#373: Flussssshh

De Glazen Toren's Saison d'Erpe-Mere is a longtime favourite of mine and I've also been impressed by their wonderful tripel. As such, when I stumbled across a sole, tired Autumn seasonal back in October just days shy of its best before date - a veritable shelf turd of old - languishing sadly beside beers brewed a full two years more recently I decided that bringing him home was the most humane thing to do. 

Cuvée Angelique (brewed 2022) is a slow gusher that creeps ominously up the neck of the bottle once opened but pours quite wonderfully, if carefully decanted. Its appropriately autumnal brown shade is matched by an aroma of raisin. There's suprisingly little yeast on show here, allowing the beer to present basically like a doppelbock. Milk chocolate, more raisin and real warmth appear on the palate, almost enough to suggest an ABV higher than its stated 8.3%. Most surprising of all is the swift dry finish, possibly suggesting diastatic yeast, but producing shocklingly little in terms of an ester profile. 

In all it's very enjoyable but is practically begging for food, ideally some fat sweet salty cheese (I don't know I haven't had real cheese in years. For fellow losers, Koko cheddar block is the one to go for). Whether it has always been this way is anyone's guess, but if and when a fresh version appears on the shelves I'll be very interested to find out.

#372: Dead Reckoning

In the earlier days of my beer obsession the appearance of an American craft classic like Left Hand's Wake Up Dead would have been enough to pull me into town for the tick, though to be fair, I'm pretty sure that in those days in the early to mid 2010s it was readily available even here. 

In any case I've never had it and when I spotted it in my local recently it looked quaint and nostalgic and was an immediate pick. 

There is something nostalgic about Wake Up Dead. This is the antithesis of a pastry stout, seemingly hailing from a more innocent time. It is bitter, resplendant with cold coffee, dark chocolate and a hint of fruit. That fruit isn't raisiny like you'd expect but more bitter and tart red berries, although this is very much an undercurrent. The main flavour is dominated entirely by that bitter coffee and chocolate. It is robust and bracing, a true anti-pastry stout, and wonderful for it.