Duchesse de Bourgogne – a beer that’s impossible not to like?

We’re halfway through our Dea Diets – our quest to swap wine for beer during January to prove to the world that beer is lower in calories.

And our pal Jane Peyton at the wonderful School of Booze has written this review of the beer, Duchesse de Bourgogne, exclusively for Dea Latis. Why not give it a go this weekend and let us know what you think of it?

Try this experiment.  Choose a female friend who professes not to like beer.  Discreetly open a bottle of Duchesse de Bourgogne from Belgium and decant into a wine glass.  Don’t tell her that it is beer and watch her reaction as she sips it. And then wait for the ‘Get Away!’ response when you ‘fess up that it is not an unusual type of red wine, rather, one of the most amazing examples of our beloved malt & hops brews.

Duchesse de Bourgogne (6.2% ABV) is a superb example of a lambic beer.  This means the yeast gives the beer a sour tangy sweetness and some unexpected flavours.  I included it in a tutored beer tasting last night and the group suggested wood, lemon, spice, must, Balsamic vinegar (usually a sign of stale beer but welcome with this exceptional ale).

This is a Flanders red ale made by blending younger and older beers that have been aged in oak barrels. It has a highly perfumed nose of sweet-sour cherries and vinegar.  On the palate it has a mousse-y mouth filling texture with intense cherry fruit and sour-sweet characters.  I find it more-ish and a real delight to drink.  Perhaps part of my delight is the anticipation of subverting the attitudes of women who assume that beer is all bitter, bulky, and blokey.  Not this one!