Good day Hivers!
Time flies! I realized today that another week had passed, so time for #BeerSaturday !!!
Had a busy week at work, because my colleague was in isolation at home with Covid-19. Fortunately I was spared from that little beast and I was able to keep things straight!
After such a busy week, I deserved a beer, though I thinjk so! Only, which one would it be now?
I always have some tasty beers in the fridge, and my favorite Belgian beer, Duvel, should never be missing.
And it's summer, then a nice fresh beer always tastes good, and certainly a Duvel! So that was it!
It is a Belgian heavy blond beer, because the alcohol volume is 8.5% and so it is not to go out with that strong beer all evening, because then you do not know when, and how you got home the next day, nor who took you home and put you in your bed!
When you pour the beer without bells, you get a nice clear golden-yellow beer with a very large white, very fine foam on it.
However, I prefer to loosen the yeast bottom and pour it with the beer. Because, as it is often said, "the soul of the beer is in the yeast".
The beer has a very high carbonization, which means that you cannot drink it through as is the case with many other beers.
But of course you don't have to. Enjoyment is the message. The taste has never been matched by other brewers, although many have already tried it.
A bitter taste, in which especially the hops and grains that are used in the brewing process come to the fore.
And of course you drink a Duvel from the iconic glass. I make an exception there too. Because I taste many beers, I have a neutral glass, but for a Duvel I always use that typical glass.
There are many special editions, which are collected here and there by Duvel lovers. And so for glasses, which you can buy for 8 euros, many hundreds, even thousands of euros are paid! The scarcer the supply, the higher the price, of course!
I do have one special item at home, and that is a glass that we received at a meeting in the brewery of a group of Duvel lovers. Not many of these were made, and so the market price is currently already at a nice 50 euros. But no, this keeps showing off in my closet because it's a special one after all! Especially for me!
One thing more I would like to say. Something about the labels that decorate the bottle.
Duvel's label has changed again a few years ago. You can see this here.
The front is always the same label, but the back labels exist in 6 different versions. Personally, I think this one is very beautiful!
Last year, in 2021, the brewery celebrated its 150th anniversary, and a special label was also issued for this.
I keep track of the labels, but there are diehards who also collect the full bottles with all the different labels.
But that's what I think about it, the label ok, but the beer, that has to be drunk!
The regular label used to look different.
But that time, per 10,000 bottles, there was always a special label, with an angel and devil depicted on it. This was a coveted collector's item, and I've kept them all.
I've got about 80 aside, and I might make a special frame there someday.
I also have a few of the special edition "moonwalker", even scarcer of the labels with the angel and the devil.
But good, in the meantime my Duvel is almost empty, so time to close this posting as well. Maybe a second Duvel to enjoy the summer temperature for a while!?! :-) Cheers!
Have a nice weekend everyone!