Beer of the month............August
A radical departure for the BOTM page, with a
foreign beer selected for the first time. I stumbled across this one at my local Tesco's
and thought I'd give it a try. I'm very glad I did........
I like "white" beers very much, but I'm
more familiar with the usual variety where you have to pour the beer and then you sort of
swill the sediment with a little bit left in the bottle and add it to the rest. Hoegaarden
from Belgium is a good example. However, this is a clear variety and has no sediment at
all. It also claims to be the first of its kind and, what's more, made by the oldest
brewery in the world, established in 1040 A.D. So, a very exceptional beer in many ways,
but what about the taste?
Well, this is a very complex beer. I got all sorts
of subtle tastes - vanilla, lemon, elderflower, pear. A very "light" beer in
terms of strength of flavour. Fairly dry, but with a lot of character, it also had quite a
kick! This is a beer with 5.4% alcohol by volume and the generous 500ml bottle packed
quite a punch, even though I'd "kept in training" whilst away on holiday in
France with quite a lot of wine. I can't say that I'd want a lot of these, but as an
aperitif, it would do very nicely - well-chilled, of course . It would also go well with
Chinese or Thai food. In many ways it reminded me of a good Gewurtztraminer wine; enough
strength of character to come through and enhance highly flavoured food, but not
intrusive.
So, a beer that's well worth checking out when
you're looking for something a little different. The brewery also produces a white beer
with sediment, but it wasn't quite as satisfying as its clear variety.