I REMEMBER being in Bruges long before Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson brought their darkly comic wackery to the Belgian city. I’d ordered one of squillions of local beers on offer and got a rather apologetic look from the barman.
“That’s OK – if you don’t have it, I’ll try something else,” I said with cheerful reassurance (I wasn’t exactly stuck for choice). “No, I just don’t know if I have the glass for that beer,” was his worrisome response (yes, much like the Dutch, they all have impeccable English).
When you come from a place where you’re very likely to get a pint of Guinness slapped into one of those 3D Harp glasses, you’re not bothered what the beer comes in but the Belgians’ constant strive for perfection sets them out as a world leader on beer.
So while a lot of the recent craft beer wave may have been taking their inspiration from the US, it’s great to see nods given to the ‘old world’ of beer.
Many Irish beer enthusiasts and brewers may point to some sort of Belgian epiphany in their beer journey and there are lots of beer makers who love to produce beers with a Belgian influence.
I grabbed a can of What Else Is New? From Whiplash, which is a fig and rye Belgian quad they brewed in collaboration with Swedish brewers Beerbliotek.
What Else Is New? weighs in at a hefty 9 per cent and comes in a 440ml can. It has an almost mahogany look in the glass and has lovely sweet aromas. But the flavour’s where it’s really going on here – there’s that dark, malty sweetness of the fig, a candy banana and caramel taste and lovely warming hint of spice from the rye. It’s a beer you feel from your head to your toes.
Kinnegar have also got in on the act, hooking up with Belgian brewers Siphon to produce Three Bagger – a Belgian tripel whose name is a nod to baseball. It’s the first of three beers in this Irish-Belgian trilogy which all use the same wort, but are subjected to different fermentations. The next two after this will given the wild fermentation treatment.
Three Bagger is a sparkling tripel with a lovely balance of sweet and sour flavour. It’s 8 per cent and comes in a 750ml, so there’s plenty to round.
