Belg-a-Rama #5 beer number two was also Belgian Beer on tap at the Blue Nile #3. I remember this very clearly. Numbers 1 and 2 were tapped simultaneously, back in Novemeber of 2002, Delirium Tremens, and Maredsous 8. D.T. had been available for some time, but only seemed to go on tap at Bryant-Lake Bowl whenever I wasn't there. I had no idea you could order it, and the distributor kept it secret for some reason. I found a printed inventory (which I wasn't supposed to see! but, funny that's the only way I know about the product...) which listed the kegs and talked my salesperson into getting me some. Meanwhile, another distributor had a product I'd never heard of that seemed interesting. My salesperson there didn't know much about it, except that it was Belgian, and that they hadn't sold any yet. Long story short, after being unsure whether I could actually move draft Belgian beer at an Ethiopian restaurant/bar, I rolled the dice, tapped them both at once and never looked back.
The D.T. distributor went out of business in 2003, and we were without access to it for some time. My salesperson there became my salesperson at the other one, and so we kept Maredsous on until distributor #3 came along (who eventually picked up D.T.), and one of the first kegs I ever got from him, in 2004, was this beer, one of my long-time favorites. The two men were long-time friends, but #1, (oh, it's Corey Shovein) had to tease #2 (Brad the Beerguy Magerkuth) about stealing tap lines from him. Well...get me beers this good and it's yours again!
Unfortunately, they don't keep Brasserie des Rocs in stock for long. This may be the third time I've tapped this in 7 years and I grab it every time it's around. I was hoping this wouldn't be so popular that it would be gone before I got some. Just in time. There's very little left in this one, after 4 days. 9.5 % a.b.v, this one.
So, commencing now, my notes from a bottle, December 2003:
"POP!
The cork is off, there's no turning back, in we go...
A lovely, hazy tumult of deep auburn colored brew pours into my glass, joined by a Brobdignagian layer of fizzy, creamy, off-orange foam. Looks good so far, I'm tingling so far.
Aroma: lemon...biscuits...orange...must...sour...but sweet...cinnamon...a spiced lemon cookie, to wrap it succinctly. Nice. Lively, luscious, in an utterly other realm than any other beer I've ever sniffed.
Taste...Good Idea, let's!
Oh, it's happening again! A shockwave of pleasure engulfs and enwraps my body and all the senses. Certainly very winey in flavor, but uniquely beery, too! Softly peppery, deep in dark fruit (besides grape, we wander among fields of cherries, berries, melons), it's a grand melange, a masterful marriage of flavors. There's something uplifting here, something that sets my soul free, something that happens in few brews, and you know it when you feel it, and it's happening now! Something ancient exists in this, a collection of metaphysical passages through the centuries. It feels light at times, deep at others, citric for a stage, then a touch woody, even oaky, showing some malt, as if peeking through peepholes in a glimpse through time itself.
If my remarks seem grandiose, forgive this foolish ale imbiber, for there's simply no better way to transmit the feelings this glorious brew delivers than to let imagination soar, and transplant the sensations into corresponding comments that may seem at times beyond the ordinary. So be it, for this beer is...I'm still drinking, it's still changing, tasting sweeter now, with a sharp candyish feel, still an underlying layer of tart. The tongue dances and darts, utterly delighted by the play it encounters from this frisky brew.
Sweet, deep, dark, toffee-ish, completely original, a meal in a bottle, a dream trapped under a cork, ...
Oh, so very, very, very wonderful!
I wish it would never end."
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