This blog comes from Denis Cooper, our beer man! This week Denis is talking Belgian beer, with a Christmas twist, available right here at Fresh Choice Nelson. Over to you Denis…
Heads up beerians, Hopgoblin is in town… Well he’s actually been here since 1982, this little hopbit is the face of Belgian beer La Chouffe, a strong ale that personifies Christmas.
La Chouffe is the colloquial name for Brasserie d’Achouffe, a regional brewery located in the back blocks of Belgium, which was founded in 1982 by two wise men who started their brewery in a stable and produced their first born – La Chouffe.
La Chouffe imparts a light fragrance of apple, orange and floral hops. It tastes of crusty bread, spicy cloves and yeast, giving a crisp refreshing festive bubbly finish. This is the beer equivalent of champagne!
The metaphoric rise of La Chouffe saw the brewery biught out by Duvel Moortgat, a family owned brewery best known for its world renowned flagship beer, Duvel. This is a strong golden pale ale with flavours of dried fruits and yeasty bitterness, balanced by sweet malts and tickling carbonation all coalescing to make an extremely easy drinking 8.5%. So be careful… Duvel translates to Devil!
And for your gift giving pleasure, (who doesn’t love Belgian beer?), there is a special La Chouffe gift box, including four 330ml bottles of La Chouffe plus a special La Chouffe tulip glass featuring that cheeky little elf.
Another beer personifying Christmas is Chimay, the leading brewer of the 8 genuine Trappist Monk breweries in Belgium, who have been refining their brews for the last 154 years. In 1956 this monastic brewery created a Christmas beer, now known as Chimay Blue. This liquid Christmas cake, with complex flavours of rich warming malts, stewed plums, raisins and cloves topped with a coating of almond icing. There’s a celebratory gargantuan 3 litre magnum which should be enough to please the crowd, (two people make a crowd, right?) Sip on this bad boy with caution as the 9% could give you a Parker punching wallop.
Christmas will be here faster than you can say where’s the Belgian beer? So, if you’re planning a staycation then rock down to Fresh Choice, Nelson for all your Christmas do brews.
