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Showing posts with label La Chouffe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label La Chouffe. Show all posts

Friday, April 04, 2008

La Chouffe

Tomorrow's Cheers for Belgian Beers event (read about it here) all hinges on the use of the Ardennes strain of yeast, purported to be that used by Brasserie d'Achouffe (or Brouwerij Achouffe, if you prefer the Flemish). So, since all the breweries will essentially be working with La Chouffe as the context for their own variations, it seemed wise to pick up a bottle in preparation.

The brewery makes two main beers, a golden ale and McChouffe, a beer inspired by Scottish ales (there are others, including N'Ice Chouffe, a winter ale). I picked up the golden, imagining it would express the yeast character more cleanly. Here's what I learned.

Tasting Notes
As I was carefully trying to pry of the amusing gnome-decorated cap (chouffe is Walloon for "gnome"), the beer came bubbling out. I made haste, but discovered that it's not exactly explosive, just vigorously efferevescent. It is honey-colored, and the active bead feeds the thinnish head (at 8% alcohol, it takes a lot of feeding to keep the head afloat). The nose is subdued--a faint sugary aroma that I took to be honey, perhaps unduly influenced by the beer's appearance.

The palate is strongly influenced by coriander, which was a bit much for my taste. I have found references to no other spices, but I thought I detected something that tasted like cardomom or star anise. It is a soft beer, made simultaneously more robust and sweeter by candi sugar. Easy to drink though not particularly complex.

The yeast. As I mentioned, it's a lively strain, and would do well with saisons, abbeys, and strong golden ales. The character was not assertive or sour; it was dry and crisp (despite the sugar and spice) and produced a sherry-like quality. As we were drinking it, I mentioned to Sally that I expected to taste beers that were better than La Chouffe at the event. It's the kind of strain that could handle lots of hopping and still stay dry and elegant, or stand alone in a a beer unadorned by bells and whistles. It's a good choice for an event like this because while it will add a fair amount of character with its effervescence and dryness, it will still behave mostly like a blank slate, allowing the brewers to follow their bliss (unlike one of the more profoundly sour strains, for example).

I look forward to see what they've come up with.

Monday, March 31, 2008

Yeast Experiments This Weekend

Cheers to Belgian Beers Festival 2008
Saturday, April 5, 2008; Noon - 11:00 PM

Roots Organic Brewing Company
1520 SE 7th Ave
(503) 235-7668
$5 commemorative glass and $1 tasters, proceeds go to charity
Put this on your calendar: this Saturday, Roots will be hosting the second-annual "Cheers to Belgian Beers" fest slash experiment. Roots won the first edition, and therefore the right to host. (Though unfortunately, this means no info, since their website is months out of date.)

However, we know enough to assume this is going to be one of the most interesting events on the annual beer calendar. First, we know that the brewery list includes some stellar Portland brewers--more than a few of whom have been experimenting with Belgian yeast for years: Alameda Brewhouse, Amnesia Brewing, Hair of the Dog, Hopworks Urban Brewery, Laurelwood, Lucky Lab Brewery, McMenamin's Crystal Brewery in collaboration with John Barleycorn's, McMenamin's CPR, New Old Lompoc, Philadelphia's, BJ's, Raccoon Lodge, Rock Bottom Brewery, and Roots.

And we also know that brewers have only one limitation on the beer styles--use of the Belgian Ardennes strain from Wyeast. It is purported to be the strain La Chouffe uses, and that combined with the scanty info from Wyeast suggests it should provide a fairly flexible palette for brewers to work with. Says Wyeast:
One of many great beer yeast to produce classic Belgian ales. Phenolics develop with increased fermentation temperatures, mild fruitiness and complex spicy character.
They suggest it can be used to make everything from dubbels to Flanders browns, though that seems a stretch. Alcohol tolerance goes up to 12%, so just about anything is possible. The ability to produce phenolics could offer brewers some interesting alternatives (including saison) to the abbey-style and pale ales the yeast is probably normally used in. When I visited the Raccoon Lodge last month I tasted Ron Gansberg's project, which included some interesting botanicals as well as a laborious process.

I've been touting yeast as the X-factor in craft brewing evolution. Mostly breweries have explored the ranges possible with hops and alcohol. But yeast is the most versatile, beer-changing ingredient available to breweries. I love the idea of a friendly competition that riffs on yeast, and I expect big, big things. It's probably going to be packed to the gills (Roots is fairly wee), so I plan on being there early.