The Post Where I Spend Time with Another Woman

Beer # 65 Duchess du Bourgogne / Brouwerij Verhaeghe, Vichte, Belgium

Very productive beer weekend, and I'm still putting together all of my notes from the wonderful and not quite wonderful beers I tried along the way.  Another beer from our Saturday dinner effort was the oh so delightful Duchess.

No, not that one.  The Duchess is a Flemish sour from Brouwerij Verhaeghe.

Still not right.  Sour, maybe.  But Flemish probably not.  Can we try this again?

Camera phone + dark bar  = awful pictures.

That's the one, thanks.  Boom.

This beer pours a rich dark color in the glass, and yes, thank you, I did get a wine glass to knock this one back.  I first tried a sip or two of this beer when Marci reviewed it a few weeks back (she wouldn't share a full glass), and I've been looking forward to drinking my own ever since.  This beer pours a dark color, but the aroma is light and fruity, with the tart and sour taste of cherries throughout the glass with some funk and mild vinegar tastes.  It's a blend of beer aged up to eighteen months in oak casks, and it's delicious.

Okay so this beer isn't named for Fergie, or, for that matter, Fergie.  However, it is named for Duchess Mary of Burgundy, who ruled Burgundy (sort of France, sort of Belgium) in the 1500's but died at a young age in a horse riding accident.  While falconing.  I kid you not, falconing, which is a totally bad ass hobby.  Her father's name was Charles the Bold, which is a pretty bad ass nickname.  He also got married when he was seven years old, which is totally not bad ass at all.

This beer definitely didn't disappoint, and I'm going ahead and putting it in my Top 25.  The Duchess probably received some bonus points from me being on a sour kick lately, but make no mistake - this is a beer fit for a queen.

Thing to Think About Today:
If we're talking about beer fit for a queen, then there's only one thing we can do.  Sorry, Ferg, the Black Eyed Peas didn't make the cut, because we're going to think about Queen today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY0WxgSXdEE

I guarantee you if Duchess Mary of Burgundy was around today, she'd completely rock out to this song while out falconing by horseback.  Bad ass.