Thursday, September 27, 2007

MY FIRST MAUDITE

Continuing my intrepid exploration of the beers of Quebec’s UNIBROUE, I had my first bottle of the heralded MAUDITE two evenings ago, and I reveled in every second of it. This fantastic beer is just an incredible combination of warm, tangy yeasts and intense spices, almost like you’d find in a winter beer. Somehow this pumpkin-colored, Belgian-style dark ale manages to go down quite smoothly, while dazzling with some earthy, peppery flavors that balance out the 8% alcohol sweetness and those winter spices I was telling; you about. It’s the best Unibroue beer I’ve had since the revelation that was LA FIN DU MONDE. I’ll admit that when I first started considering buying these, I was actually off-put by the beautiful labels, rather than attracted. I have this ingrained suspicion of form-over-substance, and reckoned that what they were spending on artwork was probably being proportionally taken from the beer. Well, I learned myself but good when I started reading about how wonderful the Unibroue beers were, and then started buying them myself. I’m pretty sure they’re available pretty much everywhere good beer is sold, not just in the US but Europe as well. Maudite is tremendous; we’re giving it a big 9/10.

4 comments:

mumbly said...

Unibroue has turned around my opinion of Canada (especially French Canada). I think they are one of the finest breweries of Belgian style ales in North America (the others including Russian River and Ommegang).

Of their beers, Maudite and Fin du Monde are amongst my favorites and some of the earliest I tried (and I believe amongst the earliest available). They are always and consistently a pleasure to sample.

--Tim

Rick Sellers said...

You know, at times I don't want to like Unibrou, but they're always spot on. Good stuff Jay, thanks.

Mattias said...

My personal favorite is the simple but amazaing "Raftman" from the same brewery.

greektrappist said...

I 've also tasted Maudite and Fin du Monde recently. I was so excited that i bought the Maudite glass from ebay.
Unibroue rules!