I picked up a 6 pack sampler of various Belgian ales last week, and am just now getting around to trying at the very least one of them out. I cracked open the box and just picked one out randomly. First up is Piraat Ale.
The bottle is reminiscent to that of a Red Stripe, but a bit smaller. Basically it has about 11 ounces, so a bit less than your typical bottle neck. The surprising thing that I noticed immediately was its 10.5% alcoholic content. Being that the bottle is dark, I was thinking that it was going to be something of an IPA or something along those lines.
And I was right. This particular beer is considered an Amber Triple IPA, which certainly explains its large alcoholic content footprint. Apparently it's extremely hard to find, so it makes sense that it came in a sampler. I think I made the right choice not to eat it on an empty stomach, as my roommate decided to grill up some steaks an hour ago. Needless to say, the combination of a Triple IPA and a good steak made my night better than what the day would have made it be.
As for the taste, I'd say this beer is a heavy, full-bodied beer. Definitely malty with quite a bit of a fruit in the overall taste. Spicy as well. I did a bit of reading on this particular beer and some say it has butter and honey flavours as well. After taking a few more sips, I can taste it. It's almost as if each taste conjures up a new ingredient possibility.
If the rest of the beers in this sampler are anything like this one, I'm certainly excited. A little bit of information about Piraat:
A triple by strength, an IPA (Indian Pale Ale) by history. Triple means that the brewer used three times the normal amount of barley malt, thus starting with more starches, getting more sugars after cooking, and more alcohol after a long fermentation. The Piraat is re-fermented in the bottle, and in the keg! The original style of the Piraat is similar to the IPA style. It is a beer that was created many centuries ago to go on ships. Indeed, sailors drank beer on board. Nobody drank water on land, why would anybody then take water on a boat? Even the Pilgrim fathers landed in Plymouth Rock because they were out of beer, and had to land to find fresh water to brew more beer. So says their logbook. When people started to sail out for longer voyages, the captains needed a beer with high food value that could be kept fresh for a long time. The Flemish sailors, called merchants by their friends and pirates by their enemies, had a very strong and potent beer like the Piraat on board. Piraat is a wickedly rich and rounded brew that packs a mighty punch. Taste it, and understand why captains like this beer so much. Nothing holds sailors (or Pirates) back after a pint of this brew.
Ultimately, if it's good enough for a pirate, it's good enough for me. BTW, suck it ninja lovers.
just one second, seeing if everything was inputted correctly.
