A Piraat's life for me? We'll see.
It's one of those cute stubby bottles. A manageable 11.2 oz. A cartoon illustration of a ship at sea, a glass of ale, and a foppish pirate who looks like he's never spent a day at sea (reminds me of me, sans foppishness I can only pray.) It is a magical 10.5% alcohol (do I like Belgians because I like feeling tipsy? or, do I like feeling tipsy because I love Belgians? No time for philosophy now, I must push on with the mission at hand!)
This beer, when poured, has very little head and is a dark golden liquid. It is sparkling from the bottom like a champagne, or a Duvel.
I am surprised at how it smells, like the smell toward the end of a hot summer in Rancho Cucamonga when all the fruit we could not eat had fallen from the apricot, peach, and plum trees and begun to sour and swarm with bees and flies. A real memory, but wrought with hyperbole given the beers actual smell: simply that of slightly sour apricot. But I am surprised at it's sourness, the dominant smell.
Gotta taste it. It is sour and bitter, but palatably so. It is dry with hints of alcohol. It is sweet and delicious.
This really is a delicious beer, it lingers on the tongue and won't really let me forget it. I mean that, and I'm still drinking it. It is really good, I repeat, and is extremely hard to pin down. It is not like any other Belgian I have tried. It's perhaps a cross between one of those Russian River sours and a mild ESB/Red Ale and a dubbel. Quite tasty, but I'm afraid it will not rank as high as it could have if it had only played by the rules.
1. Duvel
2. TJ's by Unibroue
3. Damnation
4. Piraat
5. Ommegang Abbey Ale
6. Chimay Blue
7. Orval
8. Brother Thelonious
How do I explain this site to people?
"It is one man's journey to figure out what the best Belgian beer in the world is
(whether it comes from Belgium or not.)"
At one point in my life I had not tasted the sweet elixir which is a Belgian Style beer. My very first description of my first glass was - in a nasally voice-cracking nerdy tone -
"It tastes like bananas; but I like it."
No I was not prepubescent at the time but I certainly was green. It was in my youthful days of college, in Sonoma County, where I first tasted "Belgian Style Ale." At a small (although apparently world acclaimed) brewery called Russian River.
The beer: Damnation.
I did not realize what I had at that pub, great pizza, magnificent beer. It also opened me up to a new world of Belgian beer. Soon I was drinking Chimays and Unibroues and Ommegangs and Duvels. Enjoying each along the way. And now I continue that journey with a purpose:
To find the best Belgian beer in the world!
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