Beer Spotlight!

Brouwerij Huyghe Delirium Black Barrel-Aged

$16.99 for the 750ml bottle
Bourbon Barrel-Aged Blended Belgian Strong Dark Ale

Those are a bevy of “B” words that you usually don’t behold beside each other, but, boy, you can bet that we believe in them!

Brouwerij Huyghe is in Melle, in Belgian Flanders, just outside of Ghent, almost equidistantly southwest and northwest from Antwerp and Brussels, respectively. A family-run brewery, they trace their brewing origins back to great-great-grandfather Léon, who moved to Melle in 1902. However, it wasn’t until the late 80s, that Brouwerij Huyghe produced the type of beer they’re known for today.

In 1985, Huyghe went through a radical refocusing, and one of the changes they made was the decision to abandon the Pilsners they had been making in favor of “high fermentation” beers. Two years later in ‘87, the Delirium line was born with the introduction of the, now legendary, Delirium Tremens, complete with its distinctive pink elephant label, faux ceramic bottle, and everything.

The Delirium Black Barrel-Aged is the most recent addition to the Delirium line, a blend of Delirium Nocturnum and Delirium Nöel (a.k.a. Delirium Christmas) that Huyghe ages for nine months in Buffalo Trace Bourbon Barrels. (What? A bourbon barrel-aged Belgian ale?)

This brew may just be the first bourbon barrel-aged Belgian beer we’ve ever tasted … worth the wait. First off, it’s like a chocolate covered cherry on the nose. Despite its name, it pours amber into the glass, so don’t expect that Huyghe is giving us a stout here. That’s not a complaint, though.

The Delirium Black Barrel-Aged has the complexity of a Whitman’s Sampler with all those different flavors. You’ve got your coconut notes, your cherry, tons of caramel, and, of course, chocolate. The bourbon notes are there too but are a lot more subtle than you’d expect, becoming just one more character in the ensemble rather than being the star attraction. It’s an interesting presentation of balance on a number of levels — tasty enough that you’ll want to toss it down but rich and layered enough that you’ll want to sip it. We’ll jump a couple of letters past “B” and deem this Delirium “deeply delicious.”

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