Biere Darbyste

In an effort to cheer myself up (frustrating day) I poured a nice Belgian ale from my small commerical cellar, to whit: Brasserie de Blaugies's Biere Darbyste, an orange, ferociously cloudy, heavily sedimented, 5.8% abv, Belgian ale brewed with fig juice by a sub-microscopic brewery operated by a couple of Belgian school teachers out of their garage. The original brewer is Marie-Noelle Pourtois, but apparently her son has taken over as brewer.

I've had this before as well as a couple other beers from this odd little brewery. They tend not to stay in the bottle, but I conveniently forgot this fact and popped the cork in my office. After spraying beer around a bit I had to run downstairs and get a second glass and a roll of paper towels. As a result of this, the sediment is totally kicked up, but I almost think this is part of the house style. . . Unless it's some function of transit.

Because it's effectively a home-brew, this is on the rustic end of the Belgian range. The nose is dominated by an earthy, corky aroma which makes the beer feel a lot like a Saison. Their summery, quaffable Saison d'Epautre also has this note. The palate is just a little sour and brilliantly attenuated. Hop character is quite restrained. Earthy fruit flavors (the figs?). Profoundly spicey nose as it warms up. Some white wine elements--gooseberries, a la Sauvingon Blanc?

There's nothing predictable about this beer. I wonder if it'd be better on-site and less prone to explosion, but I still find it pretty compelling and fun to drink. So here's to garage brewers. Oops, I mean car-hole brewers. . .