Meet Guido

A bit of something different, that's what I'm on the lookout for. Sure, a bit of class and finesse goes a long way but every now and then you want something to make you sit back and say 'wow'. Enter Guido. It's made by Smisje brewery who claim to be the smallest commercial brewery in Belgium, with an output of 200 hectolitres of beer per year. That's 20,000l to you and I (or 35,000 pints). It makes you realise the scale that even 'micro' breweries put out, if these guys are the smallest. Anyway, enough of stats. This beer has a name: Guido. I like it. It's a shame the others aren't called Filipo and Ignacios or something, but they're not. Still, there's a drawing of this Guido chap on the bottle; I'm sure it's in honour of him but who cares, this beer's made with RAISINS. Yeah, raisins!

It's dark, it's rich, it's big! The smell is unsurprisingly fruity but it still takes you back to sniff again. The spicy, sweet maltiness rounds it off. Appearance-wise, it's dark and fairly forboding, with murkiness and floaty stuff in it (great!). Some people are put off by this sort of stuff but I think it really reinforces that beer can be a crafted drink which is living, breathing and changing like we do. Besides, beer with a bit of muck in it is usually tastier too.

If you can finally get round to trying it you're in for a treat. Everything you've smelled you've got in your mouth. The aftertaste is long like a rich sherry and it's a very sweet beer. It's certainly not a fruit beer though, it's completely different. Most of the genuine fruit beers are formed from Lambic beer, made from wild yeast and this is certainly not, which makes it pretty unique, I'd say (although I'm sure there are other raisin beers out there). 

My main concern though was how rich it was. Would a bottle be too much? It's got such big flavours and it was incredibly rich; I thought it might be one of those dark beers which taste amazing for the first few sips but become difficult to finish a glass. Wrong! So very happily wrong was I. It got easier and easier as the glass got emptier and I was pretty bummed out once it was over. Ah well, there's always next time!

If you're searching for a challenging beer that isn't too over the top, this should definitely be on your list. 

Smisje Guido - 10

http://smisje.belgianbeerboard.com/images/bieren/guido.jpg