Westmalle Dubbel

Ah Westmalle, the trappist abbey that gave us the terms dubbel and trippel to describe our beers. Tonight I have decided to review the first and my personal favorite of the trappist dubbels.

The dubbel from Westmalle is incredibly complex, it mixes some nice fruity esters (similar to plum or raisin) with some spice I can't quite put my finger on, along with a wonderful malty characteristic and a little hoppiness in the end it really shines out as a bacon of what the Belgian's can accomplish in their brewing.

One of my favorite characteristics of this brew is also a favorite of mine with good wines (reds mainly,) the temperature it is served at has a profound effect on it's flavor. Refrigerator temps tend to make it taste sharper bring out a little more of the hop characteristics and move the malts and fruity esters aside. When you let a glass of this sit for a little while two wonderful things happen, 1 the glass warms and it allows the flavors to meld, 2 the beer oxidizes a little and brings out the spice more. My serving suggestion is to get yourself a nice chalice style glass, or at least something with a nice wide mouth, pour it trying to leave a little at the bottom (this is a bottle conditioned brew and there are active yeast as well as something called trub that lies on the bottom) and just let it sit for maybe 5 minutes. I know 5 minutes seems like a long time but your mouth will thank me.

As far as the yeast and trub go, I for one kind of like the flavor it brings but many people do not. My suggestion for dealing with it is to try leaving it at the bottom of the bottle, then once you finish your glass pour the remainder in and give it a taste, that way you can decide for yourself. the yeast and trub are not harmful in anyway, in fact brewer's yeast is rather good for you, well at least hippies think so and they brought us granola so who knows.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brewer%27s_yeast#Nutritional_supplements

Chimay Grande Reserve Magnum 2007 vintage

It's been a long time coming but I'm bound and determined to do a review of one of the most famed beers in the world, the Trappists.

First some background on me acquiring this bottle then on the Trappists.

A few weeks ago while I was in Chicago I got some very interesting news, it seems my girlfriend was pregnant and we didn't know it and she was in labor ( gave birth to the most adorable baby girl ever names Zoey, we aren't sure who the father is yet though.) Well me being out of town there really was very little I could do so I continued working. During some of my free time I wandered about the city looking for something to do, this particular day I found a little place called Sam's it was a beer/wine/liquor store. Me loving most things alcoholic I decided to wander about a bit. I decided to see if I could find a bottle of USB ____ wine witch is not sold here in the great state of Pennsylvania, sadly there was only one place in Illinois who carried it. Then I decided to go upstairs where they kept the Beer. Now being from the great state of Pennsylvania I am unaccustomed to Beer Wine and Liquor all being in the same store as we have an odd separation of wine and liquor from beer. We also have case laws. For those Unfamiliar let me lay this down for you. When you want to purchase beer in PA you must go to either a bar or a beer distributer. what about grocery stores and six pack shops you say? Technically bars since you must be allowed to drink any beer you purchase on premises. Why is this so strange you say? Because at a beer distributer you must buy a case or more (24 cans/bottles at 12oz. or 288oz in any combination this includes Kegs), and at a bar you must buy less then a 12 pack (six pack under each arm). Oh and the beer in bars' price is over inflated. Now what gets even stranger is that if you walk out of a bar with 12 beers, throw them in the car and walk back in, guess what, you can buy 12 more beers (12 12oz bottles cans ect. so 144oz or less in any combination.) Anyway where I was going with this was that the singles and six packs were nice and cheap here. Walking through I saw the Belgian section, my eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store. Orval, Roquefort, Westmalle, Chimay oh my! I quickly snagged a 1 Liter bottle of Westmalle Dubbel for $11 and a 12oz of Roquefort for $4 and when I looked up I was greeted by the sight of a magnum of Chimay Grande Reserve 2007 for only $26. Now for those of you out side of PA no big deal but for me, that's huge! To give you some Comparison at one of my favorite beer bars here that same bottle goes for $130 and at a six pack shop it's about $67. That's when I realize my girlfriend loves Chimay and that this bottle will make a wonderful congratulations gift.

Now I have mentioned a few time the Trappists, and I'm sure you are wondering just who or what these Trappists are. The Trappists are an order of Monks that follow the order of St. Benedict albeit a relaxed order. They are allowed drink and are allowed to sell it (along with other goods) in order to support the monastery. There are about 170 odd Trappist monestaries in the world and not all of them make amazing beer, but the ones that do certainly did it right. The distinctness of the Trappist ales is generally in the yeasts they use, they bring a certain unique flavor to the party that I just can't describe, it's almost a bread-e-ness.

This beer in particular was just incredible, the Grande Reserve or Bleu is a darker ale with a nice thick head. I loved the nice balance of hops and malt, it's not overly dry nor is it so heavy you can't drink another glass. It has a sweet but deep flavor, carmel figs cherries and the like with some spiciness too like a little touch of cinnamon. I would recommend this to anyone who is feeling like getting pampered, because that exactly what drinking this felt like.