๐ Beer of the Week
La Chouffe
Brasserie d'Achouffe · Belgium
Belgian Blonde
8.0% ABV
โฒ climbing
A gnome on the label and a whole lot going on in the glass, spicy, fruity, and dangerously smooth for its strength. In a real issue, this slot is whatever your fellow drinkers voted up the most this week.
๐ฏ Tuned to your palate
Your real Dispatch reads your check-ins and leads with beers your palate actually leans toward. This is a sample palate.
๐งช Style science
Belgian blondes get their pepper-and-clove lift from the yeast, not the hops. Belgian strains throw off spicy, fruity compounds when fermented warm, which is why a simple grain bill can taste this complex.
๐ A story worth pouring
The gnome in the Ardennes
Achouffe started in 1982 as two brothers-in-law brewing in a tiny Wallonian village. The fairy-tale gnome on every bottle came from local Ardennes folklore, and the brewery leaned all the way in, hosting a yearly gnome festival long before it was acquired and shipped worldwide.
๐ What the world poured