Day 602: St. Stefanus

This is the St. Stefanus Grand Cru, which is brewed by Brouwerij Van Steenberge. It's actually the American version of their Augustijn brew. I knew why they didn't sell  Augustijn in the United States, but then we all got hammered on the Van Steenberge brewery tour and some of the details are fuzzy. The tour experience there is one for the record books and I need some time to get all my hazy memories together for an appropriately ridiculous post.

Per the St. Stefanus site, it is only sold in select American cities but distribution is expanding. I'm pretty pleased that it's available at my local Whole Foods. This one, however, was procured at Van Steenberge and drank at the Melia hotel in Luxembourg City. How's that for international? Sidenote: I highly recommend the Melia hotel chain. Beautiful rooms, felt very luxurious and the restaurant was outstanding!

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It poured a hazy, dark blond color ale with a fluffy white head. It smells peppery with an underlying sweet malt aroma. The flavor is caramel and fruity. It has a nice round mouthfeel up front but finishes with a great dryness. It very much reminds me of a bold white wine. I also found it important to add to my notes that it opened with a very solid cork pop.

Beer stats
Style: Grand cru
ABV: 9%
IBUs: Unknown
Rating: Very good

Previously reviewed from Van Steenberge
Mr. Blog Named Brew's review of De Garre
A quick review of Monk's Flemish Sour
A better review of Klokke Roeland. Unfortunately this review was early in the life of the blog and I wasn't as good about taking photos. To make up for that, I give you a photo of a keg of Klokke Roeland at Brouwerij Van Steenberge, which I pretended was headed to my neighborhood Belgian beer bar Teresa's Next Door