The first blog of the drinking season will feature a good old fashioned beer review. What better beer to review than the one that I happen to be looking at right now, but have not yet tasted. It is a St. Bernardus Pater 6, one of the beers with a goofy bald monk featured on the label holding a Burgundian goblet of frothy beer. The froth is no exaggeration as the beer I have just poured has a head with the density of mousse, leaving ridges, gullies and banks of foam here and there as it slowly subsides. I am afraid to touch the glass for fear of disturbing the equilibrium it has reached. But I must, for I am thirsty.

The beer attacks my nostrils with one of the richest and cleanest toffee and caramel aromas I have experienced. If it tastes anything like it smells, it will be among my countless favorites.

...mmmmmmm and it does. Wow, what a kicker for 6.7% alcohol. I've had this in my cellar all summer, so that may have helped it, but it certainly has everything a great Belgian ale should have. This one starts off dry, then kicks in with some burnt caramel accented nicely by plenty of hops. The finish lingers with a spicy hoppiness that doesn't leave you looking bitter.

Overall the beer is on the dry side, and very drinkable. No obvious blemishes marr its balanced palate, and the head remains virtually intact halfway through. Now here's a little trick that I learned in school; add a bit of sediment, swirl it around, and re-sample. Did it change the flavor? Yes, as is often the case, the flavor loses a few dimensions and props itself up on its hoppiness. A delicate maltiness can often easily be overwhelmed by even minor doses of silty yeast. Highly flocculent yeast does not tend to have as much an effect. Try it next time.