BTN: Brasserie de la Senne

My ex-boss from the ex-bookshop imports excellent Belgian beers and he kindly invited me to taste through the four that he imports from Brasserie de la Senne. Shelton Bros import these to the States.

I thought one of the beers was excellent and the remaining three were far better.



Taras Boulba 4,5% abv. Strong, persistent head; slightly hazy colour. Wonderfully hoppy aroma but not sweet or aggressive like so many US hop-heavy beers are. If wine terms are allowed for beer, this is mineral. Crisp and wonderfully intense - seems like a weightier beer than the alcohol % would suggest. Outstanding.

Zinne Bir 5,5% abv. Also wonderfully hoppy, but sweeter than the Taras Boulba - perhaps more typical for a Belgian ale, also. The aromas are somewhat spicy and like orange. Good crispness, dangerous drinkability, lovely hops, but with a touch of sweetness. I did prefer the lighter, drier Taras Boulba, but this was outstanding also.

Then we had two dark beers. First an old favourite that sadly hasn't been available for some time StoutErik 4,5%. This used to be available in my closest grocery store (under 4,7% abv can be sold outside of the government monopolies), and I used to drink enormous amounts of it: malty, elegantly roasted and DRY aromas typical of stout; light, crisp and well hopped compared to most other stouts I have had (though Titanic Stout was a bit like this - but this has better hops). Also outstanding. And I hope this will once again be available soon.

We ended with Equinox 8% abv. Being only excellent, this was a slight disappointment after three outstanding beers. Raisiny, sweet, malty scent; good hops and crispness and general refreshing character for a beer this size. But I still find myself preferring the lighter, less sweet beers (I think my disappointment is not so much that this is an inferior beer, but is simply due to my strange preferences.)

Wow, great notes, Otto--the Taras Boulba sounds divine.

If there's one thing about which I can complain about the US beer scene (a scene I'm actually quite enthusiastic with) it is that crispness seems undervalued/underappreciated versus power/presence. The crisper and more elegant are out there, but seem harder to source amongst an enthusiast environment where 'more is better' seems to have many adherents--or so at least it seems to me at the moment after a rep of SF's fantastic 21st Amendment brewery went on an inane local radio program to claim that you can't get enough alcohol in today's beer scene. Blech!