BTNs: Cantillon, De Ranke, De Dolle Brouwers, Thiriez, etc.

I have to hijack the wine board to report on some smashin beers. Especially Cantillon (Belg) and the French Thiriez were lovely beers. De Ranke's XX Bitter is a perennial favourite of mine also.

Brouwerij 'tIJ Plzeñ 5%

Nice hoppy stuff. Fresh and lively and savoury, very dry. Brilliant!

St Peters Brouwerij Zinnebier 6%

Also very hoppy, but with a sweet, yeasty and honeyed layer to it. Very nice stuff but not as nice as the Plzeñ.

Oud Zottegems Bier

Interesting shitty nose that I liked very much. The palate was utterly devoid of any personality and had no mid-palate at all. :confused: Why after such an interesting nose is the palate such a let down?

De Dolle Brouwers Oeral Bier 6%

Lovely stuff, if a little too sweet on the nose. But it does have excellent amounts of hops. Lovely!

De Dolle Brouwers Ara Bier 8%

A little sweeter than the Oeral, but also with more depth and impeccable balance and divine amounts of hops. Lovely!

Thiriez Etoile du Nord blonde houblonné France 5,5%

An almost Sauvignon Bl -like nose of pea, pee and hops. Oh my God .... the hops!!!! Such divine amounts of them mixed with a pronounced earthiness. The palate is about as dry as the Sahara, very intense and very hoppy! Beautiful stuff. I love it!

Thiriez La Blonde Esquelbecq France 6,5%

Also very hoppy, but not as extreme as the North Star - should have been served before it. Nice but not as intense nor as personal. Great anyway.

Kerkomse Trippel 2005 9%

Sweet, but balanced. Not particuarly memorable for me, though better than any other Trippel I've tried before.

Kerkom Adelardus Tripel 9%

Balanced also, but candied. I guess Trippels just aren't my style.

Struise Pannepöt 2006 10%

Why make such stuff? Sweet. Boring. Commercial. Deadly dull. Utterly unmemorable.

De Ranke XX Bitter

Lovely, immensely hoppy - like the North Star but not as earthy, more elegant. I preferred the earthiness of the Etoile du Nord, but I can see myself on other days preferring this. But both were hard core personal beers. Lovely!

Cantillon Fou' Foune

This is the Apricot Cantillon. Through the Brett and Musar-like scents, a clear scent of apricot (surprise, surprise) appears. The palate is drier than the Sahara, wild, with harsh rasping acidity reminding me of .... yup, you guessed it ... Musar!

Cantillon Kriek 2003

The cork had the year branded on it. The best Kriek I've ever tried. So pungently Bretty, cherryish, mineral and nuanced yet volatile that as a Musarlover I can't help but to fall in love. The palate is rather Musary also. I'm in love!

[Jenise]

Otto! I once spent a few weeks visiting a friend in Belgium, and the Cantillon was my very favorite of all the flavored beers (which I'm generally not a fan of). I don't drink enough beer to be able to dialog about it, but what I loved was that the cherry flavor wasn't so overt as most, it just melded nicely into the blend of beer flavors like a singer in a quarter. If I 'member rightly, 'cantillon' is the name for church bells.

Otto! I once spent a few weeks visiting a friend in Belgium, and the Cantillon was my very favorite of all the flavored beers (which I'm generally not a fan of). I don't drink enough beer to be able to dialog about it, but what I loved was that the cherry flavor wasn't so overt as most, it just melded nicely into the blend of beer flavors like a singer in a quarter. If I 'member rightly, 'cantillon' is the name for church bells.

Yes, I'm not normally a fan of the flavoured beers as the style has been for the most part killed in favour of sweet fizzy drinks like Lindemans Kriek - sodapop has taken over one of the greatest beer styles. But Cantillon make stunning stuff. But even here, I have to admit that the straight Gueuze and the Grand Cru Bruoxella are my favourites. The GC is especially intriguing: it is old Lambic (5YO IIRC) and is almost still! I'll be appending TNs on a large amount of Cantillons I've recently tasted also, if there is interest. I would say that if there is any beer which would appeal to wine lovers, Cantillon would be the one. And maybe Rodenbach's Grand Cru also.

Can't seem to stomach the Cantillon from the Vignerone to the lou pepe kriek just not for me, on the other hand the Arabier and oerbier I love, they had a great christmas beer the Stille Nacht that went down a dream, some of my favorite belgium beers of this moment or that I'd most readily drink during these hot months are all the beers from the Saison dupont brewery (Saison Dupont, Bon Voeux, Beloil), Saison di pipaix, Hommelbier. but I have to say for the summer there's nothing like a good hoppy golden ale my favorite being the Ossian from the inveralmond brewery scotland.