Deus Brut Flanders

DeuS Les Brut de Flanders is brewed in Belgium at a brewery founded in 1791 that has been in the same family for six generations. The beer is fermented, somewhat conditioned, and shipped off to the Champagne region of France, where it's placed in caves for twelve months of pampered maturation. Additional fermentable sugars and yeast are added, and the beer is bottled and placed neck-down in special racks. It's periodically turned and the angle of steepness is slowly increased, causing the yeast to detach from the sides of the bottle and migrate toward the neck. This is the traditional process of remuge that's used to produce the region's finest champagnes. The bottles are then rotated to vertical and the necks are frozen, which forces the yeast out of the neck using only the ambient pressure in the bottle, in a process known as degorgement. The final process, dosage, adds beer back to compensate for the loss due to degorgement, and the bottles are corked, bailed, and dressed for gala events. Most Belgian beers are properly served at cellar temperature, on the cold side, but DeuS is designed to be served ice-cold. Colder temperatures reduce the volatility when it's uncorked, but most importantly, they add a distinct crispness. Bosteels recommends initial refrigeration at thirty-nine to forty-one degrees or colder, for six to twelve hours, followed by an ice bath for at least ten minutes, or a chill in the freezer for twenty to thirty minutes, before it's served. A fluted champagne glass is ideal for serving. The beer pours with an intense foam that rocks up and easily overflows the glass. Miniscule champagne-like bubbles emanate from the bottom and sides of the glass as the beer emits a rousing aroma of refined malt, yeast and a hint of undisclosed spices. The nose hints of citrus, peaches and what I believe are anise and fennel. Patience is required as the beer settles. The first sip reveals its fragile malt underpinnings, warming 11.5 percent alcohol center and dancing complexity of yeast-contributed fruity character and an enticing earthy/mustiness that points back, at least figuratively, to its underground maturation. By design, its easy to confuse with a champagne, but the beer wins in the end, primarily because of the its telltale bitterness, which lingers after the swallow and fades into a long and dry, almost cleansing finish. Dom Perignon meets Duvel.

 

WAS $64.99.....