Chimay, if you may.

Later in 2012 our friend’s husband will move to Bruges for 6 months of sub-specialization at the local hospital. Yup, the guy’s going to live in the proximity of ‘t Brugs Beertje; ain’t that a good excuse to drop by with a bottle of Belgium’s finest in hand? That, and the fact that I wanted to play with Rinat, Yael’s Blythe doll.

Chimay Blue has always been a favourite of mine. Full, rich and balanced and quite a blast for the unseasoned, or experimenting, beer drinker. We drank Chimay for the first time in San Diego, when visiting The Secret Agent’s brother and his family. It was in 2007 and my brother-and-sister-in-law just started getting into ales. One day, when we took a break from drinking rum and cocktails – brother-in-law’s specialization – we brought a few bottles of Belgians and one of which, I recall, was Chimay Blue. We were overjoyed to find Chimay in Israel, in bottles as well as on tap in a couple of bars and drank it aplenty, until quantity overcame quality and I started drinking by the book (read the first entry, My Year of Beer, for explanation).

So it’s been a while since the last time The Secret Agent and I drank a bottle of Chimay Blue, a while in which we sampled hundreds of other beers, expanded our horizons and extended our palette.  We were curious to drink it again and didn’t know what to expect from ourselves: will we find it too heavy? will it not be as exciting as it used to be?

I am happy to say that not only were we not disappointed, Chimay Blue still kicks ass: full body, fruity and nutty, pours beautifully and much-loved by us and by our drinking partners, for whom it was an introduction to Belgian beer. I am afraid that with such a beginning it’s only going to go downhill for them.

Anyway, Rinat digs Chimay as well:

This is the first step towards sampling everything from the book 1001 Beers You Must Try Before You Die.

(Chimay Bleue, p.654. 1/1001)