Origin: France
Type: Strong Belgian Ale
Color: Dark amber/ocher
Alcohol content: 13%
Recommended serving temperature: 8ºC/46ºF
Brewery: Brasserie Grain d'Orge
I have decided
to pay homage today to those times when you hit the local supermarket or beer
store, looking for the beer with the highest alcohol grade you can find. This
is always an exercise in fearlessness, and often times also one in temerity. It
is thanks to this frame of mind that I have had the dubious pleasure of
tasting things like the Grolsch Kanon. However it is also thanks to this that I
have gotten to taste things like the Kasteel Tripel.
It is in one of those fearless moments when I first crossed paths with
Belzebuth.
I was in Amsterdam at the time. I had gone with a friend to the
Bierkoning to stock up for an evening of debauchery... I mean, beer
exploration, and after having picked up our current usuals, we set off
investigating.
I have to admit, the Belzebuth almost immediately caught our attention
for several reasons. The first and most obvious one is because of its alcohol
content (13%, pretty substantial in Belgian style ales), but the second one,
the one which finally swayed us, was that it was French. I am not, by any
means, saying that the French do not make great beers, they do (some already in
this blog, some still to come). I am just saying that the Belzebuth was, upon
superficial ocular inspection, the only French beer available, other than
Kronenbourg in the shop. Since we had beer from many origins in our selection
but not from France, we decided to go for it.
What we purchased I have to say, pleasantly surprised us, expecting as
we were some sort of exacerbated French Duvel knock off. It is nothing of the
sort.
This is a beer with a dark amber tone, almost ocher and a slight haze.
It has a pretty reduced amount of foam, of a creamy beige color.
Its smell is of honey and caramel, that is, pretty sweet, nothing in it
giving away the amount of alcohol it contains. That I feel, was my greatest
surprise. I did not however, as in other occasions, let myself be duped by the
smell and become overconfident enough to take a big swig from it, forewarned as
I was by the big 13% on its top label.
The defining character in its taste is also the sweetness. The caramel that
I appreciated in the smell is still present there, making this beer sweet
and almost thick. Nevertheless, the honey is not noticeable anymore, and it is
instead replaced by a subtle herby and somewhat spicy taste. This helps to take
some edge off of the sweetness, which is otherwise ever present in this beer.
These flavors are coupled in the end with a sharp touch of alcohol which
comes to remind us that, despite its sweet exterior, this beer means business,
and a bitter aftertaste which makes you forget about just how sweet the
experience is at the beginning.
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