CulturAle Press

Unibroue De L’Enfer 25 Blonde, Chambly, Quebec Canada

Date:  December 5, 2018

The Story— Unibroue burst upon the scene during the first wave of craft beers, brewing its first beer in 1992.  It claims to be the first brewery in the Americas to brew a Trappist style ale– and it may be, though New Belgium was brewing Belgian styles a year earlier.   It’s now owned by the Japanese Saporro, but the Chambly brewery still sends out great beers.

This prize was created in 2017 to recognize the 25th anniversary of the brewery and it’s been a seasonal release ever since.   It’s a riff on a strong golden Belgian ale.  You know the theme:  Duvel (Devil) and this “Unibroue from Hell.”  If you could actually find this beer in hell, I’d seriously have to consider misbehaving more consistently.

The Beer—  It’s a cloudy pale gold that contrasts with Duvel’s clarity.   A creamy rich malt base shows early with ripe fruit and some sugars.  Stays rich and chewy.  At the end — in a late finish -a boozy cinnamon-like heat pushes to the fore.  Ellie got more spices than I did — presumably from the yeast since the beer only hits 14 IBUs.

Value — Good.   This 75 cl big bottle isn’t cheap, but you’d pay as much for an interesting strong gold from Belgium and probably not do as well.

 About these posts:  We taste and evaluate over a thousand beers every year.  The beers posted here rank in the top quarter of those tastings.   Values:  “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.

This week we feature HIGHLIGHTS OF EUROPE–  Some of the great beers we’ve found in our European travels. Some of these are the specific beers readers of Drinking In the Culture wanted us to include in that book.   A few may be some of the surprisingly good beer we’ve found in “bad beer cities”  as we researched our next book – a guide to great beer in European tourist cities. (Planned publication 2019.)

Next week we’ll return to the US and highlight some great American craft beers, some of which we’ve found in researching out first US Beer publication: Brews and Snooze-– Breweries you can visit and walk back to a fine place to spend the night.  Look for it in 2019.

COMING LATER IN DECEMBER:   THE TEN BEST OF THE LAST FIVE YEARS.  We count down to the New Year by thinking back on some of the greatest beers we’ve found in the last five years of hunting.   These beers are in our top 0.2% of the beers we’ve tasted in those five years.