Tuesday, September 15, 2009

PERE JACQUES, PERE JACQUES

You may have been reading about – or better still, drinking – the latest series of limited edition, Belgian-style specialty ales from Chicago’s GOOSE ISLAND BREWING. There’s SOFIE. There’s JULIA. There’s PERE JACQUES. I can’t get any of ‘em where I live, so I had to trade for the latter, PERE JACQUES. They just sounded too good to pass up. PERE JACQUES is a thin, opaque brownish dubbel-style ale – one of my favorite kinds of beer, quite honestly. It has a very silky texture and the strong taste of maple, as in maple syrup, without being overly sweet. It’s definitely an “abbey” beer.

That said, it doesn’t hide its 8% alcohol all that well. One of my key tenents here at the HBJ is I don’t particularly want my beer to taste like a “spirit”. My favorite ales can still be busting the 10% level, as many of them do, as long as I never doubt that it’s beer that I’m enjoying. Not the case here, though PERE JACQUES does have a lot of really interesting malts that give some strong flavor. It’s OK. I shan’t be drinking it again. 6/10.

5 comments:

Aaron Goldfarb said...

Was lucky enough to have the Goose Island Demolition tonight on tap. I think that would be right up your alley.

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1146/49003

HomeBrewHawk said...

If you can get your hands on the Juliet, I would recommend it. Nice sourness and hint of oak. Supposedly, they are making more. I'm a fan of the Matilda when it gets a bit of time on it. The brett really comes out.

Rational Realist said...

"One of my key tenents here at the HBJ is I don’t particularly want my beer to taste like a “spirit”. My favorite ales can still be busting the 10% level, as many of them do, as long as I never doubt that it’s beer that I’m enjoying." Excellent point and I agree completely. A boozy mess of a beer is disappointing.

Jez said...

I haven't had the Jacques myself in about 2 years, but it was one of the first Belgian-style strong ales I tried, and I dug it. I also would age it for about a year. I'll be cracking a 2-year old bottle of Matilda, that was brewed on my birthday in October of 2007 - on my birthday this year.

Aaron said...

Had Pere Jacques (and Sofie) at the Clyburn brewpub. Both very tasty. Picked up bottles of each for cellaring.