'm not going to enjoy it. Shouldn't prejudge, and trying to sample it with an open mind. Tastes slightly appley, caramelly, cinnamony. Slightly sour taste, tastes ok. Not my favourite, but ok.

Westvleteren

Written by Mr Ticker (@BradfordBeer)

I saw a debate on twitter regarding Westvleteren 12 and whether or not the beer was worth the hype (http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/westvleteren-12/4934/). I have tried all three of the brewery's offerings, paying, as many have before, the frankly astronomical price of €12 for the '12 (funny that) €10 for the '10 and €8 for the blond. I paid the price because I was aware of the hype, and wanted to make my own informed decision. A Birmingham pub currently offers the '12 for a whopping £25 so is the beer worth this much money? No.

The quality of the beer is not in question, @Filrd recently undertook an experiment involving the Westy '12 (http://beersay.wordpress.com/2012/10/21/trappists-laid-bare/) and surprised himself with the result! I have some Westvleteren bottles in my garage, not the kind I was talking about above no, mine is much more special. I got mine direct from the Abbey de Sint Sixtus.

My dad had taken pintsizedticker and I on a holiday to France and to thank him for the holiday we arranged a night in Bruges. A week before departure, at the allotted time, I rang Abbey de Sint Sixtus to place an order. I really fancied the '12, however, the beer on offer was the blond, but I still gratefully put the order through. 

We timed the visit to coincide with the journey to Bruges, I was due to pick the beer up at 14:15 which was immediately after the monks lunch, and I did the British thing and waited politely until a queue started to form and dutifully joined it. There was an exciting atmosphere. Being third in a line of twenty or so cars full of beer lovers from lots of different nations all in this tiny hamlet for one thing was amazing. There were the Belgians who were nonchalantly reading papers, presumably this would have been a more regular experience for them, the cars full of young blokes on a boozy trip, the dads dragging families along with them and us, the tourists having lots of pictures taken!

This is where the value for money argument is moot. Direct from the brewery a 24 crate of '12 will set you back €39 plus €9.60 for the crate and €0.10 per bottle a grand total of €51. At today's rate of exchange that's £41.20 divided by 24 = approx £1.70 a bottle (£1.40 for the blond and £1.55 for the '10) Can anyone argue that is not value for money?!

Part of the enjoyment I get from the beer is remembering that special day, I have enjoyed sharing it with fellow beer drinkers. The shops shouldn't sell the beer, then everyone who wants some will have to make the pilgrimage that will make the beer taste even better! The shameful mark up of bottles to £25.00 each is disgraceful. But that is not the fault of the brewery.

Return to Beer, Belgian style!

Last night was a reintroduction to beer, after a few weeks off as explained in a short post yesterday. And also an intense introduction to Belgian beer, in preparation for a visit to Bruges in a few days.

Started the evening off away from Belgium, with a new beer from BrewDog. Thought it would be good to refamiliarise myself with:


145: Dead Pony Club, BrewDog, 3.8%
Strong hoppy, lemony smells. A slightly amber colour. Tastes gorgeous. Been a while since having a beer, but what a cracker to come back on. Full of hoppy flavour. A light bitterness. Not strong. Really nice reintroduction. Tastes hoppy lemon, grassy and with malty flavours coming through too.

Next up, start of the Belgian lesson.

146: Blue (2012), Chimay, 9%
Smells herby and spicy. Dark amber colour.  Apparently you can age this beer. Tastes a bit rum-y, and there is a slightly sweet caramel taste. Not especially bitter nor hoppy. Raisiny boozy. Because we served it chilled from the fridge, Mr Ticker advised me to drink it slow and let it warm up. As it did I felt that the spice mellowed and the raisiny flavours became more prominent. A really nice start, a new sort of beer for me but with lots of familiar overtones. Looking forward to more!

147: Gueuze 100% Lambic Bio (2011), Cantillon, 5%
Clear, flat looking. Smells cider like and slightly vinegary. Not looking forward to this. I had been prewarned that this was a sour beer, and took the first sip with a feeling of uncertain trepidation. Tastes sour. Vile, to be perfectly honest. I'm not a fan of sour anyway. Grapefruits and tangy sweets, well, I can perfectly happily swanny through life avoiding these. With the Gueuze, I just couldn't get past the sour to begin thinking about flavours. Just made my face crinkle into a small puckered wrinklefest.

So, should I try other lambics and not let myself be put off or just accept that it is not a style for me and save my pennies for beers I'm going to enjoy? Simon James @Gueuzel via twitter has given some advice to lambic/gueuze newbies, and I think that I will have to have another go, persist, and maybe, just maybe, I might come around to the idea.

A short beery evening for a change, but an enjoyable one at that. Looking forward to delving deeper into Belgium over the next few weeks.