For fans of Brussels ‘second brewery’ – Brasserie De La Senne – we have become used to their beers being generously hopped, often quite bitter and usually in the lower range of ABV (at least for a Belgian brewery). This limited quantity beer is something of a surprise in terms of style, but a really interesting and tasty beer.
This beer is described as being a mixed fermentation ale. That means that the beer has been fermented using a combination of regular brewers yeast and some other less conventional yeasts and/or microbes (eg. wild Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus, Pediococcus, etc).
Morpheus yeast from Alvinne is a great example of this.
In this case, the beer is brewed with a normal yeast then placed into oak barrels for a year, where it is exposed to Brettanomyces and other goodies in the barrel.
The result is a slightly acidic, slightly funky and quite woods character to the beer. There is some fruit sweetness, and a bit of a tart note like dark cherries. A lot to explore in the flavour and even texture of this beer, it may be a little challenging for those that don’t enjoy ‘sour’ beers. But persist and you may be rewarded with a greater appreciation in the end.
The classic Flanders Red Ale - the Duchesse of Burgundy
Verhaeghe's Duchesse with 20kg of sour Limburg cherries added per 100 litres of beer
Verhaeghe's famous Duchesse De Bourgogne with the addition of sour cherries and chocolate essence
A delicious blend of two Petrus beers used to create this traditional Flanders Red ale
by Brouwerij Rodenbach (Palm Breweries)
The tribute beer to Alexander Rodenbach, reintroduced in 2016, 30 years after it was first created
by Brouwerij Rodenbach (Palm Breweries)
A Flemish Red Ale featuring 67% aged beer and 33% young beer
A typical Flanders Red Ale from this seventh-generation family brewery
The original flanders oud bruin from the old family brewery Verhaeghe, this is an unblended cask aged beer
The 2014 vintage of De La Senne's commemorative brew - a ripper Belgian Pale Ale
De La Senne's once-a-year birthday celebratory pale ale, this time using an experimental hop from Slovenia
A Black IPA from Brasserie De La Senne - lots of roasted malts and earthy hop flavours
A Belgian ale 100% fermented with a Brussels Brettanomyces yeast, conditioned for 4 months in the bottle before release
A dry-hopped Strong Golden Ale from De La Sense
This beer is known as the most bitter Tripel style beer in all of Belgium!
A collaborative Saison featuring rye, spelt and wheat malts, dry-hopped with a Ukranian hop called Zachrava
The first beer in the trilogy of collaborations to celebrate 20 years of Zinnebir
An attempt at recreating a traditional 19th-Century saison, heavily hopped and mixed with lambic then barrel aged
An historical style spelt saison, dry-hopped and refermented with Brettanomyces
The second beer in the 'Zinnebir' celebration/collaboration series
A Christmas beer that is lighter, drier and hoppier than a standard winter seasonal
A malty blond ale with a pleasant peppery bite from only the second brewery in Brussels
