I continue to make progress on my project to sample a wide variety of Belgian beers. Here’s another set of notes:
Interesting Trappist beer in cute glass bottles with dolphin heraldry. Very luxurious head, took a while to pour a small bottle (11.2oz) into a pint glass. Very light and sour, with a bit of resin in the finish, from dry hopping.
Probably the first Belgian beer I ever had was some Chimay Tripel a friend brought to a party many years ago — I found it very strange and unpleasant. My tastes have changed over the years, and I knew that I’d like the Chimay Blue much better than their tripel. I was not disappointed: this beer if very sweet and smooth, with a hint of dryness and mild earthy hops.
Girardin Gueuze 1882 (Black Label)
Intensely sour, with a little fruitiness and funkiness. More like Champagne than an average ale, both because of the effervescence and because of the rich layering of flavor and aroma. Definitely confirming my intention to find more gueuze to try.
Delicious — a perfect hefeweizen. Just a little touch of honey adding sweetness but not overpowering. I want to see if I can find any of the other St. Bernardus beers around town.
I avoided trying this beer for a long time — I didn’t take it seriously because of the silly pink elephants on the label. What lager should be: sweet and light, with a little sour reediness that almost reminds me of a pilsner. The overall effect is closer to a cream ale than your typical tripel.
If you’re going to have one beer with pink elephants on the label, you may as well have another…Â This is the sister beer to Delirium Tremens — this time a dark, strong ale. Very fruity, with a strong similarity to DT (same pilsner/cream ale taste, which is a little incongruous in a darker ale). But sweet and malty, too.