Brouwerij Huyghe
Delirium Noël
It seems like ever since I first went to Bruxelles (Brussels, BE) and had Delirium Cafe's signature beer, Delirium Tremens on tap, it has exploded onto the world beer scene. Almost as long I have been seeing it's Christmas-themed relative, Delirium Noël, but I have always made excuses for not buying it, but as summer time looms and I will be swamped in citrus-ey summer seasonals (my least favourite of all seasonal trends), I finally took the plunge and got a bottle.
(Specs) ABV 10%
Colour: Dark amber
Aroma: Fruity, Sweet fermented hops
Head: Creamy, very foamy
Inital Taste: Sweet hops, almost fruity
Mouthfeel: Incredibly smooth
Aftertaste: Slightly overbearing, fruit aftertaste
Showing posts with label Belgium. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Belgium. Show all posts
Monday, May 28, 2012
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Kasteel Rouge
Yesterday, while at Bier Markt, (see my description of in my last post here), I picked up this beer kind of because of a friend. While we were perusing the menu, I was called upon to give advice on what beers my compatriots should buy, and since I'd known that one of them had liked Lindemans Kriek, I suggested that she go for a lambic, if they had them.
Fortunately for us, we were in luck and they had six different bottles available for purchase. She settled on the Kasteel Rouge because not only did it sound good, but neither of us had seen it anywhere in our area, so we thought it was worth the splurge. After spending so much time talking about the brew, I just had to pick up a bottle because I was so curious about how it would be.
Name: Kasteel Rouge
Year: 2011
ABV: 8.0%
poured from a 33cl bottle into a glass stein
Colour: A deep brown red, with a red tint in the light
Aroma: Sweet smell of cherries, with slight earthy undertones (initially also smells faintly of cough syrup, but that dissipates over time)
Head: Small head with medium-sized bubbles, slightly pink
Initial Taste: Sweet, yet sour cherry taste (presumably sweet from the juice, and sour from the pits) with a slight earthiness of hops
Mouth-feel: Medium bodied beer, all of the flavours are balanced very well
Aftertaste: Slightly bitter, but diminishes almost immediately
NOTES:
Kasteel Rouge is a lambic (or fruity wheat beer) by the Belgian Brouwerij Van Honsebrouck (no direct link because the site is in flash, but if you click on the bell and chain you should get an English version which is more navigable). Though I initially disliked it because I thought it initially had an artificial, almost cough-syrupy taste, that went completely away after two or three sips and it turned out to be a pretty great beverage. You could definitely taste the sweet/sour of the bing cherries (added late in the brewing process) and their wasn't any competing beer flavour as often befalls cheaper flavoured beers.
Final Verdict: If you don't like beer that much or like lambics, give this beer a try. Even if you don't think much of it the first few sips, I would implore you to give the beer some time, and you may discover you like it after all.
Fortunately for us, we were in luck and they had six different bottles available for purchase. She settled on the Kasteel Rouge because not only did it sound good, but neither of us had seen it anywhere in our area, so we thought it was worth the splurge. After spending so much time talking about the brew, I just had to pick up a bottle because I was so curious about how it would be.
Year: 2011
ABV: 8.0%
poured from a 33cl bottle into a glass stein
Colour: A deep brown red, with a red tint in the light
Aroma: Sweet smell of cherries, with slight earthy undertones (initially also smells faintly of cough syrup, but that dissipates over time)
Head: Small head with medium-sized bubbles, slightly pink
Initial Taste: Sweet, yet sour cherry taste (presumably sweet from the juice, and sour from the pits) with a slight earthiness of hops
Mouth-feel: Medium bodied beer, all of the flavours are balanced very well
Aftertaste: Slightly bitter, but diminishes almost immediately
NOTES:
Kasteel Rouge is a lambic (or fruity wheat beer) by the Belgian Brouwerij Van Honsebrouck (no direct link because the site is in flash, but if you click on the bell and chain you should get an English version which is more navigable). Though I initially disliked it because I thought it initially had an artificial, almost cough-syrupy taste, that went completely away after two or three sips and it turned out to be a pretty great beverage. You could definitely taste the sweet/sour of the bing cherries (added late in the brewing process) and their wasn't any competing beer flavour as often befalls cheaper flavoured beers.
Final Verdict: If you don't like beer that much or like lambics, give this beer a try. Even if you don't think much of it the first few sips, I would implore you to give the beer some time, and you may discover you like it after all.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Bier Markt
For the past few months I have been hearing about this "Beer Store" in Cleveland, across the street from West Side Market (a foodie paradise nestled incongruously Ohio City), and yesterday, when I was in the area with some friends I finally decided to go check it out. And it was a good thing that I did.
Embarrassingly, the first time I walked into Bier Markt, I left and wasn't planning on coming back. The reason was that as soon as you walked in, you are not greeted with shelves of beer, or even a store at all; the foyer instead opens into a cute little restaurant/cafe with little curtained off booths (presumedly for a more intimate dining experience). Needless to say, having thought that I was going to a beer grocery store, I took the concierges' blank and awkward stares as a sign that I was in the wrong place. Fortunately, one of my friends was determined to figure out where we had gone wrong in our directions and so, ignoring our protests, went back in to inquire about the actual whereabouts of this purported beer selling establishment.
It turns out that our directions were correct after all, the place we had stumbled into was a cafe/restaurant, but it also had a make your own six pack deal of the beers available for to-go purchase. So armed with this new information, we walked through the curtain booths, and awkwardly gawking employees, to a what looked like a small bar at the back. It quickly appeared that this assumption, like our first one, was also flat out wrong.
The bar at the back was easily as big, if not bigger than the opening room, it also demonstrated succinctly why the place deserved the moniker "Bier Markt." As you walked into the back room, you were greeted by a massively long bar counter and a veritable army of taps (23 beers at any given time). There were small refrigerators behind the bar stocking and incredible amount of bottled beer, and what looked like a high-end champagne cooler meets gun-case storing especially rare brews. The walls were lined with empty bottles, and the decorated with vintage beer paraphernalia. Even though it was barely one on a Saturday, almost all of the bar stools were already taken. However even more impressive than all that was the wall behind the bar. Normally reserved for your liquors, especially top shelf brands, it was instead full of empty glassware
My suspicions were confirmed when inquired one of the bartenders about this particularity; "We like to serve each beer in their specific glasses," she informed me. Now, for those who don't know, often times beer companies have branded glass were, ranging from your boring pint glass to the elaborate glasses for drinking Kwak. Many of glasses are pricey and hard find, for starters, and so to any place, even a bar catering to beer drinkers to make that kind of investment, is something truly awesome indeed.
Unfortunately, we were on a schedule and so didn't have time sit down for a pint, but we did pick up menu to check out what we could buy for our do-it-yourself six pack. To our delight, In their bottled beers, they didn't skimp out either. Though they did have shitty beers (my opinion) like coors light, bud light, and pabst blue ribbon, their entire selection was mostly imported and currently rounded out at 76 bottles! Also, if you bought them to go, you got $1.50 off the retail price of each bottle. I was flat out speechless. I just now looked up the restaurant to double check by beer count and it was apparently rated in the Top Bars in America by Draft Magazine in 2009 AND 2011. Seriously, I have no idea how I never been to this place until now, if I lived closer to Cleveland I would basically live out of this place!!
Anyway, after much deliberation and talking we eventually decided to just pick up a single six pack, because though the beers were awesome, their imported and uncommon nature made them a bit more on the expensive side. The beers we choose were:
It turns out that our directions were correct after all, the place we had stumbled into was a cafe/restaurant, but it also had a make your own six pack deal of the beers available for to-go purchase. So armed with this new information, we walked through the curtain booths, and awkwardly gawking employees, to a what looked like a small bar at the back. It quickly appeared that this assumption, like our first one, was also flat out wrong.
The bar at the back was easily as big, if not bigger than the opening room, it also demonstrated succinctly why the place deserved the moniker "Bier Markt." As you walked into the back room, you were greeted by a massively long bar counter and a veritable army of taps (23 beers at any given time). There were small refrigerators behind the bar stocking and incredible amount of bottled beer, and what looked like a high-end champagne cooler meets gun-case storing especially rare brews. The walls were lined with empty bottles, and the decorated with vintage beer paraphernalia. Even though it was barely one on a Saturday, almost all of the bar stools were already taken. However even more impressive than all that was the wall behind the bar. Normally reserved for your liquors, especially top shelf brands, it was instead full of empty glassware
My suspicions were confirmed when inquired one of the bartenders about this particularity; "We like to serve each beer in their specific glasses," she informed me. Now, for those who don't know, often times beer companies have branded glass were, ranging from your boring pint glass to the elaborate glasses for drinking Kwak. Many of glasses are pricey and hard find, for starters, and so to any place, even a bar catering to beer drinkers to make that kind of investment, is something truly awesome indeed.
Unfortunately, we were on a schedule and so didn't have time sit down for a pint, but we did pick up menu to check out what we could buy for our do-it-yourself six pack. To our delight, In their bottled beers, they didn't skimp out either. Though they did have shitty beers (my opinion) like coors light, bud light, and pabst blue ribbon, their entire selection was mostly imported and currently rounded out at 76 bottles! Also, if you bought them to go, you got $1.50 off the retail price of each bottle. I was flat out speechless. I just now looked up the restaurant to double check by beer count and it was apparently rated in the Top Bars in America by Draft Magazine in 2009 AND 2011. Seriously, I have no idea how I never been to this place until now, if I lived closer to Cleveland I would basically live out of this place!!
Anyway, after much deliberation and talking we eventually decided to just pick up a single six pack, because though the beers were awesome, their imported and uncommon nature made them a bit more on the expensive side. The beers we choose were:
- La Trappe Quadruple
- Unibroue la fin du monde
- Unibroue don de deu
- Ommegang Three Philosophers
- Kasteel Rouge (x2)
I am really excited about all of these beers and they will definitely be showing up on this blog soon But that is for the future. In the mean time, if you find yourself in Cleveland (or the great lakes area in general) and are looking for a great place to have a pint or get some beer to go, you have to check out the Bier Markt!
(for directions click here)
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Places to Drink
Over the past year, during my endless quest for craft brews, I came across a few great places either to drink or to buy beer which I though I'd share, in case anyone was feeling especially parched.
Places to DRINK
Beer Revolution, Calgary, CA
This is a brand new bar in Calgary attached to Brewster's (Microbrewery/Restaurant). Much like Brewsters (which actually split in half to birth Beer Revolution), it sells it's own brew, but it is also much more focused on selling a wide range of craft beers (almost all on tap). They have TV screens showing everything available and the selection changes every day. I wouldn't even be surprised if on a busy night, it changed every few hours!
Grizzly Paw, Canmore CA
This is a nice little brew pub conveniently located along the drive from Calgary to Banff, Radium, and (everything else located west of Calgary). The serve only their own beers on tap, but with between 9 and 13 at any time, you are spoiled for choices Additionally, the serve a wide range of palletes in beer drinkers, so even if you are pretty particular, they can probably sort you out.
The Flying Saucer, Houston, TX
Quite possibly the best thing about Houston, TX. With over 200 beers and a literal wall of taps, this place is a craft brew enthusiasts mecca in the South (they also have 14 other locations in six states so I'd check your area if you're interested.
Delerium Cafe, Brussels, BE
The place with the largest selection of commerically available beers IN THE WORLD (over 2000 at any time). Need I say more?
Places to BUY
-- DnQ Mini Mart, Houston, TX
806 Richmond
Houston, Texas, 77006
United States
phone: (713) 526-4451
No website and frankly it looks like a crappy convenience store from the outside, but walk in and you'll see one of Houston's real gems. A huge selection of brews for the size of the store (especially given stupid texas craft brew importing laws) and at decent prices too. Also, the best selection of beer glassware for sale I've ever seen in one place.
167 Chrystie Street
New York NY . 10002
phone: 212-473-8757
Hands down my place to buy craft brews in New York City. A phenomenal selection of domestic and international beers, with quantity discounted cases and kegs available for parties. A bit difficult to find initially, but as soon as you go once, you won't be able to stay away!
Friday, July 1, 2011
Delerium Tremens
I first had this beer years ago during my senior year in High School when I went on a trip with a few of friends to Brussels. I was living in the Netherlands at the time, so it really wasn't that far out of the way (or that expensive) a proposition, especially since the entire point of the trip was going to be drinking copious amount of alcohol. Rather than bar hop around the town, we pretty much only drank at two bars, Delerium Cafe, and their sister store across the street Floris Bar (unfortunately the site is offline). This however, was not a problem as Delerium holds the Guinness world record for most available beers and Floris sells 30+ types of Absinthe.
Anyway, not really going to talk much about that night, besides the fact that I enjoyed myself and between the six of us, we tried over 30 different types of beer. One of those beers, was Delerium Tremens, one of the cafe's own brews. At the time that tried it, I had not seen it anywhere before and it really was a "local" secret if you will, but in the interim, it has exploded and you can know find it everywhere. This change, is not unwarranted though.
This is one of my favourite beers and I recommend it to everyone, regardless of what type of beers you like to drink, (I haven't met a person who I've introduced it too, who hasn't liked it). It may be a bit pricey in your location, but regardless this is a beer to splurge. Highly recommended.
YEAR: 2011
ABV: 8.5%
POUR: from 33cl bottle into Guiness Glass
Anyway, not really going to talk much about that night, besides the fact that I enjoyed myself and between the six of us, we tried over 30 different types of beer. One of those beers, was Delerium Tremens, one of the cafe's own brews. At the time that tried it, I had not seen it anywhere before and it really was a "local" secret if you will, but in the interim, it has exploded and you can know find it everywhere. This change, is not unwarranted though.
This is one of my favourite beers and I recommend it to everyone, regardless of what type of beers you like to drink, (I haven't met a person who I've introduced it too, who hasn't liked it). It may be a bit pricey in your location, but regardless this is a beer to splurge. Highly recommended.
YEAR: 2011
ABV: 8.5%
POUR: from 33cl bottle into Guiness Glass
COLOUR: light golden (transparent),
little bubbles continued rising through out the drink
HEAD: white, big bubbles, fairly large
1.5” (mostly dissipated quickly, ring around the edge never goes)
SMELL: sweet, fermented apple (cider)
TASTE:
(initial taste) fermented apple taste
medium body, not
very fruity
(aftertaste) sweet, lesser version of
the same flavour
Friday, May 20, 2011
Lindemans Kriek
INFO:
Lindemans Kriek (or Kriek Lindemans) is a lambic from Belgium. If you don't know what that means, bascially it is a wheat beer that has fruit added and is naturally fermented - often giving it a more wine or champagne style taste than a specific beer (it also doesn't taste like crap, as many 'flavoured' beers in the USofA taste like because of the low quality esters used to impart taste). Lindemans Kriek was introduced to me by one of my friends when I was at this crazy awesome bar in Belgium, and so when I moved I was ecstatic t find that a lot of stores in the United States stock it.
Though it is pretty pricey as a niche import, I still probably count it as one of those beers I am always recommending to people; especially if they are not beer drinkers.
Year: 2010
ABV: 4.0%
From: 12oz bottle (chilled), and poured
DRINKING NOTES:
COLOUR: full, deep red
FOAM: light pink
SMELL: sweet cherry, red wine
TASTE:
(initial) slightly sweet, cherry flavour
(body) continuation of previous taste, slight taste/heavyness of hops
(aftertaste) slightly sour
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