Monday, July 20, 2009

N'ice Chouffe, Achouffe Brewery, Achouffe, Belgium

I'll be the first one to admit, I am not the biggest fans of Belgian beers. My record in rating Belgians is what it is. In fact people were horrified that their beloved Chimay was rated only a 3.0 and deemed my ratings "suspect". I get it, some people love when their beers taste like Glade Air Freshener and I do not. However, despite my anti-Belgian propaganda, I still tried the N'ice Chouffe on recommendation from a bartender. It was friggin terrific. The beer's malt tasted like roasted cherries. The N'ice Chouffe was very light bodied, but still was heavy on flavor, in fact it resembled an after dinner liqueur in it's satiny viscosity. The 10% ABV tells you how strong the beer is, but you don't get much of the alcohol bite when sipping the beer, however the aroma lets you know the alcohol is in there. The N'ice Chouffe is well deserving of a 4.0 rating.

3 comments:

eileen said...

You've seen the light. 'bout time.

Mike said...

When you say "recommendation from a bartender", does this mean that you had the beer on tap? If so, do you know if the beer is generally available in bottles?

I'm very interested in tasting N'ice Chouffe, but 10% is strong for a 12 oz beer at a bar.

Beer Crusade said...

Eileen - I have a Brooklyn One that is also a belgian style that will need to get reviewed, and I think that will rate favorably.

Mike - I have seen this brewer's beers in liquor stores near where I live, maybe if you tried one of those liquor super stores?