Nostradamus

Bunny has an interesting method of picking beers, since she doesn't really like beers she looks at the labels. This gives her a unique way of pulling some of the more interesting things of the shelf. While this method would probably not work in a more parochial setting, here in the Northwest where variety of brew houses almost exceeds that of denominations of churches and the number of beers exceeds the number of churches, it really succeeds.

People that tend to put effort into making their labels interesting show artistic flair, I am finding that they take the same approach in beer making, solid beer without the pretense of being anything more then what it is, an enjoyable experience.

To further explain my wife's proclivity to find good tasting beers, she does work in a wine shop and is pretty thorough in reading the labels on beer and have a general sense of the styles I like and aren't particularly fond of, the latter being fairly rare since the only thing I really don't go out of my way for are American style wheats.

She pulled the He'Brew previously reviewed and this little gem...

Nostradamus

http://www.specialtybeer.com/images/beer_NOSTRADAMUS.jpg

Oh, this one is tasty.

I was a bit dubious cracking into it, A Belgian Brown Ale, exactly what was I to expect? A New Belgian offer of mediocre style? A traditional Belgian Ale? An Americanized Brown? I am particularly fond of traditional Belgian styles with their complexities but this one I didn't have a read on.

Out of the bottle I would say this is a tad too carbonated and I let it rest for a bit before really taking my first pull. The complexity of the beer is quite evident in the nose but slightly masked by the volume of CO2 released. Brown it is with a density that can be appreciated in the glass and it has a consistent milky character partially due to the effervescence and just the wheat constituents of the grain bill.

Rich and tasty full mouth flavor hitting all the right notes for a Belgian dark ale. Clocking in at 9% the ABV really isn't noticeable except for the warming sensation. The flavor eased evenly with a proper balancing of bitterness and maltiness over time.

I really liked this beer when I first tasted it and I liked it even more by the time I had emptied the glass.

Try this beer, its a keeper. Thank you, hunny.

Brother B