A blonde and a stout

After Friday’s aborted night out at L’Imprimerie due to a minor medical emergency, Fiona and I decided to make up for lost tasting time last night by going to Chez Moeder Lambic (St Gilles), where we tried two new beers on tap: La Grognarde and Troubador Obscura. Both were excellent.

La Grognarde is produced by the Brasserie Sainte Hélène in the village of Ethe, which is about as far south as you can get in Belgium. “It has an ugly name”, says Fiona, “but the beer is good”. It’s more than good, in fact. This blonde has citrus notes rising from a prominent hop base around a thinnish mouthfeel, leading up to a surprisingly tart aftertaste. 5.5% alcohol doesn’t get in the way of anything. Overall: highly recommended.

Troubador Obscura, from the Brouwerij De Musketiers in the village Ursel, located between Gent and Bruges, is stout-ish: beautifully burnt and bittersweet, with notes of dark chocolate, cork, liquorice, and espresso. 8.2% is fairly high, but it blends in well. Wowzers. it’s great.

Once again, Chez Moeder Lambic has chosen some excellent guest beers. I don’t think I’ve ever been disappointed with any of their selections. I guess that’s why it’s on my list of top ten places for beer in Brussels.