I won't go into how long we have been eating and imbibing at Mt Sun but let's just say many years. We know the owners and managers well enough to say hi and have conversations with. Whether at a Phish show or the brewery itself. Good folks who play by their own rules. I like that. On to the Belgians....
Currently Mt Sun has a handful of Belgians to choose from. This is not really like them to do so. But since new Brewer Jeff Ramirez from Ironworks in PA took over, things seem to be changing a bit for the better in terms of spreading their wings a bit. Don't worry, it's still the beloved hippie brewery serving delicious beers and food. Just more adventurous it seems. When I spoke to Jeff about the newer brett brews soon to come he said they brew offisite at a warehouse off of Arapahoe. So I think they may keep the Belgians coming considering Jeff's taste for these types ans styles. Good on him.
The first taste was the Ciel Lumineux Belgian Ale. Considering Mt Sun doesn't filter their beers too much this one was an exception. It looked and tasted almost pils like. It is a nice beer that is dry with all of the Belgian ale flavors one has come to expect here in the US. Hints of coriander, a bit of funk, spicy, etc. Or what the day manager called '...that wet horse blanket smell'. I can dig it. Anyway, the aroma didn't have much which the flavor made up for in this nice Belgian Ale.
The Bavarian Wheat had huge funk when whiffing along with some citrus notes. It looks like cloudy champagne which as you might guess it's un-filtered. The flavors are nutty, of all things, and a bit sour. But not too much. I think it's the smoothness of it all that made me like this one. But like many beers so un-filtered I wouldn't spend a night drinking this one. Live yeast can wreak havoc on ones innards. If you catch my drift.
Pater's Belgian Ale is perfect in appearance for what it is. Deep golden colors, perfect carbonation, and an impressive bleach white creamy head that you could float a quarter on. Love that. I'll dmit though I didn't get much aroma off of it. The taste is very biscuit-y with the mouth feel of an English Ale. Delicious. The hop presence is really mellow which makes it more of a malt lovers type. And it's damn easy to drink which I always like. I would love to see this in a firkin. Unfortunately Mt Sun doesn't do firkins. Well, they should. Just sayin'.
This last one is loved by the Mt Sun crew so I ad some high expectations going into it. It was good...but not great. Which of course is fine. It's just that it was chatted up quite a bit. Regardless, the Rouge de Brugges Belgian Red is nutty and malty with a beautiful red amber color that just makes you want to drink it by sight alone. It's fairly dry, almost to dry for my taste, with a slight note of blackberries. Actually, it had slight flavors of their Blackberry Wheat. Hmmmm. I think this one hs much potential but could use a bit more of everything. There I said it.
And then there's the FYIPA......
cheers
D
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