It was between this IPA and another Maredsous...the only reason I picked the Chouffe to drink this evening was because the Chouffe has 9% alcohol content as opposed to the Maredsous 10% alcohol content. That, and I've had the Chouffe before and am rather fond of it. This is a pretty mild 'hoppy' IPA. It is a tad on the bitter side but not too much. Why am I fond of it, you ask? Oh, I will tell you why...
First of all there is this little gremlin on the front of the bottle. Said gremlin kind of looks like he is smoking a hookah, but then it looks like he is pulling or 'reaping' grain (although I do not see a sickle). And then, I just read the back of the label, which made me laugh out loud: "On its journey across the globe the little Chouffe wandered through beautiful hop-fields." OH, OK.. I am completely amused (and to answer my question, it's hops, rather than a hookah). The label continues, "The overwhelming aroma of these little hop flowers such as Tomahawk, Amarillo and Saaz mesmerized him." Really? Maybe it was the poppy flowers mixed in as well. Maybe it's because he is a little gremlin, and they don't exist. Maybe someone in their extremely inebriated state made this whole story up, and thought it was cute. Yet, I am reading the back of the label, touche, hoppy beer makers, touché.
The label further explains that this crafty little Chouffe created this beer with a "dizzying array of hops". My that little troll was busy. It really puts an innocent spin on drinking alcohol. Is this how it's marketed to children? Does their grandma entice the kids with a "drink this with your dinner, it's good for you, and look at the cute little gnome on the front"?
My grandma enticed me with drinking a shot of whiskey on Christmas Eve once. Well, I was 10 years old and it really wasn't that hard. This was my Great Grandma Giordano, who spoke broken English (she immigrated from Sicily when she was 18 years old), and somehow she was taking care of pouring the whiskey shots pre-Christmas feast. I walked into the kitchen and she put a shot in front of my face and said something to the effect of, "you want dis?" If you put alcohol in front of my face, you need not ask twice if I want it or not, even at 10 years old, I took the shot and knew what to do - I stealthily walked back into the living room (or so I thought), found a big wrapped present to hide behind and proceeded to take this situation with all the seriousness that the adults do. This is adult power I have in my hands and I am going to drink it. Somehow, I have no idea, my mom immediately discovered what I was doing, marched into the living room where I was hiding, and grabbed the shot glass right out of my hands. I was so disappointed in her, she was going against my Great Grandmother's wishes of getting me a little buzz before dinner, what was the harm in that? C'mon, it's Christmas!
So much for my attempt at underage drinking, but it didn't stop my from doing it many, many times until I turned 21. So put the cute little Chouffe's on the bottles, encourage the youth, drink up!
I just googled what a Chouffe is - it's a dwarf! Oh, a dwarf, that's right. It's not a gremlin, a gnome or a troll. It's a dwarf. A dwarf, according to all the pictures of it, that is hard at work, picking hoppy flowers, and making beer. Good dwarf, you harvest those flowers and ferment that beer for us, and we will let you hang out with Snow White and provide beer to our children. I take it that the dwarves would be named something like Drunky, Surly and Pretentious Douchebag?
To wrap this up, I'd say #1) visit the Chouffe website (look, it's a little dwarf running across the page) http://www.achouffe.be/en #2) drink this beer at some point, it's good, a combination of a Belgian Tripel (I knew that was how it was spelled..) and an IPA, and #3) keep in mind, your children will be drinking with you at some point; nothing says 'drink me' like Stinky Dwarf on the front of a bottle you won't let your kids touch.
You rule. Just sayin.
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