The Bar Towel

We hope to deliver the following new Belgian beers to Smokeless by the end of the week:

Barbar (dark, honey beer)
Barbar Winter Bok
Floreffe Blonde
Floreffe Tripel
Saison 1600

The Barbar will also be available for consumer purchases although our supply is limited, as always. I should have pricing in a few days and I'll post as soon as it's available.

Here's what Todd Alstrom, one of the 2 brothers who host http://www.beeradvocate.com, had to say about Barbar:

Presentation: 12oz brown bottle, with a ghostly/artsy looking barbarian label. There's yeast settled in the bottle as well.

Appearance: Cloudy (from the yeast), golden, with a big, rich, frothy, white creamy head. A white whisp of a lace and "stick to the glass" is left behind as it goes down.

Smell: A dreamy floral/citrus, spiced, coriander, sweet and crisp aroma.

Taste: Wow! This is one of those knock you off your ass flavours ... first sip is herbal-like in flavour, aided by the aroma. Then comes a large dose of rich honey sweetness with some malted sweetness notes in support. There's a bit of wheat crispness that follows and breaks up the very sweet profile quite nicely. Coriander spice and pronounced sweet orange flavours merge with a soft, semi-tea-like/herbal hop flavour (somewhat zesty from the orange). There's also a slight burnt honey flavour that flows along the palate through the entire tasting process. Finishes rather clean, given all of goings on in your mouth. Make no mistake, this is also an alcoholic beer.

Notes: I had this back in 5/00 in Belgian, and it was outstanding then. To have it now is even more so as I have the time to properly enjoy this brew. Too treasure it and bring back a memory. It's perhaps one of the most interesting, complex and enjoyable brews that I have ever had. Absolutely lovely. Brewed with water, natural honey, bitter orange, coriander, wheat, malted barley, Hallertau and Styrian hops.

It's also a tribute to the robust ales of the Barbarians. Adding a measure of honey and wheat to their barley gave it a new flavour and sparkle ... this type of drink became known as "the Warrior's Reward." appearance: 4.5
smell: 4
taste: 4.5
mouthfeel: 4.5
drinkability: 4.5

I wonder how the original Barbar compares to the Quebec Barbar...Brasseurs RJ have been producing a version of this beer for about a year now in 660 mL bottles(the brown honey). I remember way back the original used to be available in the SAQs. Does RJ also distribute this one along with its other products? (come to think of it, i havent seen much in terms of RJ products in Ottawa, apart from Rescousse).

I didn't know that RJ was brewing this beer although their website makes no mention of it but does mention LaChouffe.

Saison 1900 you mean?

No, the Barbar-Quebec version...They got it at Johanette and other good dépanneurs...

For the Chouffe, the RJ version is named L'Achouffe (Brune and blonde)...the blonde compares pretty well although the RJ version lacks the nice blend the Belgian Chouffe has.

Cheers

Luc

We've been held up for a bit in the LCBO lab so these beers didn't get to Joe's this week....hopefully next week?

We have just received the shipment Friday evening, and the beers are on our New Arrivals Board. Thanks Espirit, I know our customers will love it. We can't get enough of the Belgians.