I have a thing for a particular Duchess No, I am not talking about the new Duchess of Cambridge. The British royal family leave me decidedly bored. No, I am talking about a Duchess I first met four years ago in Belgium. She was sparkling and toned, sweet but with a noted sharp tongue about her. She stopped me in my tracks. She wasDuchess de Bourgogne, and she was in fine form.
Duchess de Bourgogne, of course, is a Flanders Red. And it is a mighty fine example of this rare and ancient style. This week my Vue Weekly column reviews a bottle the Duchess (you can read it here).
I have mentioned before that my trip to Belgium opened my eyes and my palate to Lambic (I have since become a lambic proselytizer). It also gave me my first real experience of sour Flanders ales as well. My favourite continues to be the unblended Rodenback Grand Cru, but sadly it is not available in Alberta. However the Duchess is.I don’t purchase it much, simply because the cost is relatively steep. However, I do enjoy my occasional evening lingering over its sweet and tart complexity.
Flanders Reds are so tart because they are aged in oak-barrels (the original oak-aged beer, n’est-ce pas?) where bacteria (the good kind) can slowly eat residual sugars . And the tartness that is added, if done properly, makes the beer refreshing and light, not puckering. The sourness should be clean, not vinegar-y or lemony. And a touch of sweetness lightly balances and keeps the beer in a dramatic tension through the sipping.
The Duchess is not in her best form when sampled in Edmonton – she finds travel tiresome. However, she still sparkles and charms like the finest of royalty.
June 28, 2011 at 12:22 PM
I loved my first taste of Duchesse many years ago, but then at a Belgian beer tasting, someone said it tasted like BBQ sauce, and for the next couple years, that was all I could smell and taste when I drank it, which I found repulsive. Fortunately, I got over this.
I find the Duchesse a little too sweet for my tastes nowadays (it is pasteurized and back sweetened, though not nearly as sweet as some of the sugary fruit lambics we get here), but it is a great introduction to sour beers. I also quite like their Kriekenbier. I agree, Rodenbach Grand Cru is far superior.
I have read about your love of sours several times on this blog. Do you brew them at home? I have been running a quasi-solera Flanders Red project for the last 5 years. It has been a lot of fun, and now that I have a blend of various the years, the results are incredible.