This review comes in the wake of my trip to Napa Valley, so naturally, I'm reviewing a beer. I'll have more on Napa soon (including some winery reviews), but until then, enjoy this.
Unibroue (based out of Quebec) is one of my absolute favorite breweries. Granted, you will pay a premium for their beers, but it is certainly worth the cost. This particular bottling, titled La Fin Du Monde (The End of the World), is a Belgian style triple fermented Ale sur lees. With both wine and beer, sur lees means that the fermented product is aged with yeast particles left unfiltered from the beverage. This produces a particularly toasty and yeasty product that boasts a warm, inviting and complex note on the palate (think vintage champagne).
In the case of La Fin Du Monde, we find a beer that hints of the glories and complexities of some of the most intricate Belgian ales (I'm sure I'll give many future talks on the glories of these beers). On the initial pour, the beer produces a good amount of head and looks to have a golden, malty color with a good amount of cloudiness (due to the sur lees fermentation). The nose boasts of banana, brown sugar, toast, carmel, yeast, vanilla, and slight amounts of citrus. On the palate, you get a smooth, low carbonated beverage that lasts a great amount of time of the palate. Lots of great toasty yeast, carmel, and malt flavors give a solidly structured beer that would pair well with many chicken and pork dishes.
At a heafty 9% alcohol by volume, this beer certainly packs a punch. And at nearly seven U.S. dollars for a 750 ml bottle, this beer is something to be savored similarly to a fine wine. This is one great quality about premium beers: they are far more economically feasible than some of the greatest wines. Ounce for ounce, any gastronome on any budget can taste some prime beer examples without breaking the bank. You could easily present this wine as an accompaniment to one of your finest dinners, or save it in your cellar and age it for awhile to see where it goes. Either way, this beer presents a solid offering with a lasting impression.
Final rating: 93
1 comment:
You write very well.
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