La Chouffe

Sweet, doughy and thick with a significant alcohol lift. Extremely effervescent with a champagne mouthfeel.

Bottle. Pours hazy and sparkling orange with a large foamy white head, mostly lasting. Aroma is heavy malt (straw, hay, bread), average hops (herbs, flowers), heavy yeast (barnyard, earth) with notes of pear and apple. Full bodied, sticky texture, lively carbonation and an astringent finish. Average duration, light sweetness, moderate acidity and bitterness.

Had this in a pint glass(!) in the Porterhouse in Dublin. Thought the glass was inappropriate and made the beer look like any pale lager. A sniff soon changed that though. Loads of fruit and spice on the nose. Packed full of flavour and dangerouly drinkable. I loved it.

Superb orangey, spicy monster of a beer. Always better on tap than in bottle and very consistent.

Drank this several times without realizing I hadn’t rated it. The beer was in top form last night, with the 75 cL unexpectedly appearing in the middle of a very short beer list at a touristy but solid Brussels restaurant, with the gnome showing me his goods before, during and after a big plate of stoemp with sausage and bacon. Pours a mostly translucent gold with a huge, white hat. Aroma of vanilla, honey, hops, spices. Initial honey sweetness with coriander (not too much, thankfully) is rescued by a bitter kick of hops--and that’s key for me, because it allows the beer to cut through and hold up to some spicy foods. Alcohol well hidden. Somewhat lively carbonation fizzes into somewhat dry mouthfeel and finish. Aftertaste is bittersweet.

IMO this beer is too wet and spiced on draft, but it’s just gorgeous from the bottle. And it’s great with food, which is one of the two things I like more than beer.

Bottle... thanks to my brother for this fine treat. Pours with an off white head, let’s off a strong aroma, and has a golden appearance. Wonderful full bodied taste that has a sugar and spice combo. Great beer!

750ml bottle-thanks to Joe/jwc215 pours a retaining thin off white head that laces and slightly hazy gold color. Aroma is (coriander?) spicy/grassy hops, grainy, yeast. Taste is sweet grain, (coriander?) spicy/grassy hops, grainy, yeast. Nice but not a session beer. Good carbonation.

From an old bottle chilling for about six months so it did seem a little off...Tangerine yellow hue with creamy off white head, excellent lacing, large pieces of sediment, spicey + hoppy smell, flat carbonation, some nector hop taste, a little bitter, a little watery but may have been because it was so old.