Fool's Gold

Brugse Zot

I nearly didn't write this blog, thinking that perhaps this beer is a bit too well known and you've all tried it before, but it might just be me who's been drinking this for years. Plus the fact that I visited De Halve Maan brewery on my honeymoon means this beer's often at the forefront of my mind.

Regardless, let's get on with it. I must start with my oft-included label review. Zot has one of those crap-but-I-like-it labels. 'Zot' means 'fool' and there's a fairly crummy picture of a jester chap prancing about and the typeface is pretty cheap. It's a mystery why some cheap labels have charm and others fill me with exasperation. I think in Brugse Zot's case it looks like a genuine attempt to come up with a great label but it hasn't quite worked. Setting up a brewery's expensive enough so you can't blame them for not forking out on snazzy labels.

Zot is a Blonde beer coming in at 6% so it's walking on steady shoes, but also a very well-trodden path. I find some Blonde beers like this can offer very little and come across as just a strong glass of Stella. Of course, Zot isn't, otherwise I wouldn't be wasting my time writing this.

It comes across very well with an alluring syrupy, lightly malted aroma. A distinct melon whiff was a nice treat; it's not something I usually find. Bread and butter came through too. It's not often that I get such specifics so it made me feel as though I had an accomplished nose. Whoever thought a beer could flatter you!

In the mouth, its texture is good, with I'd say a perfect level of carbonation (though we all like different things). There's a coriander flavour to it with a hint of hop and a gorgeous round sweetness to it.

The finish is fairly ordinary but very clean and balanced with just a short bitter moment. I even drank the yeasty bit at the bottom of the bottle because I wanted just that little bit more! To be honest I think some people (not all mind!) get a bit too flustered about a bit of yeast in the glass. I find it harmless, and even have it on good authority that it'll help prevent hangovers!

Anyhow, this was a beer that I hadn't in a long while as it was so good at the brewery I worried it'd live up to it. It did. Op uw gezondheid!

Brugse Zot - 8

http://www.halvemaan.be/index.php?id=15&L=2

Super Fagnes

You may think that as I title this post 'super' Fagnes I think it's pretty great but that's simply it's name. Super Des Fagnes Blonde to be precise. Is it aimed at homeless alcoholics you cry? Well, no, although I'm sure they'd appreciate its 7.5% strength; to be honest I'm not sure why it's called Super; maybe that's what they think of it.

I bought it because of its mildly peculiar name. Certainly not because of its forgettable label or diminutive size (why 250ml, chaps?). You won't find any extra fluff on their website, either. This is clearly the product of a very small operation and it shows in the beer.

It's a lovely blonde colour with a good head which sticks to the side of the glass on the way down. The fizz level is spot on and feels great in the mouth.

Aromatically it ticks boxes. Citrus, fresh barley, honey, mild zingy spice with a touch of booze saying hello. I didn't get any of the liquorice that was promised on the website I bought it from. Maybe my palate isn't up to scratch. I couldn't give a monkey's though because it has pretty much everything I want in a blonde (ale).

Take a sip and it keeps giving. All the aromas are represented in the taste and the texture rounds it off as a really good beer. The aftertaste is also very good with lovely initial sweetness but a good bitterness to keep it rounded.

It's a lively beer with plenty going on and lots to like about it. There's not an awful lot to say against it, really. If you've tried Tripel Karmeliet (you should if you haven't), this beer is not dissimilar to it. It's less cloudy, less alcoholic and is a more smoother, rounder beer. It's not life-changing, more life-affirming. Definitely one to buy again.

Super des Fagnes Blonde - 9

http://www.fagnes.com/

Silly Blonde

Today I’m looking at an empty bottle of Double Enghein from the Silly Brewery. Yes, the Silly brewery. I love it already! The name’s taken from the river Sylle but who cares about that. Well known for its Saison (see post two), Silly’s blonde is called Double Enghien.

Ok, I’ll admit it. I think I’m a bit obsessed with labels. The first thing I want to comment on is a beer’s label. Double Enghien’s label is far from silly. In fact it’s very sensible. It’s got gold and red trimming and what I reckon might be a chufty badge (er, sorry, I mean rosette) drawn on it.  If a cricket club brewed its own beer they might stick this sort of label on their bottles. Silly’s range of beers have rather traditional kind of labels varying from traditionally solid to ‘we-made-this-with-Word Art’ (remember that?). Belgians are a sort of sensible lot and it doesn’t surprise me that they spend their time doing useful things like brewing beer instead of designing sticky labels.

Now, I much prefer dark, maltier beers personally but I try to keep drinking as much Blonde beer because lets face it, some days you eat fish or chicken with a creamy sauce, and dark, muddy beer just wouldn’t do, would it!? I find that they generally lack the flavour and bite of darker beers but of course there are many shining examples. Like Double Enghien.

God knows why they called it Double Enghien (dubbel is of course the name for darker beers), although they do brew a Double Enghien Brune, which is virtually tautological in my book (hmph!). Aaaanyway, it’s a great drink! My first sniff said ‘Germoline!’ to me, which was a bit of a surprise. Do you remember that pink antiseptic oitntment/cream? So that popping up in my nostril was a bit of a shock. But shocks are what I love in beer, I don’t want everything to taste the same. After further sippage and sniffery I decided that it was more like pine resin, which is just the sort of interesting scent one might want in their drink, as opposed to pink cream. There were some honey smells going on there too, perhaps a bit heathery too, but it was all jolly good. Bit of sweet, bit of tang, yum!

The aftertaste too had that kind of balance; there was lots of bold bitterness in the back of the mouth, which is often lacking in golden beer. As you smack your lips there’s lots of sweetness in the saliva to balance it out. I think that’s the perfect outcome and what makes beer so great; a fantastic balance of bitter and sweet.

So under its sensible jacket lies a drink with something different to offer. This I would definitely buy again and recommend you try.

Silly Double Enghien - 8.5

http://www.silly-beer.com/p_double_bl_en.htm

Where to start?

Chances are you’re not entirely new to this: I can’t imagine too many of you sat there still surrounded by ‘Happy 18^th Birthday’ cards ready for your first sweet sip of beer (ahaha, as if!!) but every journey needs a beginning.

My love affair first started in the docks of Bristol at a bar with far too high prices for first-year students. It doesn’t exist there anymore but the Belgo mussel bar/beer heaven will be probably familiar to those lucky enough to live in cities to house one (or even two!).

Therefore I’d say Belgium is a great place to start. Its history of brewing matches, (or dare I even say exceeds?) Britain: they’ve been brewing speciality beers since the Middle Ages. The problem with Belgian beer is that once you’ve decided to focus on this one modest country, you find out you’re at square one again. Getting into Belgian beer is like getting into Scotch whisky; where the hell do you start? Fortunately, there is more than one way to skin a cat, and even more ways to brew a beer. Like Scotland and its whisky, Belgium is brimming with hundreds of amazing brews. It’d be harder to find bad beer than the other way round.

There are many different varieties, some more accessible than others, but as this is starting point we’ll try and have some sort of order. Quite a few breweries, mainly ‘Abbey beers’ and the Trappist (more on these later) will have a 3-tiered approach with Blonde, Dubbel/Brown and Tripel.

The Blonde you could say is their entry level; golden in colour, looking a bit like a lager but after a sniff and a sip you’ll realise not so. They’re very fragrant and heady and the alcohol content (usually 6-7%) is already showing its face. A good example, you say? Kasteel Blonde.

Dubbels (or Brunes or Bruins) are identified by, you guessed it, their darker colour and they’re maltier and have a bigger after taste. They’re usually a bit stronger too (7%+) and are one to try for Guinness lovers. Brugse Zot is a nice example.

Tripels (or insert every possible other spelling here) are the bad boys of the gang. Packing 8 – 10% in strength they’re not one to start a pub crawl with. Behind their seemingly gratuitous strength lies serious flavour and smoothness and will usually justify the extra price. Now, I’m a bit rubbish at drinking lots and usually cheat on pub crawls so I can speak sentences after midnight but I can’t recommend these enough. Me and my wife discovered during her pregnancy that usually alcohol = flavour (don’t bother trying alcohol free wine!). Maredsous Tripel has pretty much got everything going for it in this category.

So there you have it. Now you know everything you need to know about Belgian beer. Try a blonde, dubbel and tripel from every brewery and decide on your faves. Finito.

Except of course, that’s just the tip of the iceberg…