Belgian Beer : Deus Brut des Flandres

Country: Belgium
Brewery: Brouwerij Bosteels
Beer: Deus
ABV: 11.5%
Flavour: 6

My parents came to visit me and took 2 bottles from Belgium. I am lucky to be a Belgian living in Brazil because a bottle of Deus costs between 200 and 300 R$ here in Brazil. Last week we opened up a bottle to celebrate one year of marriage. I have to say that I was expecting more of it, but it was not bad. Brazil also has a 2 types of "Champagne Beer" but until now it did not find them in any shop, it´s called "Eisenbahn Lust and Eisenbahn Lust Prestige" from the Eisenbahn brewery in Blumenau (South of Brazil).

The beer is fermented, somewhat conditioned, and shipped off to the Champagne region of France, where it's placed in caves for twelve months of pampered maturation. Additional fermentable sugars and yeast are added, and the beer is bottled and placed neck-down in special racks. It's periodically turned and the angle of steepness is slowly increased, causing the yeast to detach from the sides of the bottle and migrate toward the neck. This is the traditional process of “remuge” that's used to produce the region's finest champagnes. The bottles are then rotated to vertical and the necks are frozen, which forces the yeast out of the neck using only the ambient pressure in the bottle, in a process known as “degorgement.” The final process, “dosage,” adds beer back to compensate for the loss due to degorgement, and the bottles are corked, bailed, and dressed for gala events.

A fluted champagne glass is ideal for serving. The beer pours with an intense foam that rocks up and easily overflows the glass. Miniscule champagne-like bubbles emanate from the bottom and sides of the glass as the beer emits a rousing aroma of refined malt, yeast and a hint of undisclosed spices.