In this world of beer that I’m now immersed I regularly get to drink stuff that makes me happy, interests me, excites me.
And now and again I pour something that makes me take a moment to reflect on what exactly I have in front of me.
It happened with Premiant Hopburst, my first beer from De Molen, it happened with Fantomê, and with my first Kernel.
And once it happened with a homebrew from Black Hen.
Now, once again, I have a beer in my glass that is doing the same thing.
Three Friends Belgian Strong Ale is brewed with prunes and Armagnac and it’s a thing of real beauty.
It poured into the glass a deep red chestnut with a light head and a belly warming aroma of prunes in syrup, brandy and spices.
There’s a very good bran rich biscuit and a thick toffee submerged under the weight of an enormous booze drenched plum and brandy snap desert that’s so meaty you can chew it.
The hops are crunchy and crisp and flecked with cracked pepper, zingy with a citrus bite that cuts across what is nothing short of a freight train of a beer, albeit one that runs on bread dough and has a little steely Belgian yeast bomb at its heart.
I’ve run out of adjectives.