Unibroue Blanche De Chambly

The sublime from the ridiculous.

I once made a friend who had consumed several of the beers we made back at my old arts studio, try a Unibroue "la fin du monde" to which he said "this tastes like a house of payne beer" (that's my old studio in case you ain't figured it out.) Ever since the unibroue team has had a special place in my heart. In addition they appreciate head as much as me. they have a lovely little blurb on their site about the need to pour out some froth. In addition, they seem to me more like the best home brew team ever as opposed to a craft brewery. they seem to crank out these insane high booze beers just to do it, they know beer and make good stuff but don't take it too seriously, and don't make a joke out of it to seem like they don't take it too seriously. these guys are in my top three faves. (dogfish head and bell's are the other two, but the list is dynamic)

Blanche De Chambly, is a very grown up beer for this company, and done beautifully. Everyone does a white beer, everyone makes it way to wheaty, or far to sweet or worst of all way to Orange. (when i made my first we called it the Orange monster, so I'm sympathetic.) It almost seems like these guys who make beer with no particular styles in mind decided to show off their abilities just where so many were struggling. this white is a great balance not too fruity a bit yeasty, and lovely champagne texture to the mouthfeel.

White beer is a Belgian tradition that uses orange peel and coriander in the brew. it produces a light beer usually, with a fruity nose and fruit flavors, but balanced with a spicy malt character so as not to be to sweet. (god the Belgian's rule don't they.) Finally to be more traditional many modern brewers use bottle fermentation on their white beers. It is a summer beer because of the peel. which is why the unmalted wheat often is part of the grain bouquet, and why it is often likened to or commingled (in a way i disapprove of) with American wheats.

Blanche De Chambly does a lovely job of bringing out the orange flavor in the nose and finish but keeping the spicy flavors and summer wheats up front in the beer. It has a very fine yeast silt to it providing a nice cloud and a mouthfeel. The feel is also complimented by the somewhat high carbonation, giving it a very light and refreshing feel like a fine mist on a hot day.

Unibroue has many enjoyable beers, but none so well planned and fine as this, in the world of north american white beers, (the beer style i think we really fail at as well) this is really a great beer. very stylistically true, very enjoyable, and very well balanced.

white is the new beer

dan