2 Beer Guys Blog

Welcome to the 2 Beer Guys Blog! Here, you will be able to read our stories and adventures as we travel through the world of craft beer.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Vlaemse Primitieve

A new take on an old theme

Vlaemse Primitieve [Flemish Primitives] refers to the ancient Flemish way of painting pictures: no perspective. The guys in the castle in the background are as big as the castle itself. It looks like your painting was made by a very talented 4 year-old. A typical image can be seen here

There is, and do rejoice friends of the beer, a beer by the same name.
Imagine a yellow-golden beer in an almost ball-shaped glass on a fine, tall foot. The sumptuous head, when the beer is poured to perfection, and De Bierkamer's Gert pours it like a sultry invitation to sin, dear friends, tops off the glass like a crown.

Smell the hops, come on, take a whiff of that oh so delicious fragrance and wonder: oh my, what is this delight going to taste like? What do you expect? The constituent parts of this wonderful beer are: water, hops, malt and yeast. Good, honest ingredients.

The taste is something you're going to have to get used to, but if you like hops in beer, crank up the smile to volume 12, m'boys and girls, because this puppy is hops all the way.

The first drink fills your mouth with such abundance of hops that you think "You can't be serious! There's nothing but hops in this taste" and then fear strikes "Oh no, what will the aftertaste be like!?'. Soon after that, your stern alarum will turn to merry measures [I stole that one from Shakespeare, I'm sorry]. The after taste... how does one put this... it's like your loved one rushing up to you and kissing you firmly on the lips. That moment, right there, that intensity is how this beer comes to you. And it stays there, until it lingers away. There is no bitterness in the after taste at all as the taste trails off.

And it does that every time you take a drink.

I am deeply in love with this beer and rather peeved at it at the same time. You see, this 75 centiliter miracle, weighing in at about 8.5 to 9%, a steaming kiss if ever there was one, is intended for the export market. Gert only managed to buy a batch through fortuitous circumstances. Usually, this beer is shipped to the US. And that is why I write about it here.

To tell you to go out and find yourself some, because you will absolutely love it.

There is the connotation of the acquired taste, maybe hops is not quite your thing. In which case there is still the chance that you may one day find this beer's true glory.

But if it already is your taste, you're in for a treat, you're absolutely going to love it, and I'm not going to say it twice.

Enjoy.

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