Beer Safari BOTW 1/16 - 1/23: CHIMAY PREMIER RED

[brianhos]

Originally Posted by iceclone

I would argue slightly with you on the temperature issue. Room temperature is indeed fine, but it is the room temperature of European houses before central heating (around 60 degrees or so). I would only slightly chill this beer; and chilling it much below 60 would be excessive, in my opinion.

Most of the better brewerys will label the optimum temp to drink the beer at. I know my fat tire says 45 on the side. I usually pour it into a room temp pint glass, and then let it sit for 5 min before drinking.

[Broodwich]

I got home from work, pulled this out of the fridge for about 30 minutes, opened, poured and left to sit for about 5-10 minutes.

This beer in particular if it is too cold you not get the full experience. I would say my beer was probably in the 45-50 degree range.

[cyfan964]

Originally Posted by herbicide

Didn't try it this time, but I have had several times before. Chimay beers are some of the best in the world. IMO the Belgian Trappist beers are the best.

Cheers to you! I agree with you 100%. For those that don't know Belgian Trappist beers are required to be brewed by legitimate monks in monastaries. There are I believe 7 Trappist breweries left in the world that brew, if my mind serves me correctly. May I suggest the next beer being an Achel brew. The Achel Bruin is my favorite beer of all time. And although it is pricey it is definitely worth a try.

[cyfan964]

I forgot to mention. If anyone out there is into trying new beers and may want to see what others opinions are before spending the money I HIGHLY recommend beeradvocate.com A couple of brothers run this site and it has basically any beer you could ever get in iowa, maybe the US, rated by users. Cheers again.

[Broodwich]

Thanks for the heads up! I'm going to add the profiles on BA to this listings here.

[jdoggivjc]

I don't think I've ever had Chimay Red, but I do remember finishing off my first World Beer Tour at Old Chicago with a Chimay. That was a pleasant, yet pricey, way to end a 110-beer pilgrimage

[iceclone]

Originally Posted by brianhos

Most of the better brewerys will label the optimum temp to drink the beer at. I know my fat tire says 45 on the side. I usually pour it into a room temp pint glass, and then let it sit for 5 min before drinking.

Good point, and this is what the Chimay website recommends:

Chimay Red and Chimay Blue are ideally drunk at the ambient cellar temperature: from 10 to 12°C (50 to 53.6°F); a temperature which gives Chimay Blue a great richness of body and soul!

Source: Chimay - Products of the Soil, Degustation of Belgian Cheese, and Beers of High Fermentation

I think this is a bit cooler than I've drunk it at before, so I may have to leave it in the fridge a bit longer this time.

[4429 mcc]

Originally Posted by cyfan964

Cheers to you! I agree with you 100%. For those that don't know Belgian Trappist beers are required to be brewed by legitimate monks in monastaries. There are I believe 7 Trappist breweries left in the world that brew, if my mind serves me correctly. May I suggest the next beer being an Achel brew. The Achel Bruin is my favorite beer of all time. And although it is pricey it is definitely worth a try.

Alot of these trappist beers can be found at the RedMonk (the top floor of the Royal Mile) in Des Moines.

[dmclone]

Originally Posted by 4429 mcc

Alot of these trappist beers can be found at the RedMonk (the top floor of the Royal Mile) in Des Moines.

We need to have a CF group outing at the Red Monk. It's really a privledge that we have such a bar in Des Moines.

[jumbopackage]

Originally Posted by cyfan964

Cheers to you! I agree with you 100%. For those that don't know Belgian Trappist beers are required to be brewed by legitimate monks in monastaries. There are I believe 7 Trappist breweries left in the world that brew, if my mind serves me correctly. May I suggest the next beer being an Achel brew. The Achel Bruin is my favorite beer of all time. And although it is pricey it is definitely worth a try.

While I completely agree that Trappist beers are probably the best in the world, I would suggest going somewhere else for the next one. The 5 remaining trappist brews are Rochefort, Achel, Orval, Westmalle, and Westleterven. You can probably find all but Westleterven in Iowa. Good luck finding Westleterven outside of Belgium. There are probably less than a couple hundred cases exported a year, and the brewery actively discourages the practice. I mean you can go down the line of great Belgian beers; Rochefort, Orval, Achel, Westmalle, Delerium Tremens etc, but they are all pretty expensive and pretty hard to find for some people. Chimay is probably the exception to that rule, being the cheapest by volume and the most available of the trappist brews.

I'd suggest something from a larger microwbrew, i.e. Rogue, Hook, Point, New Belgium, that's a bit easier to find, and a bit cheaper :)

Originally Posted by dmclone

We need to have a CF group outing at the Red Monk. It's really a privledge that we have such a bar in Des Moines.

I'd agree. I'm going to the place I had my first Rochefort #10 the week after next - the Bier Garden in Portsmouth, VA. The Red Monk doesn't quite hold up to that place, but it is a great place to grab a beer.

As far as Chimay red goes, it's an excellent beer, but not nearly as complex and subtle as it's other Trappist brothers. I'd say it's a good-to-average Abbey Ale, probably on par with other Abbey Ales ("Trappist style" beers that haven't been continuously brewed by monks) though surpassed by some (St. Bernadus for instance).

I suppose I can rate it by simply saying that it's the last Trappist beer I would chose to drink, and there would probably be a couple of abbey ales I'd select over it as well. You gotta try it once, but once you try similar but better beers, you'll probably pass on it.

[herbicide]

Originally Posted by jumbopackage

While I completely agree that Trappist beers are probably the best in the world, I would suggest going somewhere else for the next one. The 5 remaining trappist brews are Rochefort, Achel, Orval, Westmalle, and Westleterven. You can probably find all but Westleterven in Iowa. Good luck finding Westleterven outside of Belgium. There are probably less than a couple hundred cases exported a year, and the brewery actively discourages the practice. I mean you can go down the line of great Belgian beers; Rochefort, Orval, Achel, Westmalle, Delerium Tremens etc, but they are all pretty expensive and pretty hard to find for some people. Chimay is probably the exception to that rule, being the cheapest by volume and the most available of the trappist brews.

I'd suggest something from a larger microwbrew, i.e. Rogue, Hook, Point, New Belgium, that's a bit easier to find, and a bit cheaper :)



I'd agree. I'm going to the place I had my first Rochefort #10 the week after next - the Bier Garden in Portsmouth, VA. The Red Monk doesn't quite hold up to that place, but it is a great place to grab a beer.

As far as Chimay red goes, it's an excellent beer, but not nearly as complex and subtle as it's other Trappist brothers. I'd say it's a good-to-average Abbey Ale, probably on par with other Abbey Ales ("Trappist style" beers that haven't been continuously brewed by monks) though surpassed by some (St. Bernadus for instance).

I suppose I can rate it by simply saying that it's the last Trappist beer I would chose to drink, and there would probably be a couple of abbey ales I'd select over it as well. You gotta try it once, but once you try similar but better beers, you'll probably pass on it.

While not a true Trappist beer, Leffe is one of my favorites. Its an "Abbey" line of beer, which means they are old Trappist beers that the monasteries are now gone. They are the original recipes that are brewed elsewhere. Affligem is another example, and a another one of my favorites.

Leffe Blond is my favorite beer, it can be had in Nebraska. Affligem is available in Minnesota. I know they are available in other states as well. Iowa makes me mad because you cannot get many of my favorite beers here.

Oh, these Abbey beers are not nearly as expensive as Trappist beers, but are generally on par with quality. Still expensive compared to American beers, but more on par price wise to the other imports.

One more thing, Belgian beers in large are my favorite, and they are also generally considered the best by Europeans unless you are German or Irish. (Never call a British Islander a European, though)

[herbicide]

Originally Posted by dmclone

We need to have a CF group outing at the Red Monk. It's really a privledge that we have such a bar in Des Moines.

Never been there. I heard about it, but my friends and I always end up at Hessen House or El Bait Shop if we go downtown.

[tim_redd]

The new post reminded me that I forgot to rate last weeks.

Anyway, I drank my huge bottle of this while watching football on Sunday. I must say it was pretty good. Admittedly, I haven't branched out much in my beer selections, although I do like the Fat Tire. I had been wanting to broaden my tastes a bit, and this is the perfect reason and time to do it.