Purchased: 11.2oz bottle at Binny's in IL; 2013
Style/ABV: Flanders Red/Brown, 6.2%
Reported IBUs: ?
I love theme posts, and tonight's theme is that I'm knocking out two beers. Ladies, gentleman, bimbos and hicks, I present: Two Sours, One Cup. Awww yeah that's some classy shit. (dis be part I).
The Duchesse hails from the brewery/brouwerij Verhaeghe. Brouwerij Verhaeghe was founded in 1885 by Paul Verhaeghe in Vichte, West Flanders, Belgium. The brewery would ship beer from Vichte to Brussels, and established a reputation for brewing their Flemish Red/Brown ale, Duchesse De Bourgogne. You can check out more at the brewery's website.
The Duchesse de Bourgogne is described as a "West-Flemish red brown ale." This sweet-fruity ale is brewed with roasted malts, very few hops, and is matured in oak casks for many months. This one clocks in at 6.2%. Let's see what we got.
The Duchesse pours a hazy, reddish-brown color, with 3 finger's worth of soapy, thick, tan-colored head. There's a little sediment floating around in this one, but this is mostly a semi-murky ruby red color in bright light. There's a lot of active, visible carbonation, and the head is leaving nice lacing and sustaining nicely.
The nose is pretty Brett and oak-forward. I'm getting some worn leather, and definitely a fair amount of apple cider vinegar. It actually smells like the dye-soaked vinegar solution that was always leftover after dying eggs for Easter. Fruit skins make an appearance here, notably apple and cherries....and there's some woody oak.
This is incredibly blissful on the palate, with light sourness, light funk, and tons of oak, wood, cherry cola, and some hidden gems deep in the beer, like raspberry puree, apple skins, and cherries. There's an oaky vanilla thing in here that's really subtle and balanced, and works well. The oak adds just a touch of buttery mouthfeel.
This beer has an absolutely phenomenal mouthfeel. It's probably not something you want in every situation with respect to sour/wild beers, but for the style, it's incredibly pillowy, rich, smooth, and even slightly buttery (in a good way). It veers towards a Kriek, and there's a lot of rich oak, vanilla, cherry, and cherry cola in this beer. The mouthfeel is medium-full, drinkability is amazing with no alcohol present at 6.2%, and palate depth is great. Complexity is high as well...but you feel like this has some untapped potential. You get lots of cherries and hints of sour/vinegar up front; this rolls into huge oak, wood, cherry cola, light Brett funk/leather; the back end trails off with lingering cola, subtle fruit skins and puree, and cherry sweetness. The finish is fat rather than overly dry and/or attenuated.
Rating: Above-Average (4/5 Untappd)
I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average on this beer. This is a great beer, and the fact that it doesn't get too aggressive with the sour or Brett funk means you can probably serve this to your unsuspecting friends and get good results. I'm not dogging this beer at all...I love it, and I buy it regularly when I get the chance...I just feel like the stakes are high with this style. Certainly worth re-reviewing down the road, but don't take my thoughts as a knock. In fact, scores themselves are largely meaningless compared to the words in the review. What you should take from this review is that the Duchesse is an incredibly refined, balanced, and fairly easy-going Flemish Brown/Red ale. It's also available, priced well, and comes in various formats (4-pack and bomber). You could pair this beer with strong cheeses, Poutine, a cheese and meat plate, fondue, a raunchy burger or barbecue sandwich, and even a plate of pickled things. I like this beer a lot, and would put this on a "100 beers to try" list.
Random Thought: I bet this beer would even be great with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Or chocolate ice cream. In a cup. Because who doesn't love smearing chocolate ice cream in a cup all over someone's face and licking it off. Yum. Part II...coming up...
The Duchesse hails from the brewery/brouwerij Verhaeghe. Brouwerij Verhaeghe was founded in 1885 by Paul Verhaeghe in Vichte, West Flanders, Belgium. The brewery would ship beer from Vichte to Brussels, and established a reputation for brewing their Flemish Red/Brown ale, Duchesse De Bourgogne. You can check out more at the brewery's website.
The Duchesse de Bourgogne is described as a "West-Flemish red brown ale." This sweet-fruity ale is brewed with roasted malts, very few hops, and is matured in oak casks for many months. This one clocks in at 6.2%. Let's see what we got.
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| Duchesse De Bourgogne |
The Duchesse pours a hazy, reddish-brown color, with 3 finger's worth of soapy, thick, tan-colored head. There's a little sediment floating around in this one, but this is mostly a semi-murky ruby red color in bright light. There's a lot of active, visible carbonation, and the head is leaving nice lacing and sustaining nicely.
The nose is pretty Brett and oak-forward. I'm getting some worn leather, and definitely a fair amount of apple cider vinegar. It actually smells like the dye-soaked vinegar solution that was always leftover after dying eggs for Easter. Fruit skins make an appearance here, notably apple and cherries....and there's some woody oak.
This is incredibly blissful on the palate, with light sourness, light funk, and tons of oak, wood, cherry cola, and some hidden gems deep in the beer, like raspberry puree, apple skins, and cherries. There's an oaky vanilla thing in here that's really subtle and balanced, and works well. The oak adds just a touch of buttery mouthfeel.
This beer has an absolutely phenomenal mouthfeel. It's probably not something you want in every situation with respect to sour/wild beers, but for the style, it's incredibly pillowy, rich, smooth, and even slightly buttery (in a good way). It veers towards a Kriek, and there's a lot of rich oak, vanilla, cherry, and cherry cola in this beer. The mouthfeel is medium-full, drinkability is amazing with no alcohol present at 6.2%, and palate depth is great. Complexity is high as well...but you feel like this has some untapped potential. You get lots of cherries and hints of sour/vinegar up front; this rolls into huge oak, wood, cherry cola, light Brett funk/leather; the back end trails off with lingering cola, subtle fruit skins and puree, and cherry sweetness. The finish is fat rather than overly dry and/or attenuated.
Rating: Above-Average (4/5 Untappd)
I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average on this beer. This is a great beer, and the fact that it doesn't get too aggressive with the sour or Brett funk means you can probably serve this to your unsuspecting friends and get good results. I'm not dogging this beer at all...I love it, and I buy it regularly when I get the chance...I just feel like the stakes are high with this style. Certainly worth re-reviewing down the road, but don't take my thoughts as a knock. In fact, scores themselves are largely meaningless compared to the words in the review. What you should take from this review is that the Duchesse is an incredibly refined, balanced, and fairly easy-going Flemish Brown/Red ale. It's also available, priced well, and comes in various formats (4-pack and bomber). You could pair this beer with strong cheeses, Poutine, a cheese and meat plate, fondue, a raunchy burger or barbecue sandwich, and even a plate of pickled things. I like this beer a lot, and would put this on a "100 beers to try" list.
Random Thought: I bet this beer would even be great with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Or chocolate ice cream. In a cup. Because who doesn't love smearing chocolate ice cream in a cup all over someone's face and licking it off. Yum. Part II...coming up...
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