| Who uses a 15th century painting of a lady and her falcon to sell beer in the 21st century? This seems better suited for a wine label. If you experience this beer – the Duchesse de Bourgogne – you will understand how appropriate this connection to wine is.
The Duchesse de Bourgogne is one of Flanders’ sour ales that are such brewing works of genius and so much like wine that the Flemish locals call them the "Burgundies of Belgium." In order to properly describe this beverage, this beer writer will have to explore his purple side.
This beer isn’t made to standard brewing norms. Where most other brews use pale malt as their base, this beer uses only character caramel malts, and where most other brews are made from the freshest ingredients, the Duchesse de Bourgogne uses old hops for their preservative qualities without imparting their usual bitterness.
The beer also goes through an 18-month aging process in barrels of un-toasted French oak. In these barrels, the beer is exposed to aceto-bacteria that live in every pore of the wood, and develops a lactic acid edge as it ages. The final product that goes in the bottle is a blend of young and old vintages of the sour ale, resulting in a balanced sourness that doesn’t suit every drinker. It’s a love-or-hate relationship with the Duchesse, there are no in-betweens.
The glowing lady on the label, the Duchesse de Bourgogne, is Mary of Burgundy. She was born in Bruges in 1457 and was the sole daughter of Charles the Bold. At age 19, she married Maximilian of Austria. Mary was passionate about horses and hunting. Ironically, she died at the young age of 25, when she fell from a horse while hunting with one of her favourite falcons.
If we are to judge Mary from the beer, she was sweet, with an acidic sense of humour. The Duchesse is a redheaded seductress – she wears a lacy top, a nose of rich burgundy notes and flavours of passion fruit, chocolate with a long, dry balsamic bite. The bouquet might entice the drinker to hunt the Duchesse more than once. She is like no other woman or beer you will experience.
Just as you wouldn’t drink a fine red wine from the bottle, nor at fridge temperature, to truly experience Duchesse de Bourgogne to the fullest, this complex ale should be poured into the biggest red wine glass you have and served slightly chilled (12 to 15 degrees Celsius), accentuating all that a long waltz with the Duchesse has to offer.
The Duchesse de Bourgogne has very recently entered the Alberta market. The Belgian brewer of the Duchesse, Brouwerij Verhaeghe, also makes a sour cherry infused version of this beer called Echte Kriek. She is similar to the Duchesse, but unlike her cousin, a little tart. |
Copyright ©2006 FFWD. All rights reserved.