Since I started this blog, I actually haven't blogged about a specific beer I tasted. One of the reasons I'm a bit hesitant to do this, is because I don't consider myself as a beer-expert (yet). Allthough I drank quite a few different beers in my life, and even more in the last few months that I work in Bier Central, writing about beer tastings is an art of it's own.
As a waiter/bartender in a beer cafe with over 300 kinds of beer, I do live in a sort of luxury to have "easy" access to some of the best beers Belgium has to offer.
So where should I start? Let's start at the brewery ...
Bush de Nuits is brewed by brewery Dubuisson. Dubuisson brews the whole range of the "Bush" beers, and also Cuvee des Trolls. Bush beers are well known in Belgium for their high alcohol-percentage (ranging from 8,5 to 13%). Cuvee des Trolls is a lighter and unfiltered (and thus a naturally cloudy) blond beer with fruity aromas.
The Bush de Nuits is a relatively new creation of the Dubuisson brewery and was launched in 2008. Bush de Nuits starts out as a Bush de Noel and is then put in wooden vats that once contained the renowned Bourgogne de Nuits St Georges wine. In those vats the beer matures for 6 to 9 months.
After this "maturing" process, they bottle the beer in 75cl-bottles and place them in a hot room for a third refermentation which takes around 3 weeks. During the bottling process a small amount of sugar and yeast are added. These additions (necessary for the 3rd refermentation) give the beer, besides carbonation and conditioning, a natural cloudiness.
Now the tasting ...
When opening the bottle, the first thing that impressed me, was the carbonation ... if you don't hold on to the cork, it would pop out like a champagne-bottle cork.
Pouring the beer into a glass is in my opinion not as easy as with other bottles, due to it's shape. I prefer to pour beer into a glass without "splashing".
The beer itself has a amber/brownish color, with kind of a dirty foam-head. The smell already reveals some of the flavours in the beer and is pretty complex. I'm not good in describing all those smells and flavours, so I prefer to compare them to other beers I know.
And here I get into trouble, because, truly, I really don't know to which beer I should compare it to. Tasting the Bush de Nuits reminded me more to tasting a single malt whisky than tasting a beer. There are so much aromas, so much flavours in it!
Some aromas and flavours are however pretty strong ... you definately taste the wood and wine of the vats used to mature the beer. Mouthfeel has a lot of carbonation. The strong aftertaste lasts long, and I like that. And as mentioned before, 13% alcohol makes it a strong beer, so drink it with care!
A great beer, ideal for special occassions. If you ever have the chance to taste it, even with a higher price-tag than most beers, go for it. It's worth it!!!
Cheers!
Greetingz,
Koen.
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