It's been a long time since I've blogged about beer, but here's a few good rare
beers that one should look out for, but don't expect to find them outside of the their respective areas that frequently.

I've noticed a surge in popularity of Saison-style beers with lower alcohol and a crisp bitterness. This is welcome to me since big beers can grow tiresome very fast if you aren't up for swift buzz. One of these comes from a rather new brewery called Brasserie de la Senne and is called "Betchard". It comes in 75 CL bottles and weighs in at 5.5% alcohol by volume, which means even the wussiest of beer drinkers should be able to polish one off by him or herself. It's got a bright golden glow to it with a haziness that starts the mouth watering right away. The aroma is stiff, spicy and slightly wild, somewhat like an Orval. It is lively in the glass, but the head was nothing to scream about. What I liked about sipping this beer was the long hop character that was never to strong, but strung out on your toungue like falling spider: smooth as silk, but you just never know where its going to go, or when its going to stop. This is a promising beer from a brewery that makes a few more beers that I have to try.


The beer that is pleasing my palate as I write this is from Lorraine, picked up on a trip to Burgundy over a long weekend during which we had to make an emergency stop in the lovely city of Nancy, probably the most underrated city in France. This one is called the Duchesse de Lorraine and owes a lot of its style to an Amber bock. It is just that, Amber, super malty, but dry with just enough hops to keep the finish alive. It is a great Spring beer and again at just 5.5% one that I would drink lots of could I find it here in Belgium. It is brewed by Les Brasseurs de Lorraine (www.brasseurs-lorraine.com) who make a number of other beers, one of which I have in my cellare and hope to review shortly.