Day 8 of the 2nd Annual Advent-ure Calendar

Day 8: Brasserie d’Achouffe N’Ice Chouffe

Here is a brewery we don’t really know a lot about and we also don’t drink a lot of their beers. We aren’t really sure if we even get all of their beers in Ohio, but it looks like from their website, they don’t brew a lot of different ones or at least don’t distribute them to the US. We tend to try their beers at beer fests, but that’s about it. As for this beer, the description from their website reads: “N’Ice CHOUFFE is a strong, brown beer that will warm you in the depths of winter. Spicy (thyme and curaçao) and tinged with hops, this is a very balanced beer.” Its important to note that this beer is unfiltered and refermented in the bottle and in barrels to actually produce the carbonation. It’s called bottle conditioning.  A very minuscule, amount of yeast is added at bottling and over the course of about 2-3 weeks the flat beer is carbonated as the yeast eat away at the suspended sugars.  The carbon dioxide given off is trapped in the capped bottle, naturally carbonating the beer.  This process is different than most of the other holiday beers on our list, except for probably the other Belgians that will be coming up.

REFLECTIONS

Beard & Broad
Beard: I was excited for this. Then I smelled it. I’m normally a huge fan of Belgians, especially during cold weather months, but this one needs time I think. It’s just way too harsh right now. They suggest on the bottle that people “may wish to cellar this bottle,” and I would definitely be in that camp. I get a slight metallic note on the nose and intense alcohol warmth at first sip. It completely overtakes everything else going on. I imagine this would be awesome in a couple months (or a year) so I’m gonna try and steal a bottle from Adam and experiment with that.

Broad: I always think I don’t like beers from this brewery but I don’t have any real reason to think that. I just think I’m not fond of the short, fat bottles and gnomes on the labels. After the first sip, I thought hmm this tastes like a good Belgian, dark ale. But after the second and the rest, I discovered I am not a fan. The flavor is off, its not very holiday spiced and I’m just disappointed. It’s also very carbonated, almost too much.

Adam & Alex
Adam: Sweet sleigh bells and Santa hats! This beer is wonderful. It’s the type of beer that makes me want to party. It’s a malty Belgium full of fruitiness and spice. I get oranges and the tartness of cranberries at the end. This Is my favorite beer so far and it’s shockingly not even close.

Alex: This beer is strong enough to make you party like the Griswolds. I don’t know if I have ever had a Belgian beer with holiday spices, so it’s definitely different. I would describe it as a little full, lotta booze.

Scott & CT
Scott: I think I like this beer. Would I pay for this beer? No, but there’s something about it that is drawing me in and it’s not the flavor. It’s easy to drink and seems more carbonated than other beers this dark. It’s the kind of beer I imagine connoisseurs describe all the subtle spices and flavors I can’t taste, but I’ll just nod and pretend I get it.

CT: This beer is what I imagine Merry Christmas Happy New Year tastes like coming back up into your toilet after a bender. At first okay and then really, really bad.

Lou & Jen
Lou: We got a strong one folks! 10℅ of glory for this winter ale goes down nicely. It has a spicy kick when it hits your lips, and leaves a warm sensation in your body as it goes down. I get some sweet and tart flavors. I would cut myself off after one, but like the country of this beers origin, this has me dreaming of cool nights and dreams of waffles and chocolate waiting in the morning.

Jen: This dark Belgium beer was just okay. I didn’t feel like it was too interesting. Not a lot on the nose. Sweet smelling molasses with a Carmel head. The taste followed suit with a bit of carbonation, dark malt and quick muted spices that didn’t seem to add much to the flavoring. The 10% Alc./Vol. is what made this beer most exciting for me. In full disclosure, we drank the beer more cold than the label suggests. As the sips progressed I started to enjoy more of a full bodied flavor. In the future I would be curious to try it a bit warmer to see if the flavor came out a bit more.