For some time now, on the shelves of the supermarket, my eyes stopped at the bottles of Leffe Belgian beer.
I haven't had the chance to try it yet, so I wanted to add it to the list of beers I've tasted.
Last weekend, in the Szegedon market, I came across an offer of a gift package: four bottles of Leffe beer, two Blonde and two Brune, and I definitely decided to buy that gift set for myself, when I saw what kind of glass goes as a gift.
Fantastic!
After lunch at a restaurant, where grilled dishes were my choice (kebabs and sausages) when I got home I was still thirsty.
Why not quench my thirst with a nice chilled Leffe beer?
I had read that Blonde pairs well with grilled meats, which I had just eaten.
I unpacked the box and took out the bottles and the glass.
I washed the glass, and while it was drying, I read the composition of the beer and the details from the labels (with the help of a translator, since I don't know a word of Hungarian 🙂 ) for both Blonde and Brune.
But since both beers have a high % alcohol, I didn't want to mix and match them, I decided to drink both bottles of Blonde beer.
From the ingredients besides water, there is barley malt, corn, sugar, hops.
With 6.6% alcohol, this beer belongs to the stronger beers and you need to be careful when drinking it.
Leffe blonde is an authentic Belgian abbey beer, Belgian Abbey Ale.
Monks from the Abbey of Notre Dame de Leffe, which was built in 1152, began brewing Laffe beer in 1240.
Brewing beer meant for the monastery to extract the drink, which was obtained by fermentation, as opposed to the polluted water that existed as a drinking option.
The monks brewed beer until the destruction of the abbey in 1799 during the French Revolution.
It was only in the middle of the 20th century, in 1952, that production according to the original recipe was restored so that today this beer is brewed in the great Stella Artois brewery in Leuven (part of the AB InBev company).
For the full experience of drinking this beer, a serving temperature of 5°C in a goblet glass is recommended to fully develop the aromas.
Bottles of beer, well chilled, are there, a beautiful glass as well, I'm thirsty enough and with a desire to finally taste this beer.
The beer is a beautiful, sunny golden color with a rich, creamy white foam that lingers in the glass for a long time.
The aroma is complex and interesting, with dominant notes of vanilla and cloves (as noted on the label).
The taste is full-bodied and balanced, a combination of sweet bitterness with hints of honey.
A hint of caramel and fruit can be felt, and the sip is rounded off by a dry finish and moderate bitterness.
It has moderate carbonation and a smooth, full-bodied texture that makes it extremely drinkable.
So drinkable that I opened the second bottle and poured it after a few sips.
But the drinkability and sweet taste of this beer deceived me.
I enjoyed drinking it, but after the second bottle I felt the strength of the alcohol. Whether the high % alcohol was the reason I felt groggy, or if it was just tiredness from the past week, I wasn't sure.
All I know is that this Saturday, for #beersaturday, I wanted to share with you my experience of drinking a Belgian blonde abbey style ale.
Be there with me, following for the next beersaturday the continuation of the consumption of Laffe Brune beer.