Westmalle Christmas Gift: Delayed Review, Sorry!

Trappist beers are brewed by Trappist monks within the walls of a Trappist monastery, this one founded in 1794, becoming an abbey in 1836, and Westmalle beers, brewed at the Brouwerij der Trappisten van Westmalle (brewing since 1836 - website), are up there amongst the best beers of Belgium. Although the monks no longer brew the beers themselves, they are still in overall charge of the brewery, ensuring tradition is upkept, and pure ingredients used, their own water, 100% barley malt, hops, and yeast from their own culture. All these are bottle-conditioned.

I had never tasted the just 4.8% Westmalle Extra before, but this light golden blonde is based on the ale recipe first brewed by the monks for their own consumption in 1836. OK, not as pronounced a flavour and impact as the double the strength Tripel described below, which means it is a bit more of a 'supping' beer. But it is recognisably a Westmalle beer, with a Westmalle aroma, and hints of banana and pineapple in the taste, very nice!

The penultimate beer I drank was the 7.0% Dubbel, a dark deep red colour, first brewed nearly 100 years ago in 1926. This has a rich dried dark fruit aroma, and at first tastes slightly sour, then sweet, with malt and dark fruits, but dries out with a slightly bitter finish, very decent.

The best 'til last, and my favourite regularly available Belgian ale, Westmalle Tripel (image immediately above), which I have written about many times before (eg blog). The Tripel, is a 9.5% golden beer, with a subtle fruitiness and quite dry and bitter finish, quite frankly, excellent! There are a number of bars in Brussels where I would always drink this, the waiting staff in the magnificent Le Cirio in Brussels, by la Bourse, always taking care not to disturb the sediment, but leaving the bottle for people to add the sediment if they so wished. Indeed, the owner of the bar closest to where my brother used to live always called me "Monsieur Westmalle", but that bar, sadly, is no longer open, the owner having retired.

You will appreciate just how much I loved this Christmas present brought back from Belgium by my brother, he knows what I like, the beer and the glass, cheers Dan! 👍

2 New Pubs for me in London.

In you go Paul! 😁 Indeed, handily opening at 10.00 at weekends, I was introduced to The Marquis Cornwallis, 31 Marchmont Street WC1N 1AP (website) for our first pint. A wee bit upset that we had recently missed their having the excellent Thornbridge Jaipur there 😣 and giving a miss to the pointless Doom Bar that was on one of the handpumps, we went for the reasonably consistent Timothy Taylor's (website) Landlord (4.3%). Landlord is a pale-ish amber Bitter, brewed with WGV/Goldings, Savinjski Goldings and Fuggles hops, producing a slightly fruity citrus flavour. It's a pretty easy to drink bitter... sad about the Jaipur not being on!

Having been joined by B at the Cornwallis, and Paul having something to eat there, we next moved on further along the road to the Lord John Russell, 91-93 Marchmont Street WC1N 1AL (facebook); opens at 12.00 weekends, at 11.30 weekdays. This is a pretty decently priced pub considering where it is, and had a couple of Sambrook's ales, and crafty keg beers too (website), the brewery now being situated inside the old Young's Ram Brewery complex in central Wandsworth. Good as their beers are, and Paul appeared to enjoy a few pints of their 4.2% Pumphouse pale ale, I have drunk their ales before, but there was something new for me...

I can't remember ever drinking an ale from The Exeter Brewery (website), and certainly never this ale, and I did used to live in Exeter too, so I had to try their Lighterman (3.5%). This was a very pleasant amber session ale, brewed with Goldings hops, and basically does what it says on the label, a traditional bitter, light and easy to drink, if you like bitter beers. I do 👍

So there you have it, 2 new pubs for me in central London, the first named after an 18th century British General and the other (better value/cheaper) after a 19th century British Prime Minister.

Cheers folks! 🍺

New Year Whisky!

My first thought for Old Year's Night is to head north to Edinburgh, rather than have an Irish whiskey, so to Johnnie Walker (website) it was, and their 40.0% Black Label. This is a blended whisky of single malt and grain whiskies that is aged in sherry casks for 12 years before bottling. Many years ago, during a visit to my brother when he lived full-time in Brussels, we tried to find seats at a favourite bar there La Terrasse (website), which I talked about last year (blog), however, it was packed! So we went to another nearby bar, many years ago that is, where, in addition to drinking whichever Belgian beer we were drinking (circa 25 years ago, sorry I don't remember which beer 😉), a young lad was trying to get people to sample 3 different types of Johnnie Walker whisky, I'm guessing Red, Black and Green Labels. Anyway, my brother doesn't drink whisky, so I had double helpings, and I think the lad was just happy someone was accepting drinks from him. 😁 I remember enjoying myself...

Now, despite reviewers these days suggesting that Diageo owning Johnnie Walker has led to it being less of a whisky, adding colour and blandness, I was still impressed at being able to buy a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label for just £22, so I went for it. And I'm not a tightwad, it's just difficult to buy a decent variety of whisky/whiskey where I live (most of my more interesting whiskey drinking is of whiskies bought online), there's my defence!

So what did I think of it? I found it a wee bit sweet, with butterscotch a dominant flavour, and hints of vanilla, dried fruits, spices, and smokiness too. The colour is deep golden, apparently colouring is added, as well as the ageing in cask process. Quite frankly, I found this a very easy to drink whisky, and at the price decent value,  but it won't win any awards from me, slainte!

Happy New Year... again! 👌

New Year Dark Beer Festival in Hastings!

Indeed, from today to Sunday (3rd-5th January 2025), The Jolly Fisherman, 3 East Beach Street, Hastings TN34 3AR is holding a Dark Beer Festival (facebook): Opening at 13.00 today, and 12.00 Sat/Sunday. 

There will be a large choice of styles amongst the cask and keg beers available, includes:

Stouts and Porters

Others from abroad, GB Belgian style

Mild Ales and not so strong

Whichever day you visit, enjoy this Dark Beer Festival and weekend, cheers!