New Belgium Brewing Company / Fort Collins, CO
Where: At Home, purchased in NC
A | NG | P | G | VG | O |
The 2nd beer in my New Belgium Beer Run is 1554 Enlightened Black Ale, a dark Belgian Style Ale. I enjoy Belgian Ales occasionally, but I usually switch to a lighter beer after one or two.
This beer had a very dark color and, rich foamy head and faint aromas of chocolate (oh my god, am I becoming a Beer Geek First Class?). Anyway, it definitely had a good taste, smooth and enjoyable.
NOTE 1: This beer has a very interesting backstory, according to the New Belgium website:
In 1997, a Fort Collins flood destroyed the original recipe our researcher, Phil Benstein, found in the library. So Phil and brewmaster, Peter Bouckaert, traveled to Belgium to retrieve this unique style lost to the ages. Their first challenge was deciphering antiquated script and outdated units of measurement, but trial and error (and many months of in-house sampling) culminated in 1554.
NOTE 2: For you aspiring beer geeks, check out this cool feature on the New Belgium website. Many of their beer pages show the “Flavor Attribute Flower” for the beer, a spider chart that graphically describes the beer in 13 different categories such Hoppy, Malty or Fruity (which, by the way, are the names of the 3 other dwarves that moved out of the Dwarf House to start the Enchanted Forest Brewery).
I do like the 1554, but I reaally like New Belgium's Abbey ale. Nice malt and Belgian character. Did you happen to pick up any of that? If not, I recommend it for next time.
ReplyDelete-Henry
I'm not sure if I saw the Abbey Ale. We went to the Harris Teeter just before the bridge. Walk-in beer cooler! Nirvana!
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