Down In The Dark

I wanted another fall beer today, despite the weather continuing to push the limits of summertime. Today's projected high is 92 degrees. Blah. The fall sweaters are on display in the stores, I've already been trying on cute little winter coats, and the Halloween candy is already taking over the grocery store. I'm ready for fall NOW.

It's Friday, and it's Beer Friday. And today, we're drinking 1554 Brussels Style Black Ale. A Belgian Dark Ale brewed by the New Belgium Breweing Company. I love most of the beer brewed by the new Belgium Brewing Company, really, but I haven't had any in quite a while. BeerAdvocate's reviewers had quite a few nice things to say here. The company's site described the beer like this:

Phil Benstein, our resident rumpled professor, stumbled onto Zwartbier in an 1888 tome creatively named “Popular Beverages of Various Countries.” He had trouble convincing brewmaster Peter Bouckaert that such a beer existed back in 16th - century Belgium, so the pair made two trips to Belgium to research this obscure style in the archives of Belgium’s specialty brewers. The oldest reference to these black beers that our dynamic duo uncovered was in the year 1554.

Other than being dark in color, 1554 has little in common with Porters or Stouts. The beer is fermented at relatively high temperatures using a European lager yeast that imparts a refreshing, zesty acidity. Chocolate and coffee tones in the nose give way to a surprisingly clean finish. With 1554 our staff hoped to create a beer similar to what folks enjoyed nearly five-hundred years ago without ignoring five-hundred years of technological innovation.We hope you’ll agree that 1554 is the delicious result of a lot of well-spent library time.

You can't buy this beer east of the Mississippi, so this is one good thing about living in my part of the midwest. Here's a map of where you can buy this:

Hope you enjoy it. Have a great Friday & a happy weekend!