Delirium Tremens

Brewed by Brouwerij Huyghe
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Melle, Belgium

Nice dry lemon aroma with hops. Pours a large off-white head. Color is transparent yellow-gold but with loads of unusual, blotchy sediment that just sort of floats in the middle in the most unusual way, like suspended ice crystals. It isn’t the typical cloudy/grainy sediment suspended evenly in most beers, but rather like individual bodies of something (yeast?) floating in an otherwise transparent, clear liquid. I don’t think I’ve seen anything like this and at first it made me wonder if I got a bad bottle. I’ve never considered lots of sediment to be anything but good, and after trying this beer my opinion remains unchanged. To me, sediment is generally a sign of very good body, and this beer is no exception. This beer does not represent an upper limit on the acceptable level of sediment, either. One just needs to get past the unusual looks of the beer to realize that it has great body and flavor. I think a lot of other Belgian ales actually have far more sediment, but not in such an odd pattern and therefore won’t suffer any prejudice. The idea of a beer that is filtered, and crystal clear is uniquely American in a stupid, corporate way. The taste of this beer is great. Kind of a dry lemon/hops flavor with great body. Like it really well.

Pours completely clear unless you’re sloppy, and with the opaque bottle, it’s easy to be sloppy. Has a very bright orange/golden colour, and a large head. The glass is perfectly designed to show this off. Has a very nice hint of bitterness to it.

Bottle 33cl. Pours a muddy yellow/golden colour with a normal size head and loads of carbonation. Aroma is very hoppy and fruity. Taste is a good balance of several fruits, bitterness, sourness and also a good amount of sweetness. Like the bottle!

Pours a bit cloudy, bright yellow, with a thin bubbly white head that leaves sheets of lace. Sweet aroma of green apples, grapes, and alcohol. Tastes more like a champagne than a strong belgian ale with lots of acidity and young grape flavor and an almost-painful acidic alcohol finish. All of the above was without the sediment. Had I included it, the beer might have been undrinkable. Not a pleasant sediment like Rochefort, but a thick silty muck that would have covered the entire chalice.

Slighty cloudy straw pour, nice head and lace. Cinnamon aroma. Lots of flavor, nice banana/vanilla flavor with some cinnamon in there. Dry aftertaste. Disappointingly flat, but a nice mix of sweet tripel and bitter alcohol.

I had a few pints of this at Pops for Champagne in Chicago, IL with a few co-workers. It was served to me in the glass pictured on this site. It was a light amber color with a one finger width white head. The aroma was fairly pleasant with some sweet fruity notes, light hops, and yeast. The taste consisted of some citrus, light hops, and some floral tones. It had a light mouth feel but did leave nice lacing on the glass. Overall, a decent beer but pretty boring for a Belgian strong ale.

Clear and light yellow, then WHOAH more sediment than I’ve ever seen. Strong, fruity, maybe slightly funky aroma. Flavor is similar. The sediment is serious enough to affect the mouthfeel negatively. Astringent and wince-producing aftertaste. Was hoping for much better.