Birracao
Brouwerij Huyghe

My second birracao session- a year since the first- was a fantastical ocasion to re-evoke this taste i once fell in love with but for geographical reasons and much like any other european girl i've met (flesh and bones, these ones), had to abandon.

This time we went along prepared. chilled to a perfect temperature. a side dish of gouda cheese.

Pour was probably the most neutral bit about it. simple, dark skinned like a milk chocolate with a 1cm head dissipating eventually but giving of an oh-so-good smell of chocolate mixed with hops. is it a cerveza de chocolate or a chocolate de cerveza? you could think this one through for hours.

The taste was, again, too good. one is unaware what dominates. the chocolate predominates the early stages making you feel you just drank a cold cup of hot cocoa but, muck like the nose-experience, the remainder overwhelms with a light-skinned beer feel, slightly malty at first (although it's hard to explore this since the buds are busy with the cacao) then rushes into the bitter scene. it's not too sweet, either- the chocolate can be very well controlled. see below.

Mouthfeel is rather nice. the density is not too short to make it seem too lager-like, but not too high to make it seem cocoa-like. it's perfectly balanced, like say a brown ale.

Drinkability is hard to assess. this beer could well be a dessert, on its own. it's quite strong and the sweetness can only last you as long as one, maximum two of these in a row or maybe in a week. whilst the cheese alowed to neutralise the mouthfeel between sips, one must be careful because one can go from love to hate on the second or third consecutive beer. it's a rare gem not to be abused of.