Quintine Amber

This is one bitchin' witches brew and, if I lived in a more bitchin' world, I would order it by the chilled cauldron with a large ladle (also chilled).

It pours a dark amber with a egg-custard color head stained dark brown in places by sediment some of which settles in the bottom of the glass in flaky brown bits.  Not fizzy but smooth in the mouth.  Strong notes of chocolate, coffee and sticky molasses.  A sweet and malty finish.

An added bonus, Quintine comes in nifty bottles with porcelain and rubber stoppers which are useful for home brewing.  It comes from the one horse Walloon willage of Ellezelles just south of the Flemish Wallon border.

It'll have you cackling.  Sure wish I could conjure up a few more bottles.

Mea Culpa

Forgive me Father for I have sinned.........I should have picked up a few more bottles of this beer when I was down in Beer Mania today.

As a rule, I am skeptical of beers served in overly-ornate and fragile glasses (I prefer a sturdy and simple beer glass - all time fave is Super des Fagnes).  I figure that if you have go to that much trouble on the glass, the beer may not be able to speak for itself.

However, there is another argument to be made.  Why go to all that trouble to make an excellent glass for a crappy beer.

The latter canon is true in the case of Mea Culpa Blond.  This beer is truly tasty.  It pours a rich orange-red amber color with loads of fizz and a chunky white meringue head that leaves a fortified island of foam in the center of your glass even when most of the head has settled.

Tastes: nutmeg, cinnamon, and orange chocolate with a sweetness in the mouth and bracing and bitter finish.  Overly bitter if left in the mouth for too long which is a great excuse to drink it quickly!  You can tell your wife or girlfriend its mea culpa when you get too blitzed.

Lucky for me Beer Mania, the Brussels beer shop that brews this one (as well as sells plenty of other tasty suds at rather handsome prices) is only a few blocks from my office.  But if you are not so lucky, you can buy it online from Beer Mania's online shop here.

Forgive me Beer Mania for doubting the quality of your beer, Mea Culpa.

Budweiser Confirms They Make Sh*t Beer

Real beer lovers should be aware that Budweiser has publicly confirmed that they make terrible beer by announcing that they have to pay some unlucky invidual the prodigious sum of £10,000 to drink their yellow urine for six days over the summer. 

Worse still, this poor bastard is going to have to tell crowds of thousands that the beer tastes good and encourage them to drink plastic cup after plastic cup of the chilled excreta.  How on Earth will he or she sleep at night?

Budweiser has long been known to have to resort to near-pornographic images, and bad TV distractions to keep its beer moving off the shelves.  But to actually have to pay people thousands to drink it is just pathetic. 

This Bud is not for the Sud Sucker.

Orval - Its not just for breakfast anymore

Orval simply kicks ass!

It is a deep orange-red with a white head that is shower but doesn't linger. It is zesty and delivers a peppery bitterness that makes it stand out amongst the Trappist ales - the others tend to be maltier and sweeter.

The Orval monks don't funk around making blonds, brunes, and tripels. They brew one beer, and they brew it really well.

I had the amazing opportunity to visit the Orval abbey/brewery - one of the few abbey ales where the brewery still resides inside the abbey walls. I highly recommend the trip down to Orval, its well worth a trip!

-- BlackBeery® from Mobistar ---

My New Friend Bob

Never thought I'd be making new friends here in Spa where I'm spending a relaxing weekend. I figured Spa was full of geriatrics soaking their hip replacements and large families with clusters of loud, whingeing kids. But as it turns out, I've made two friends!

My new friend Bobby Brune or Bobeline Brune if we're splitting hairs is malty with a deep reddish brown color and beautiful pinkish tan head. The maltiness really takes over this beer and drives out the would-be complexities.

Bobeline is the beer of Spa - the hot spring resort in the Belgian Ardennes where the term 'spa' was coined and the brewery makes good use of the spring water that babbles through the brooks of this region.

Bobby Brune's buddy, Bobby Blonde is not as attractive to look at. It is a murky light orange color with a small, white head. But Bob the Blonde is tasty, tart and full of bubbles. Nutmeg undertones.

Two Bobs - that's lunch!


-- BlackBeery® from Mobistar ---

Belgium Spanks the World

Sucklings may be aware that the Sud Sucker recently sponsored a poll for the World's Best Beer Producing Country.  Contenders were Belgium, England, USA, Germany and None of the Above.

Thirty-six voters took place in the poll which closed at midnight on Tuesday.  The Sud Sucker conducted this poll globally online, so it can concluded that this sample is representative of the world's population as it adhere to the rules laid out by the Polling Standards Board of Somalia.

Belgium towered over its contenders with a whopping 22 votes or 61% of the vote, Germany and England tied with 5 votes each, as did the USA and NotA with 2 votes a piece.

It is unsurprising that Belgium won given that the little land (about the size of Maryland) produces about 9000 different beers.  This is truly variety.

The Sud Sucker wishes the best to those unsuccessful countries who's beer he still loves but today he'll be raising his glass to Belgium!

.....and what better way to celebrate Belgium's victory that bumble on down to the Belgian Beer Fest which is going on today at the Grand Place in Brussels!!!!  See you down there beer lovers!  It kicks off at 11am.

World's Oldest Beer?

Divers have discovered the world's oldest drinkable beer in a wreck off the coast of Finland.

The Sud Sucker has been monitoring this closely in order to decipher what type of beer it is.  Sources say the liquid was "dark and foamy" and the ship may have been travelling from France to the courts of Russia and dates from the early 1800s.  Could these bottles be the full-bodied biere de garde or farmhouse ale which was popular in France at the time, well before Inbev and Heineken pillaged the French beer industry?  English-style stouts were another dark beer that was popular in France at the time....

If you readers find out anything more, comment please!