Raleigh Times Belgian Tasting Night

On January 27, 2010, the Raleigh Times Bar teamed up with Brian Ewing of 12 Percent Imports for a night of Belgian beer tasting and the North Carolina release of the Grand Cafe Emelisse Imperial Stout.

It was a three course meal, served family style, with each course paired with two unique Belgian beers. Belgian beer has become very popular in the US, and yet 12 Percent Imports has managed to distinguish themselves from the more standard Belgian offerings by focusing on very small breweries. Many of the beers they import are brewed by people who have other day jobs and make beer on the weekends and holidays. The breweries were discovered by Brian Ewing on his many excursions to Belgium. Many of these beers are the essence of "micro" brew in Belgium.

During Brian's presentations, you could tell just how much passion he has for these beers. They were easily some of the most detailed and informative beer introductions and descriptions I've been exposed to. You can see the menu at the top of this post. The Times did a phenomenal job on the food, some of the best offerings I've had at their bar easily. The pate or the seafood boil were the highlights of the night. As far as beer goes, all six of these were new experiences for me. If I had to choose a favorite of the night, it was probably the Brouwerij't Gaverhopke Extra. While the menu classifies it as a quadruple, it is not exactly true to that style. It is really just the breweries "house" strong ale. Wild yeast is even used to brew it. The beer was one of the most unique I've ever tasted, with massive malt, some dark fruit flavors including raisin, and to top it off a little tartness from the yeast. I also really enjoyed the De Dochter Van De Korenaar Emrasee, a 9% dark strong ale. The menu references it as fully malted, which simply means that all of the fermentables come from malt - as opposed to additions of things like candi sugar that are common in a lot of Belgian beers. This beer was served at room temperature, and was a plethora of malt flavors.

The grand finale of the night was the NC release of the Grand Cafe Emelisse Imperial Stout. With releases previously only in New York and Philadelphia, we were certainly among the first in the nation to try this beer. It was very dark, with notes of dark chocolate, a touch of coffee, and wonderful thickness and mouthfeel.

Overall it was a great night, and a good price for all that we got as well. It sounded like The Times was going to start offering more nights like this, as this was deemed "Part 1 of a series". I will certainly be on the lookout for the next one!