This beer from Bruge, Belgium is Brugse Zot Blond from Brouwerij De Halve Maan. This beer is 6% ABV. I did not bring this back from the brewery, I bought it just over the South Carolina border at Stateline Elite. I returned with a 750ml of Straffe Hendrik Wild, a wild yeast variety of De Halve Manns Tripel. That will be reviewed soon. This Blond pours a blond-orange color with a two-finger steady white head. The aroma is fruity with oranges. It has a light bitterness too. The flavor is fruity with orange, light-bodied, and light bitterness. This Brugse Zot Blond has a light to almost medium feel in the mouth. Then this beer has a tiny bitter, and fruity finish. The aftertaste is void of bitterness but has a light orange taste. This beer is good. It was a little better at the brewery. Maybe that is a fresher beer. But this example was an A. I really recommend Brugse Zot Blond. This beer is delicious and refreshing. It is different from all the beer in the US. Please stay safe, be kind to each other, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers!
This beer is an Abby Dubbel from Trappist Westvleteren, St. Sixuth Abby. They call this beer Trappist Westvleteren 8. This Belgian is 8% abv, from Westvleteren, Belgium. This and their other three beers are nearly impossible to find outside the brewery, let alone in the US. I bought three six-packs while on the Belgian Beer Me Trappist tour. They also make a blond, and a Quad, which is the 12. These are highly rated and sought-after beers. I tried them all at their restaurant. This Dubbel pours a deep brown with a thick and creamy beige head. The head never seems to dissipate. The aroma is dark, and malty, and has a light scent of dark fruit. The flavor is smooth, rich, dark sweet, and malty. This has a fuller mouthfeel. Then it has a smooth dark and malted finish. The aftertaste is rich, and creamy, with a lighter malt note. This beer does have yeast still in the bottle. That is because its last fermentation is in the bottle. You can either pour that bit of yeast into the beer or not. I usually do. This beer was delicious and flavorful, but I don’t think it lives up to the hype in my book. It is hyped up because it is hard to get and delicious. With that said I give this an A+. This is a good beer with a meat dish, like a good steak (like I did last night) chicken, or pork. Well, this Westvleteren and any of their beers are hard to recommend, due to availability, but if you’re there in Westvleteren then have this beer. Please stay safe, be kind to each other, and remember to enjoy responsibly. Cheers!
We are back after more than a week of Belgian beers. On the internet search, my father and I found BBM Belgian Beer Me tours, run by Stu Stuart. He is very knowledgeable about Belgium and its beers. I have always loved Belgian beer, the first Belgian I fell in love with was Chimay Grand Reserve or Quadruple Ale. This was a group tour. Everyone was great. We went to four different cities, Gent, Bruges, Bastone, Malle, and Mechelen. We went to the Huyghe Brewery (Gent, Belgium) which brews Delirium and Guillotine. This is one of my favorite beers, Delirium.
They have a big brewery and brew beer that travels all over the world. During this BBM tour at no point did I feel like I’d had too much beer, sometimes you can’t have enough, and I didn’t feel overly tired by the end of each day. We saw one or two breweries/monasteries(Abby) and day with sometimes a ‘company lunch’. Then we had the late afternoon and evening free. We saw the Flanders American Cemetery, which was very moving and educational, not far from Bruges. Then we hit Trappist Westvleteren, Abby of the St Sixtus. They had a Blonde, a Dubbel, and a Quad which are only sold at the gift shop. I bought a six back of each. I only came home with four of each. Westvleteren 12 (Quad) is one of the most highly sought-after beers. The quad and the dubbel were excellent and the blond was just as tasty. They had an ice cream sundae made with their quad beer, which was delicious. While in Bruges, which is lovely, we walked to Brewery De Halve Maan. We had a tour of the brewery. It was a lot of climbing, and backward down some ladders. The pipe beer from there to the bottling plant through pipes under Bruges. I highly recommend eating and drinking here. They had a fabulous Wit and Wild Tripple. These two were my favorite on the tour. We also went to Chimay, near Bastogne. The beers were good, but I was a little underwhelmed. The gift shop is a place not to be missed. Lots of good barrel-aged beer and other goodies. Bastogne is small and historic due to the Battle of the Bulge. Then we saw Trappiest Abby of Rocheford. That was a bathroom stop to see their tiny display of a gift shop. We drank Rocheford outside in the parking lot. Their Tripple, Dubbel, and Quad were delicious.
Then we went to Orval and toured the Abby. We were able to sit in on the Monk’s prayer. We had lunch at Guardian Angle Taproom. Now Ovral has a really fabulous beer, one not to be missed. Then we toured the brewery. Excellent tour! Then on to Trilburg, Netherlands for Achel Brewery, where they have a bottle shop. We had lunch there and they had amazing beer. I recommend the Superior Blond and Superior Dark. You can share these with the table. Still, in Trilburg, we went to La Trappe Brewery, where I had their classic flight and thought these were okay compared to others. But they were better than most American offerings. Then the next day was Mechelen and Trappist Zundert, only ten years old. Their Quad is so good, that I bought their tenth anniversary Quad. Then one to Trappist Westmalle for lunch. I had a flight (monks beer, trippel, quad) They have the best mustard there. Don’t leave without a jar or two. I really loved the monk’s beer. The hotel in Mechelen was at the Het Anker brewery where Goulden Carouls and other beer. These beers are awesome, especially their Christmas Ale. That one is sold year-round. We had a walking tour the next day and a bottle share, which was epic. Overall Stu does a fabulous job with the tour. I can’t find anything wrong. I would say that you should bring a water bottle. Got to stay hydrated. I didn’t find it easy to get a bottle of water. But I would highly recommend BBM tours, Stu Stuart does a fabulous job! Please stay safe, be kind to each other, and remember to enjoy responsibly!
From the brewery of Delirium Tremens, Brewery Huyghe in Mette, Belgium brews Delirium Red. This Belgian Ale has cherry and Elderberry. This beer is 8% ABV. I purchased this at the Super G International Grocery Store. This ale pours a deep red color with a two-finger pink-ish head. The aroma is cherry, berry, tart/sour, and sweetness. The flavor is sweet with cherry and some berries. This beer is tart but lightly tart, and it is fruity-sugar sweet. This has a medium mouthfeel. Then it comes to a sweet cheery/beery finish. The aftertaste is like sweet cherry cola with some tart notes. This was fabulous, and I give Delirium Red an A+. Later this month I will visit Brew Huyghe and others while on a beer tour in Belgium. I will be posting throughout the tour. This beer is not overly sweet, it has just the perfect amount of sweet and tart notes. I highly recommend Delirium Red. Please stay safe, be kind to each other, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers!
This Belgian Quad or Quadruple Ale is 10 from Trappistes Rocheford in Rocheford, Belgium. This Belgian Ale is 11.2% ABV. Brewed by Trappist monks, this ale pours a deep brown/chestnut color with a slow two-finger beige head. The aroma is dark, rich, a little boozy, and sweet. The flavor is dark, sweet, rich, smooth, and alcoholic. There are some licorice notes too. This has a full mouthfeel. Then this quad comes to a dark, sweet, molasses-like finish. The aftertaste is semi-sweet. Somehow the sweetness falls a bit. The aftertaste is rich and boozy. This is good, I think this Quadruple Ale is a B+. It is not as good as Chimay or St. Bernadus Quad. I recommend this one and compare it to others of that style. Please stay safe, be kind to each other, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers!
This is La Chouffe Non-Alcoholic Brew from Achouffe, Belgium. I purchased this thinking it was La Chouffe. I realized that when I put it in the beer refrigerator. I thought I’d give it a try and a review and here I am. This beer is less than 0.5% ABV. This NA beer pours a gold color with a one-and-a-half-finger white head. The head does fade rather quickly. The aroma is sweet, dry, and malty, not much on the nose. The flavor is sweet, dry, watery, and malty. The beer has an overall lightness to it. This feels light in the mouth. This beer finishes light with some malted sweetness. The aftertaste is dry and not much else. I went into this thinking this wouldn’t be good. It was not great, but it was not terrible. I would give this a D+. I wouldn’t recommend this beer, but it is better than some of the NA beers I’ve previously had. Please stay safe, be kind to each other, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers!
This Abby Dubbel is Trappistes Rochefort 6. This beer is 7.5% ABV from Rochefort, Belgium. This beer was brewed by monks all the way back, somewhere around 1595. This ale pours murky light brown with a two-finger off-white head. The aroma is sweet, dark, and malty. The flavor is sweetened, dark, and malty as well. There also is a light bitterness here. This is an almost medium feeling in the mouth. Then comes a light bittersweet dark finish. The aftertaste is a little sweet and malty but fades as soon as it hits. This Rochefort 6 is good, but I think there are ones better out there. This Dubble gets a C+. I find this ale lacking in some flavors, but they aren’t terrible. This can be a little more flavorful. Please stay safe, be kind to each other, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers!
Liefmans Craft Blenders in Oudenaarde, Belgium brews this Kriek Brut. This beer is 6% ABV. A Kriek is a type of fruited sour fermented with cherries. Both the Flemish name, meaning cherry. This style comes from Belgium. Kriek is a type of Lambic, just with cherries. This beer pours a deep red color with a pink two-finger head. The aroma is tart, cherries, and some yeast esters. The flavor is on the light sour side, cherry, and there is tartness. This has a light feel on the mouth. This beer has a tart cherry finish. Light cherry flavors come in the aftertaste with a light tartness. This is very different from a typical beer. But it is enjoyable. I give Kriek Brut from Liefmans an A-. It’s just tart cherry all over this beer. That is why an A-. I really recommend this one. Please stay safe, be kind to each other, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers!
Orval Trappist Ale is a Belgian Pale Ale brewed near Florenville, Belgium in the Providence of Luxembourg. This Ale is 6.9% ABV. This ale pours a light brown color with a four-finger thick white slow and sticky head. The aroma is fruity, sour, and sweet. The flavor is fruity, dry, sour, sweet, and a light bitterness. This ale has a medium feel to the mouth. Orval finishes dry with a light bitter fruit flavor. The aftertaste is lightly fruity and somewhat dry. This beer started out good, and as I came to the end, it wasn’t as good. I give Orval Trappist Ale a C. I have mixed feelings about this. Some parts of this were okay, and some weren’t. But I think this wasn’t as good as I expected. The flavors didn’t quite come together. There are better examples of Belgian Pale Ale out there. Please stay safe, be kind to each other, and remember to be responsible! Cheers!
This is ABT 12 from St. Bernardus Brewery. This is the last out of their mixed six-pack. This is a quadruple, coming in at 10% ABV. This beer would be great with rich beef dishes. I suggest a good pastrami or corned beef/Rubin sandwich. You can also pair this with blue cheese/Roquefort. This ABT 12 would be an unexpected pleasure with some chocolate. This quad beer pours a deep brown/burgundy color with a two-finger beige head. The aroma is of dark fruits like raisins, dates, and plums. There are sweetness and malt aromas. The taste is of plums, dates, and raisins. The flavor is strong, sweet, smooth, and malted. This beer has a full feeling in the mouth. Then ABT 12 finishes with a smooth, sweet, and malted flavor. The aftertaste is smooth, and somewhat sweet from the dark fruits. St. Bernardus ABT 12 is an A. This is nearly as good as Chimay’s Quadruple Ale. That is probably the best, and ABT 12 is a close second. I do recommend this beer! Please stay safe, be kind to each other, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers!
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