Over American Thanksgiving we served an interesting beer that I thought I'd comment on. I happened to have a bottle of this "La Fin du Monde", which is a Belgian tripel from the Quebec brewery Unibroue. The name translates as "end of the world", which refers not to any sort of apocalyptic event (unfortunately), but rather to the erstwhile European view of North America as being the literal end of the world; a name thus referring to Europe, and tying into this unique beer style, which utilizes a form of yeast commonly used by the trappist monks in brewing their beers during the middle ages.

This beer comes in a 22oz bottle, with a cage and cork, like champagne. The suprisingly-soft "poof" of the cork -- I was expecting more of a champagne "pop" -- provided some prescience to the rich foamy head of this beer, rather more head than I generally like, and indeed rather more head than beer for a couple of my less-careful pouring attempts as I poured it into 4 glasses to share. I'm not a huge fan of over-foamy head, but when poured gently, it wasn't too bad, and even the hyper-foamed glasses settled down nicely after a bit.

The cloudy golden appearance was reminiscent of a wheat beer, although with a slightly darker golden hue. The aroma was definitely yeasty, not unpleasantly so, but also with delightful notes of citrus and spice. Surprisingly, despite the foamy head it didn't have an over-carbonated mouth feel, just smooth and peppy. It tasted lavishly of malt and yeast and warmth, citrusy and spicy, as well as hints of stone fruit and just a touch of esters. Really nicely balanced, rounded taste. The mostly yeasty aftertaste dissipated quickly, leaving the wee bit of alcohol burn one might expect from a 9% ABV beer.

Really, this was a very nice beer indeed! A perfect opener for Thanksgiving with enough alcohol to break the ice and get the tongues wagging, but refreshing enough to leave one open to further tasty experiences...

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