Tuesday, 1 April 2008

Brasserie de Bellevaux Black

The next beer from our Ardennes winter retreat was the black beer from the Brasserie de Bellevaux in Malmedy. It’s hard to believe such a small town has two breweries (I reviewed Bière de Malmedy Brune from the Malmedy Brewery a few days ago), but this is Belgium after all, where there are more breweries than bubbles in a glass of Deus.

OK, it’s technically just outside the village of Bellevaux, which is slightly south of Malmedy, but you get my point.
(see correction: there is only one brewery in Malmedy)

Brasserie de Bellevaux Black is dark. Really, really dark. So, um, well named, then. It’s got a nice thick head, too. The taste is very complex: rosemary, smoky wood and clove. It’s very bitter.

Bob says it’s, “smoky like a Bamberg smoked beer”. I’ve never had a Bamberg smoked beer, so I’ll take his word for it there. But they must be yummy if they taste like this.

On further reflection, I find a strong honey aroma and flavour here. Nona agrees but is more specific: “it reminds me of a chestnut honey”. Again, I’ve never had chestnut honey, so I take her word for it.

But maybe I’m too gullible. Maybe Bob and Nona are just making up these flavours to trick me into opening another bottle. The rascals! Perhaps I should be more careful about the people I get into an igloo with...

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2 comments:

  1. Great website! Beer is close to my heart, well closer to my lips....

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bob's wrong, really different taste and color. No clear smoke taste like the ones from bamberg but that's a good thing I must say. tks for the review

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