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A Beer As Fine As Any Wine: Chimay Red Cap
Date of Review: Jan 14, 2009
The Bottom Line: One of the best beers you can buy.
I don't drink wine, but I have friends that do. Not that I have anything against wine, mind you, I just prefer beer, and I don't have time (or a big enough liver) to drink both. Quite frequently, though, I get lectured as to the many reasons why wine is superior to beer. Wine is more complex than beer, I am told. To that I answer Chimay ale. Wine improves with age, I am told. To that I answer Chimay ale. Wine is better with food than beer, and better as an ingredient in a dish than beer. To that, I answer Chimay ale.
Chimay is made in a monastery in Belgium. It is one of only six true Trappist breweries in the world along with Rochefort, Orval, Westvleteren, Achel, and Westmalle (all in Belgium). Chimay produces three beers: the red, which I am sipping tonight, a white label "Cinq Cents" (five hundred), and the blue labeled Grand Reserve. Bottle sizes range from 330cl to 1.5 liters. The monastery is also famous for its cheeses. At 7% alcohol by volume, the red is the lowest of the three Chimay ales in alcohol content.
Chimay ales are bottle conditioned and will improve with age. The brewery claims the Grande Reserve will age nicely for up to 25 years. I like the Cinq Cents with about 5 years on it, and I usually drink the Red after two or three years. One special Christmas when I was working at a liquor store, the owner waylaid me with a gift of a full case (12 bottles) of Chimay Ale, all three varieties. The 750 ML bottles come complete with corks stamped with the bottling date on them, of course, and I could therefore tell they were from varying vintages (or, maltages as some beer geeks prefer to say).
I took notes on one bottle from May of 1991. I had personally aged it since I received it, and took the following notes on it when I drank it in 2000:
Chimay Red pours to a rich burgundy color and a vigorous, fizzy head formation. The beer simply exudes carbonation. The nose is full of the traditional Belgian "horse blanket" yeastiness. I could just sit here and sniff this wonderful brew all day. But I'm thirsty so I take a sip, and when I do, I get more of that wonderful yeast character up front, slightly musty, dominating the rich palate, then becoming increasingly sour in the finish and warming slightly with it's 7% by volume alcohol content. The sourness is not normal for this beer, but it is not unpleasant, rather it recalls a sour Belgian red ale the likes of Rodenbach.
I'm enjoying this ale tonight with fresh haddock filets simmered in some of the Chimay ale, butter, lime juice, fresh chopped garlic, and salt and pepper. It is absolutely delicious, and the Chimay is a fine accompaniment to it.
Tonight, of course, it's 2009, and I'm sipping one of the 330ML bottles, and a rather young one (relatively) at that.
Chimay Red Ale pours to a beautifully soft burgundy color with a very thick and creamy head formation and a soft fruity-yeasty nose. I've poured mine into a bowl-shaped Chimay ale glass, the wide mouth of which allows for better appreciation of the fine aroma as you sip the beer. Time for a sip, and what a treat it is: creamy and very nutty at the foundation, with hints of banana, vanilla, cotton candy, and funky musty Belgian yeast flavors coming to the fore. The finish is balanced with a gentle bitterness but really hoppy, and punctuated by a bit of toffee.
Wonderful with a hunk of coarse, spicy Russian Borodinsky Bread and a bit of nutty, creamy Chimay cheese.
