No, I am not tardy with a Halloween post, although this does have a Halloween theme. My CBC column last Friday (two days BEFORE the spooky night) was on beer perfect for October 31 sipping. It mostly riffs on appropriately scary names and labels, although I do briefly discuss Pumpkin beer. Why am I bothering to post about this three days AFTER Halloween? Good question.

I think I am posting it because I anchor the column with Maudite, the Belgian Strong Ale from Unibroue, which is interesting at any time of year. I re-tell the legend, which inspires both the name and the label, of a group of lumberjacks so desperate to see their families for the holidays they make a pact with Satan to enchant their canoe so it can fly allowing them to make it home. Much partying and cavorting ensues. As these stories go, things end up going horribly wrong and the lumberjacks’ lives are imperiled (more details are provided in the column). There are two endings to the legend, I guess depending on who was telling the tale – lonely lumberjacks or Mothers Against Drunk Canoe Flying.

I, appropriately, use the scarier of the two endings for my column – where the lumberjacks plunge to their death and are condemned to fly in the night sky every New Year’s Eve. The happier ending has the spell being broken by a prayer to God and the men make it back to earth safely. Gotta love those morality stories.

I think the story gives a nice background to the beer’s label of a canoe flying through an ominous orange sky. The name, French for “the Damned”, also fits. Unibroue tells a version of the story on their website, although, as is the way with legends, some of the details get changed. I won’t argue about who is more accurate – we are talking flying canoes here, people.

Anyway, you can listen to the full column here – on RadioActive’s new and revamped website. My archives appear to have disappeared for the moment, which may be temporary, but all the links posted here at onbeer.org are still live (I checked some), so you can find them through the CBC Radio category on my left menu bar. By the way, the odd ending to the column is due to the fact that they had to unexpectedly cut me short due to an Amber Alert (to raise awareness of a child abduction threat). I was working to the regular timing and didn’t realize they had to move to news early. Alas, the tasting got messed up a bit, but I got the story in.