Well now, I’m not sure whether I enjoyed this or not.
It’s certainly a great big thing.
Pouring the colour of marmalade and fizzing menacingly, it’s surprising how delicate some of the flavours are given this beer’s strength.
I’ve done no research, but from what I was told by Muree in The Offie, this was originally a Canadian brew that’s now made in France.
There’s definitely a background smell of Franco Belgian yeasty goodness along with a dose of orchard fruits and candy floss.
This version of Belzebuth is definitely Extra Forte and very quickly the alcohol starts to burn away the flavours as it sits in the back of the room trying its best to behave.
Somewhere in here you get soft apple pulp pricked with cloves, hints of star anise and crushed peppercorns.
You also get a nice lemon tainted bay leaf dryness towards the end, but even that is only just enough to stop the big mean alcohol from becoming a nasty burn.
What I find a little uncomfortable is reading the ingredients.
These include Antioxidants, E330 and E224.
E330 is Citric Acid, but E224, Potassium Metabisulfite is an antioxidant that in rare cases, “may cause severe allergic reactions.”
Now, I stick by the principles set out in the CAMRGB manifesto that it is up to the brewer to decide how to make their beer, but all the above makes me wonder what’s wrong with hops, barley, yeast and water.
And coincidentally, this morning I have the first raging hangover I’ve had in some time and I often drink high ABV beers.
Could it be the additives?