Christmas season is one of my favourite times of the year as a beer lover. Many breweries produce special seasonal winter beers and export gift packs of their regular beers that may not normally be available.
To celebrate the season I’ve cracked open my Maredsous 3-pack of beers, brewed in Belgium by Duvel Moortgat (yes, the same brewery that makes Duvel.)
As a collector of beer glassware, I enjoy that the people at Duvel Moortgat have varied the glassware included with their holiday gift pack over the years. Fittingly I now have three different Maredsous glasses to match with the three different beers we can get here during Christmas time.
So Merry ‘Maredsous-mas’ – I hope you have enjoyed some great beers over the holiday season this year!
Maredsous 6 ‘Blonde’
Appetizer time. This is a Belgian Ale style beer of light orange colour, the lightest of these three. It poured with more carbonation than I expected, with a constant amount of bubbles helping to create a fluffy, white head.
Very Belgian aroma of yeast, orange and sweet citrus smells. A very welcoming aroma that is complemented nicely by the taste. It wasn’t anything overly complex, but simply balanced. Taste was somewhat sweet and fresh with a possible pineapple twist. A great beer by most standards, but only slightly above average by Belgian ale standards.
Maredsous 8 ‘Brune’
This is an Abbey Dubbel beer and if the Maredsous 6 was the appetizer this is the main course.
It is typically darkish, pouring deep brown in colour and with very little carbonation, this was the flattest of the three Maredsous beers. An off-white head lies atop this one, buoyed by big bubbles. It is a bold beer of varying smells and flavours.
Mostly caramel and somewhat figgy on smell, the taste is nutty with a more subdued caramel. That sweetness then blends into a spicy, smooth, fig-raisin flavour transition. Very nice and enjoyable from start to finish. This is the kind of beer that makes you appreciate the term that beer is a ‘meal in a glass’. If you ate all of the smells and flavours of this beer, you’d be gorging yourself on a buffet meal.
Maredsous 10 ‘Tripel’
Weighing in at 10% alcohol, this Abbey Tripel is a great way to finish off the trio. Dessert time I suppose, as this beer is best savoured slowly.
In terms of looks this falls in the middle, with a deep golden honey colour. It is a lively beer though, pouring with a big, dense head that lasts longer than the dubbel or blonde.
Classically Belgian on aroma, it surprises on taste. The aroma is big yeast and a wet battle of sweetness vs. bitterness. The alcohol comes into play here somewhat, not allowing the smells to break through as much as the dubbel.
Taste is a slightly bitter citrus if such thing can exist. It has a zip to it that is tangy, but not sour or sweet. Likely the alcohol is balancing out the sugary sweetness, or perhaps my taste buds are zoning out near the end of this session! Well done beer. I always enjoy Belgians that drink well without being obviously sweet or bitter. They have a unique way of finding balance between the two ends of the spectrum and this beer does it well.
The final verdict on Maredsous was that I enjoyed the dubbel most, closely followed by the tripel.