Duvel

This week I finally broke down and cracked open a bottle that I have been hording for some time now. This particular bottle is a Belgian Golden Strong Ale named Duvel, and its wonderfully complex taste, aroma and effervescent carbonation combine to provide a very enjoyable and refreshing drinking experience. I’ve been holding onto this bottle in my personal collection for a while, as its a bit outside my normal price range and I wanted to see what a little aging would do to it, but I decided that it was time to crack it open.

Duvel is brewed by the Duvel Moortgat Brewery, which is headquartered in Breendonk, Belgium. The brewery was opened in 1871 by Jan-Leonard Moortgat, a Flemish brewer from Steenhuffel, Belgium. Moortgat quickly made a name for himself by producing excellent ales, which he distributed by horse and wagon throughout the surrounding region with the help of his sons. The onset of the First World War brought an influx of Englishmen, who brought with them their taste for English Pale Ales. These beers gained popularity in Belgium, and Jan’s son Albert decided to create a special beer incorporating English characteristics. This required obtaining a sample of yeast from somewhere in England, which proved to be no easy task; Albert wanted to work with a Scottish yeast strain, but during his trip the local brewers were disinclined to give him a sample. Fortunately, he kept trying and eventually managed to obtain his yeast, which is still in use today. Albert and his brother Victor introduced their new beer as Victory Ale in commemoration of the end of WWI, but this name was to be short lived. During a tasting session in 1923 a local cobbler was surprised by the potent aroma, and commented “This is a real Devil.” From that year on, the beer was marketed as Duvel, which is Belgian for Devil. This beer is still immensely popular internationally and has now become the prototypical beer around which the Belgian Golden Strong Ale style guidelines are written. The company has managed to remain in family ownership over the years even as it expanded, and now also owns Ommegang Brewery here in America, which you may have had to pleasure to taste.

Duvel poured a golden yellow color without any chill haze or sediment floating in it. The head formed as one finger of medium course white foam, although this dissipated quite quickly into a thin layer of very fine bubbles. This film was very long lived, and provided a good amount of the classic “Belgian lace”. One thing that stood out to me was the effervescent quality of this beer, as it gave off several constant streams of bubbles from a couple of locations on the beer, similar to Champagne. The aroma was quite complex and delicate, with some bitter and earthy hop notes mixed with lighter fruits, including apple and citrus, as well as a little bit of a yeast character. The taste of this beer was very complex, changing significantly over the course of a single sip. The initial taste was fairly sweet, but was very rapidly followed by a moderate bitterness coupled with the sharp bite of the carbonation, both of which subsided quickly. The element that came next was quite surprising in this beer; a nutty and slightly earthy finish, which subsided into a lingering sweetness. As the beer warmed up, the carbonation dropped off but the complexity grew as a some fruity esters came out; a soft mix of apple, pear and orange, although it lacked the peppery, slightly spicy character that I remember from tasting this beer previously.

As this beer is rather light and complex, it will pair well with light meats such as poultry, fruits and mild cheeses. Personally, though, I like this beer by itself, as this lets me explore the taste without the accompanying food masking anything. Duvel should be served in a tulip glass, as this was the company that designed that glass, and this is the beer it was intended to hold; Duvel actually lists a step-by-step process to pour this beer on their website, accompanied by a video, which I found to be quite amusing. One cautionary note, however, is that about a centimeter of beer should be left in the bottle, as this beer is bottle conditioned and thus has some yeast sediment on the bottom.

I highly recommend giving this beer a try, as it is a truly excellent example of the Belgian Golden Strong Ale style. The taste is light enough that anyone can enjoy it, and complex enough that any beer nut like myself (including those pretentious enough that insist you call them a beer sommelier or cicerone) will be shut up while enjoying the nuances of the taste.

Price: $5.79

Size: 330 mL

ABV: 8.5%

Appearance: 5/5

Aroma: 5/5

Flavor: 5/5

Mouthfeel: 5/5

Delirium Nocturnum

Last week I tried Delirium Tremens, so this week I decided to try another beer from the same brand: Delirium Nocturnum. Delirium is brewed by the Huyghe Brewery in the town of Melle in East Flanders, Belgium. The modern brewery was founded in 1906 by Leon Huyghe, but brewing on this site dates back to at least 1654, and since 1906 the brewery has expanded several times. In the 1990s the brewery acquired several other small breweries in the area, and now produces over 40 different beers under almost a dozen different brand names. Delirium, however, is the only brand from this brewery that I have seen for sale in the United States, and consists of Tremens, Nocturnum, Noel (now named Christmas) and Red.

Delirium Nocturnum is a Belgian Strong Dark ale. This style is malt focused and fairly sweet, especially compared to most stouts, and has very low hop character. Fruity aromas and tastes are common, serving to accentuate the malt in this rich, complex beer. This beer should be served in a tulip or snifter, although large wine glasses will work just as well, and warmer than American beer is usually served, around 50°F. This beer will pair well with strong tasting foods, which can make pairings for vegetarians somewhat difficult; I think falafel will pair well, or actually a stir fry, as long as its not to wild. Meats that pair well include red meats, dark poultry and just about anything grilled. Sharp and blue cheeses should also pair well, but I’d stick to sharper, less buttery cheeses.

Delirium Nocturnum poured a dark, clear mahogany red-brown. One finger of dark tan head formed with a very fine texture, but dissipated quickly. The lacing, however, was very good, lasting until I finished the beer. This is actually the best looking beer I have seen in quite a long time, and easily in the top 10 I’ve ever had. The aroma was quite complex, including both plum and lemon that contrasted with dark coffee and molasses notes; the molasses actually reminded me of Cruzan Black Strap rum. No hop aroma was evident, which is also normal with this style.

The carbonation was quite high and sharp, generating a sparkly sensation. The body was moderately heavy and long lasting; while not as bad as, say Dogfish Head’s World Wide Stout, the effect was slightly cloying. Overall the mouthfeel was quite smooth, with a nice, creamy texture. The taste initially had some sweetness, but that faded to the back fairly quickly to be replaced by plum and lemon. There was a significant molasses-like base to this taste profile which I’ve never encountered in a beer before, and while I like it, I also like naval style rum (which has molasses added to it). When first tasted, there was a hint of burnt malt towards the finish, but thankfully this disappeared as it warmed up, as it’s out of place in this style. I also noticed a very slight sourness to this beer, which I thought to be rather odd, but was quite pleasant.

Overall, I really enjoyed this beer, and I highly recommend giving it a try. Its sweet enough to be approachable by most people, and complex enough to interest microbrew fans. Personally, I’d try and pick up a bottle, as when I had this beer on tap it was actually fairly flat, which somewhat supisingly killed this beer.

Price: $9.50

Size: 22 oz

ABV:14%

Appearance: 3/5

Aroma: 3.5/5

Flavor: 3.5/5

Mouthfeel: 4/5

Delirium Tremens

The side effects of alcohol are fairly well known, if not completely understood, at this point. One of the side effects of alcohol withdraw can be an acute case of delirium, which was first described in modern medical literature in 1813 and named Delirium Tremens. One of the symptoms of Delirium Tremens can be hallucination, described by Jack London in his book John Barleycorn as seeing “blue mice and pink elephants”, among other things. This theme has been played upon by many over the years, including Disney in the movie Dumbo and this week’s beer, Delirium Tremens, the bottle for which is decorated with pink elephants.

Delirium Tremens is brewed by the Huyghe Brewery in the town of Melle in East Flanders, Belgium. The modern brewery was founded in 1906 by Leon Huyghe, but brewing on this site dates back to at least 1654, and since 1906 the brewery has expanded several times. In the 1990s the brewery acquired several other small breweries in the area, and now produces over 40 different beers under almost a dozen different brand names. Delirium, however, is the only brand from this brewery that I have seen for sale in the United States, and consists of Tremens, Nocturnum, Noel (now named Christmas) and Red.

Delirium Tremens poured with two fingers of coarse white head, which quickly dispersed down to half a finger of head with a much finer texture, but left little lacing as it was drunk. The color was a straw yellow, but very hazy. The aroma was surpringly yeasty, but quite complex with banana and apple mixed with lemon and other citrus scents. The body was medium heavy, even with the high carbonation, but lacked the really viscous texture I’ve encountered in some beers. The taste was fairly sweet, but surprisingly not cloying at all. There was a surprising level of spices in this beer such as cloves, coriander and cinnamon, enough to make me think of this, in conjunction with the yeast character, as a lightly spiced wheat beer instead of a Golden Strong Ale or Tripel like it is normally marketed.

This beer would pair well with just about everything, given its low bitterness and balance of yeast, spices and sweetness. Fruits and good breads will also pair well, as will most meats. Personally, though, I’d recommend a good sharp cheese like an aged Cheddar or Gloucester, as this is not a particularly cheap bottle of beer. This beer should be served in a tulip glass, or a large wine glass will do just fine as well.

Overall I enjoyed this beer, and one of the best things about it is its approachability. Really, though, I picked up this beer for its name so that I can add another interesting bottle to my collection. If you are looking for a more interesting beer, however, I would suggest grabbing a Duvel instead.

Price: $6.95

Size: 11.2 oz

ABV:8.5%

Appearance: 3.5/5

Aroma: 4/5

Flavor: 3.5/5

Mouthfeel: 4/5

Lost Abbey Devotion

After the past several weeks of drinking Bocks, I decided I wanted something a bit different as a counterpoint to their dark, sweet maltiness. I was thinking something nice and light, but with a punch of hops to wake me up and enough complexity to keep my curiosity piqued. To sate my desire for something interesting I picked up a bottle of Devotion Ale from The Lost Abbey.

The Lost Abbey is the Belgian-style line of beers brewed by Port Brewing Company. The owners of Pizza Port brewpub, Vince and Gina Marsaglia, decided to expand their brewing operation and in 2006 teamed up with their head brewer Tomme Arthur to form Port Brewing Company. The brewery itself in San Marcos, San Diego County, California, is the original site of Stone Brewing Company, which expanded to a larger facility in Escondido, California. Tomme has since won numerous awards, including World Beer Cup 2008 Champion Brewery and Champion Brewer in the small brewing company category.

Port still brews several beers started at Pizza Port, including HOP-15 and Wipeout IPA, but Devotion is a bit different. Devotion is a Belgian Blonde Ale, which is actually one of the more recent styles developed in the region. Blondes were created to compete with the Pilsners that took the world by storm in the mid twentieth century. This style retains some of the complexity commonly associated with Belgians, but is much cleaner so that it appeals to a broader audience. Devotion is brewed using 2 row and 15L Crystal barley malts, with the 2 row providing the basis of fermentable sugars while the Crystal provides the sweet tasting unfermentables; Dextrose, a form of glucose, is also used to spike the alcohol content of this beer. Bitterness is provided by a mix of Northern Brewer and Tettnang hops in addition to CO2 hop extract, and the yeast is a custom blend of three different varieties.

This beer should be served in a tulip or wine glass, and I think it would pair well with a lighter meat like poultry or fish. Good fruit choices would be citrus or sweet fruits like pears. I would also recommend trying the beer with Thai or Indian Curry, as the light malt character and hops would complement the spices quite well.

Devotion Ale poured a nice, clear amber, with two fingers of fluffy white heat with surprisingly coarse texture. The head, however, was quite short lived, dissipating in two or three minutes but leaving behind the excellent lacing characteristic of Belgians. The scent was surprisingly faint, made up mostly of earthy hops but also complex, with hints of spicy citrus and a bit of sour lemon backed up by a low level sweetness. The body was moderate, and the carbonation quite low, giving a nice mouthfeel initially; towards the end of the sip, however, I noticed a dry sensation which I found to be unpleasant. This is quite uncharacteristic of the style, as the blondes are typically highly carbonated, and sometimes even have a creamy mouthfeel. The taste was dominated by earthy hops with hints of orange, and a slightly sweet start that quickly disappeared for a very dry finish. The taste was more hop focused than I expected, but the initial sweetness, dry finish and the orange notes from the yeast are quite common with this style.

Overall, this was a decent beer, and most of my issues with it are either because I don’t particularly like the style, or stem from the very dry sensation it left in my mouth. I’d give it a try with a curry, or some light meat, but otherwise I wouldn’t recommend this beer for casual enjoyment.

Price: $7.99

Size: 750 mL

ABV: 6.25%

Appearance: 4 /5

Aroma: 3.5/5

Flavor: 3.5/5

Mouthfeel: 3/5