Belgian BeersTasting at the Red Room

Dave and I went beer tasting yesterday at the Red Room in Santa Cruz to get some ideas for an upcoming Belgian brewing day (Dave/Gresham). Red, as it's more commonly known, carries a large variety of these delicious beers, and buying two flights gave us the full spectrum of tasting opportunities. One common quality of all of them was that they had very low carbonation. Here they are in order of tasting (our opinions!):

1) Blanc de Bruxelles, Belgian White (Wit Bier). Brewery: Brasserie Lefebvre SA. (The bartender explained that supposedly this beer got its name from the statue of a golden cherub with the same name who pees in a fountain in Belgium).

• Delicate
• Fruity
• Slight soapiness
• Too light to drink too much at once
• Soft mouth feel, light (both color & body)
• Light fragrance
• Flavor leaves quickly (short 'half life')

2) Delirium Tremens, Belgian Strong Ale. Brewery: Brouweirj Huyghe. (8.5% alc.) Nose is smoky (like bacon or ham),

• Smoked cheddar flavor
• Full body
• Back hops flavor that lingers
• Seems like a 'breakfast beer' if you're into that sort of thing

3) Rare VOS, Belgian Amber. Brewery: Omegang, Cooperstown, NY. (6.5% alc.)

• Raspberry nose
• Rose/floral taste with slight tartness
• Hint of corn chip flavor
• Light body
• Soft mouth feel
• Bittering flavor hits front of mouth and lingers in back of throat later

4) Chimay Cinq Cents, Tripel. Brewery: Abbaye Notre Dame de Scourmont (8% alc.)

• Strong body and flavor with back flavor complexity
• Increased hoppiness compared to the others
• Pleasant and high bitter notes
• Fruity
• Very subtle nose, a little like a new box of Band-Aids
• Character resembles an American Ale

5) Brother Theloneus, Dubbel. Brewery: North Coast Brewing (9% alc.)

• Nose is malty with hint of fruit
• Silky texture
• Barleywine and port/dessert-wine characteristics
• May be too assertive for average beer drinker, but would be great in small 6 oz. bottles

6) St. Louis Framboise, Raspberry Lambic. Brewery: Vrouwerig Van Honsebrouck NV (4.5% alc)

• Sweet, desserty quality
• "Kool Aid"
• Almost no carbonation
• Very raspberry nose (even Dave can smell the raspberries!)

7) Abbaye (wasn't listed on the menu, so have no logistics to report)

• Very good, strong, distinct body
• Good mouthfeel
• Had the most carbonation of all of them
• Perfumy in back of throat
• Nose is almost clove, but not quite
• Sharp, smoky, maple-syrupy flavor with interesting finish
• Probably not good for mass distribution due to complexities

That's it folks! Dave's favorites were #3 & 4 above. Mine was #4.
--Mary Anne Kramer-Urner