Chimay Grand Reserve Blue Label

Beer

The last Chimay this week, the Chimay Grand Reserve, also known as the Chimay Blue (for the blue label).

The Trappist monastery at Chimay in the south west of Belgium has a long history of brewing beer. The Blue label is the last of the Chimay range, and I’ve been using a lot of music references in these reviews so one more won’t hurt:  if Chimay Blue were to be compared to the music of Meatloaf, then Chimay Blue would be the “Bat out of Hell II: Back into Hell” disc. Meaning that it is better than the sequel “Dead Ringer” (Chimay White) and equal to the original “Bat out of Hell” (Chimay Red).

If you don’t know who Meatloaf is you probably aren’t old enough to enjoy a good beer.

This is a dark Belgian Ale brewed by one of 6 only breweries in the world officially entitled to call themselves an “Authentic Trappist Breweries”. These guys have been brewing these heavenly ales since 1862, combining the artesian water of Chimay Abbey with the fine barley malt and their blend of hops and Chimay’s unique yeast. Top fermentation gives Chimay a distinctive fruitiness of flavour. Fresh yeast is added just prior to bottling resulting in a slight sediment which you can see. This secondary fermentation in the bottle adds to the ale’s richness and body, much like the Cooper’s Vintage range. The Trappist Fathers of Chimay use exclusively natural ingredients and this beer, like all of the Chimay range, is either pasteurised or filtered.

It is laid down for 5 years or more (much like most fine red wines) and is noticeable darker than the Red and White labels. On the tongue you would never think that it is alcoholic as it is and  when rolled around the mouth I could swear that is was brandy. Its taste is big, it’s bold, it’s Biblical, and has a dry fruity chest hair producing 9% alcohol. It’s what Charlton Heston would have drank while filming ”The Ten Commandments”. I can best explain the taste by saying that if you were to make a sandwich using one piece of wholemeal bread and one piece of pumpernickel, and then put some dried dark fruits and sprinkle yeast on it, and then eat that, well you’ve got the taste.

However it’s not cheap and is priced at approx $9.99 per 330ml stubby. But every beer lover needs to pay their Telstra bill late and use that money, or dip into the family food budget just to try this once in a life, it’s one of those special things. .

Chimay is beer made by monks for monks (or anyone with $9.99).

After my four samples were finished, so was I. Even though you can’t taste the alcohol, believe me it’s there!!

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