Beer Advent Calendar Window Four

Beer Advent Calendar Window Four - Maredsous Brune

As part of Duvel Moortgat, the beer of the Maredsous Abbey forms that interesting choice between being big enough for "craftier" idiots to think they can ignore, but too important for serious enthusiasts to ignore.

The Maredsous beers are one of those groups I will personally tell the newer beer geeks ("kids") that they have had to have experienced before they can even talk beer with me. You don't discover classics like this after craft. Still, having said that, I haven't drunk tonight's Advent Calendar beer - Maredsous Brune 8 - in nearly 7 years and have little memory of its taste, so my beer hypocrisy continues.

Maredsous Brune 8 is one of several beers that are included in this year's calendar that might not seem Christmas themed or based, but qualify under the criteria as its original incarnations were brewed especially for Christmas. Ergo, Maredsous Brune is definitely a Christmas beer.

These days it is churned out for fun, under its new guise as the brewery Dubbel, between its Blond and Tripel.

I managed to fit Window Four into a brief window of opportunity on Friday, but a hectic weekend caused the delay in the post. Apologies.

"The best way to spread Christmas cheer, is singing loud for all to hear."

Maredsous Biére d'Abbaye - Brune 8%

This beer pours a lovely burnt auburn colour with big frothy head. The nose isn't huge - it's soft, dark fruits, like raisins and plums, at the front with a berry sweetness. All the flavour comes through the taste with brown sugar, prunes and a sherry alcohol sweetness. It's all held together with a big Belgian yeast character that is honey-like. This isn't a complex beer. Its like a supermarket mince pie - it's familiar, reassuring, solid and performs the job. It has all the rounded edges of a macro-produced, consistent beer. It doesn't demand complexity above solidity. Yet, there is a romantic edge to this drink that makes you think of history, heritage and that beautiful abbey where it was birthed. The flavours are consistent without changing by the time this beer ends.

Like many of the darker Belgian beers, it makes me long for the streets of Ghent in winter, paired with some warm bloedworst and with images of St. Nicholas from every window. Once again, the beer is more emotive than flavoursome.

Mince Pie Pairing Rating: 10/10 - this is a Mince Pie

Best Paired with: A playlist of a choral choir singing Christmas carols. Heritage is best.

Comments

WHEN CELEBRITIES DIE - THE INFINITY OF PUBS

Recently I was stood outside Huddersfield Railway Station waiting for my Replacement Bus Service. I was eating much needed food from a nearby fast food outlet and contemplating my next move. Other match-goers had gone home but I had over 50 minutes to wait for my bus. We’d already been to a few of our post-match regular spots and so I was contemplating somewhere new or different to pass the time now. I stood in St George’s Square, behind the statue of Harold Wilson, and pondered where I should waste my next hour. And pondered and pondered. After deliberation that ate into much of my allotted time, I walked down to the familiar setting of The Sportsman, realising that there wasn’t anywhere different to go at all. But whilst I deliberated, I cast my eye over the currently scaffold-covered George hotel opposite the station; a place I had been in once with my Dad. It’s downstairs public bar had stood as a firm and available option to match-goers fo...

The Pubs of Stalybridge Part One: The Stalybridge Seven.

And a touch more ... Rififi Nightclub - once the town's cinema - has stood empty and unused for four and a half years This is the continuation of my posts of regular pub crawls to try and get myself in more pubs and discover more. Whilst I grew up in an old hamlet that most were quick to distance themselves from, my address clearly stated that we belonged to Stalybridge. However distant the town centre felt I was a Stalybridger, a Stalybridgian, a Stalyian: you know I don’t think I’ve ever heard us given a name before. I’m going with Stalyian. After a few moves around the country and through various relationships, I didn’t expect to find myself still local to the town in 2017. Whilst my address hasn’t stated Stalybridge for 3 years, I still spend plenty of time in the town – not least as it houses my “local.” To many in the north-west, it is famous for its nickname of Staly Vegas , that came about (as far as I’m aware) through its late Nighties-through-to-N...

Advent Calendar Window 14 - La Goudale de Noel

"Keep my distance, but you still catch my eye, Tell me, baby, do you recognise me? Well, it’s been a year, that doesn’t surprise me" La Goudale is an interesting French enigma. I searched for this under the label Brassee a L’Ancienne believing this to be the name of the brewery. After some fruitless searching, I learnt that this is not the name of a brewer, but rather a French saying that, roughly translated, means “Brewed in a Traditional way.” La Goudale is actually from the Brewery Gayant based in Douai, North-east France that aleso houses other well-nown brews such as Amadeus and La Biere Du Demon. The real reason I find them an enigma though is for the discovery the other day that two of their beers – the Abbey and Wit – are sold in Aldi. They are in 750ml bottles and are £2.49 and £1.99 respectively. Housed here, the repugnant snob in me thinks they look cheap and unappetising on these shelves and managed to slightly put me off my La Goudale...

Beer Compurgation

Search This Blog