December 1-2, 2007

11:00 a.m.

Mugs Ale House will be hosting a 'Belgian Beer' event on the 1st and 2nd of December. There will be upwards of 30 beers from both Belgium and North America. The format is essentially the same a Split Thy Skull. It will be a pay as you go event with no cover. 5oz. samples will poured for between $3.50 and $4.50 depending upon the beer. The event will begin at 11AM each day and will continue throughout the day.

To print out your own flyer for the event, click here.

The beers:

Saturday, December 1:

Curieux (bourbon-barrel aged tripel) (11%) – Allagash Brewing Company
To make the Curieux (French for "curious"), Allagash ages their Tripel Ale in Jim Beam barrels for 8 weeks.  During the aging process in bourbon barrels, the beer is totally transformed, and many new flavors and aromas develop.  Most notably, the beer picks up soft coconut and vanilla characteristics...and also a hint of bourbon flavor!

Cuvee D’Achouffe 2006 (7%) – Brooklyn Brewery
Brooklyn Cuvée D’Achouffe is the second collaboration between brewmaster, Garrett Oliver, and the famed Brasserie d’Achouffe of Belgium.  Brewed with Belgian dark candy sugar syrup and a dash of organic Spanish thyme.  The beer has a full honey color, a spicy nose from the Chouffe yeast, and an herbal note from the thyme.  The palate is dry, with raisiny dried fruit character in the center, leading to a crisp, mildly herbal finish.

Gouden Carolus Noel 2003 (10.5%) - Brouwerij Het Anker
Gouden Carolus Christmas is a strong dark ruby-red beer.  It is brewed at the end of August.  Then it rests for several months to obtain an optimal balance in taste and flavors.  Herbs are added in the different stages of the brewing process.  Three different kinds of hops, and 6 different kinds of herbs and spices make this Christmas beer a ‘special class’.

Guido (8%) – Brouwerij De Regenboog
A rich, bouncy, juicy, Burgundian brew (to quote the Ommegang guys).  A trifle sour, a little tangy, but so rich, thick and delicious.

The Gnome (9%) – Smuttynose Brewing Company
The Gnome was brewed in homage to the recent arrivals of hoppy Belgian beers that we're starting to see here in the US.  The brewer was shooting for that beautifully soft hopping that's found in the Houblon Chouffe, however, the Gnome has developed its own unique characteristics and flavor profile.

Goliath (9%) – Brasserie Des Geants
This beer is brewed solely from 4 top quality raw materials: water, malt, hops and yeast.  Very Hoppy for a Belgian beer.  Golden in color, its smooth body and its subtle aromas will charm your tastebuds.

Ichor Quad (10%) – Sly Fox Brewing Company
An Abbot style Quadruple brewed with German Pils and Roast malts and Belgian Candi Sugar, hopped with German Tradition hops.  Luscious and seductive.

Maredsous 8 (8%) – Brouwerij Duvel Moortgat
Brewed in the dubbel style by the brewers of Duvel, the Maredsous 8 is sure to please.  It's clear, dark ruby brown body offsets a full, creamy head of ivory foam that seems intent on holding until the last.  It is crisp across the palate with a very fine effervescence and medium body.

Monk’s Flemish Sour Red (5.5%) - Brouwerij Van Steenberge
Tastes slightly of cherries.  Well-carbonated tingle turns quickly to a sour bite on the tongue.  Appropriately light-bodied and rather mild (but tasty) for the style, this is an easy drinker.  It isn't as sour as other classic examples.

Nostradamus 2003 (9.5%) – Brasserie Caracole
The body is light/medium with an exceptionally fine but limited carbonation that's very soft and smooth in the mouth.  The flavor starts malty and stays malty, displaying a lightly woody character with some fruitiness, including ripe berries and gentle cherry notes.

Ommegeddon (8%) – Brewery Ommegang
Stronger than your typical farmhouse beer yet not as funky.  Earthy must and herbal smells in the beginning, followed by sweet ginger and citrus.  Further whiffs reveal smells of honey and grainy crackers.  A light pepper spiciness and hints of dry grass.

Poperings Hommel Bier (7.5%) – Brouwerij Van Eecke
Poperings is more hoppy bitter and less malty sweet than most of its co-stylists.  There's a nice interplay between the barely toasted pale malt and the herbal, teasingly bitter hops. 
Spicy yeast is still a large part of the nose, but it isn't the 800 lb. gorilla that it can be in some beer of this style.

St. Bernardus Prior 8 (8%) – Brouwerij St. Bernardus
This is a noble and delicious beer with a high level of fermentation, a ruby purple color and a full malty and fruity taste.  This beer has a beautiful round froth due to secondary fermentation.

Triple Imperial (10%) – Brasserie de l’Abbaye des Rocs
Soft and silky smooth toffee malts mix with dark complex fruits, raisins, figs and prunes.  This is one smooth beer, even at 10% alcohol.  It is malty to the core with just enough spice and fruitiness the round out the taste.

White Gold (8%) – Ithaca Beer Company
Pours a hazy gold color with a thick frothy white head that slowly fades to lacing.  The aroma is great.  It has a light pale and wheat malt scent along with a fruity zest and slight coriander aroma.  It has a dry earthy flavor that goes down easy and finishes fruity with a wheat malt edge.

Sunday, December 2:

Brett & I – Smuttynose Brewing Company
Belgian strong ale fermented w/ Brett and dry-hopped with Saphyre hops; a Smuttynose one-off.

Grand Crue (12.4%) – Sixpoint Craft Ales
A dark brown beer with a thick off white head and nice lacing.  Malt and alcohol in the nose, then some sherry, fig, prunes.  The taste hits you with some warm, but not harsh alcohol, malt sweetness, and finishes with flavors of figs and raisins.

IPAbbey (9%) – Ithaca Beer Company
A light, short-lived taste of caramel offers almost no sweetness and quickly dissolves into flavors of apricot, grapefruit, and resinous pine with an assertive bitterness and hints of Belgian yeast.  Taste is complex yet soft and almost even understated until a delayed floral and leafy hop bitterness set in from the IPA side of this creation.

Maredsous 10 (10%) – Brouwerij Duvel Moortgat
Pours a dark gold color with a thick frothy white head that fades to lacing.  It has a refreshingly light, yet malty scent that boasts primarily of pale malts and Belgian ale yeast.  Dry and warm, this beer hides the 10% abv.  It has a dry, pale malt flavor that goes down easy but slightly tart and earthy.

McChouffe (8.0%) – Brasserie d’Acouffe
A dark ale.  Strong, spicy, and lightly hoppy, with an evolving taste.  Natural Beer, bottle refermented, unfiltered, not pasteurised and without any additives.

Merry Monks’ Ale (9.3%) – Weyerbacher Brewing Company
When you try this beer you're in for a unique treat.  The special effervescence and creaminess are immediately apparent when pouring.  The Pilsner malts combined with the Belgian yeast strains yield a remarkable and complex flavor - perhaps you'll note subtle hints of fruit or spice.

Oud Beersel Oude Lambic (5.7%) – Brouwerij Oud Beersel
Oude Lambis is a blend of lambics from different years.  The one year old Lambic is still readily fermentable.  The two year old and three year old lambic’s main contribution is to the taste.  The brewer influences the process by selecting the lambics, on the basis of their taste in the barrel, and then in the manner of their blending.

Radar Ambree (10.5%) - Brasserie de l’Abbaye Val-Dieu
It has a tasty sweet malt and sugar front followed by a zesty citrusy flavor that introduces and is then replaced by a warm candy finish.  The combination of carbonation, hops, and alcohols cleans the palate leaving a fresh mouth-feel that eagerly seeks the next sip.

Three Philosophers (9.8%) – Brewery Ommegang
Cynics can't believe it, Epicures hail it a sensation, and Pythagoreans just can't add up what makes this luscious blend of rich malty ale and cherry lambic so delightful.  It might be the flavor of dark chocolate and cherry cordials; it could be the way it acquires wisdom and grace in the cellar.

‘t Smisje Dubbel (9.0%) – Brouwerij De Regenboog
A thin tan head surmounts a dark rich cherry-red/brown body.  Sweet caramel and chocolate at the forefront of the aroma, but there are also undertones of bitter orange flavors that dominate the aftertaste.

Urthel Samaranth (12%) – De Leyerth Brouwerijen
Urthel Samaranth Quadrium Ale is a Belgian Quadrupel with a lot of character.  Sweetly malty and full-bodied, this strong beer hides its strength behind complex flavors of dried fruit, marzipan and nuts.

Witkap Pater Single (6%) – Brouwerij Slaghmuylder
Clear amber color with a stocky white head.  The nose is alive with citrus, spice, and sugar.  Notes of peach and apricot come in at the finish.  Smooth, clean palate, with a citric hop bite afterwards.  Light body, some graininess in texture, and very, very yeasty.

XX Bitter (6.2%) – Brouwerij De Ranke
XX Bitter is a very weighty beer, aggressively brewed to be the hoppiest in Belgium. Some more delicate palates are put off right away.  Those warriors who accept the challenge, and take time to sort through the barrage of sensory impressions, usually end up loving it.