While my heart is firmly with Ontario craft beer, I must admit: I've been straying lately.
My mistress: Belgian style beer. It's a whole nother can of beans - hardly recognizable compared to the lagers and pale ales we're used to. Some are more like port than beer - but they are delicious. A whole new world of beer flavours have opened up to me.
While the Germans, on one end of the spectrum, had a law in the past prohibiting them from putting anything in their beer other than water, yeast, hops and malt (under penalty of I don't want to know), the Belgians have a long history of throwing whatever the hell they want to in their beer. Cilantro? Sure! Black pepper? Yes please! Crazy yeast that lives naturally in this cellar? Come on in!
Belgian beer is nuts. And I love it. I'm particularly loving it this time of year, because their beer is often higher alcohol per volume, and more warming, than the beers we're used to.
While the Ontario beer scene is more based on English or German style beer, the Quebec craft beer scene is dominated by Belgian style beer like Unibroue or Dieu du Ciel's offerings.
Being a language confused Franco-Ontarian, there's room in my heart for both (or neither, I'm not sure... the guilt is killing me!)
beeradvocate.com can tell you more about the specifics of Belgian styles like Witbier, Dubbel, Tripel, Strong Dark Ale or Saison (which, by the way, I cannot for the life of me find in Toronto and it's driving me nuts).
Anyway, as I've been sampling away (Sarah's Cafe on the Danforth has a great selection of Belgian bottled beer in its basement), two have stuck out. Both dark, and both will be with me all winter long. I'm thinking of keeping a few bottles in the beer fridge to age for awhile to see how that goes. They're certainly complex enough in flavour...
Affligem Dubbel (from Belgium) 6.8%, from the lcbo
Colour: Caramelly brown. Can't see through. Thick head. lots of action in the glass. Smell: Belgian smell, don't know enough to say what it is, but it is delicious. Very intense, interesting taste. Prickly on the tongue right away. Maple syrup like taste, with some spiciness. I like this a lot. Almost like peach flavour? Thick mouthfeel. 6.8% is warming. Honey taste. overall: delicious: maple syrup/honey/caramel sweetness with a little peach/apricot/floral taste and a prickliness.
Trois Pistoles by Unibroue, Quebec, from the beer store
This I found at the Beer Store near my house. What a find! This is a Belgian Strong Dark Ale - kind of like a Dubbel but maybe a bit fruitier? This is the type of beer that dreams are made of. Or, probably more accuretly, nightmares. Almost pitch black, thick in the mouth. This is a special beer, and will most certainly be in my house from now on, particularly as it gets colder out (I just hope I'm able to keep it stocked as quickly as I can drink it :) Warming alcohol but not overpowering. honey, butter, maple syrup and winter spices. kind of beer you'd sip like a good port if it wasn't so darn good and drinkable. Eager to get to their other offerings. The warmer it gets as it sits in your glass, the more the flavours are released.
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