Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Hot Damn of the Week: Spring Rite is here

Spring is sprung
De grass is riz
I wonder where
De boidies is?

Yes folks, after what has been an interminable, wet, cold and over-all miserable first half of the year, it's finally Spring. Birds are singing, worms are wriggling, even the bloody cabbage is blossoming.

Who knew cabbage could be pretty? Certainly not me. It's like sending some wizened babushka with a face like a dried apple off to the spa and having her come back looking like Irina Sheik.

Anyway, spring is a time of growth and harmony and all that other claptrap, so it's time for a new beer from Driftwood! Another Belgian-style ale made with local ingredients from Saanich Peninsula maltster Mike Doehnel, Spring Rite follows in the footsteps of the guy with the giant rake from Cuvee D' Hiver.

This is a lovely dry beer. Granted, the number of things I don't know about Belgian beers could be collected into a large and weighty tome of a size suitable for tortoise-smashing, but I'd have to say it was most similar in style to Orval. I guess you'd call it Orval-tine: hoppy, but not floral; bitter, but not biting; smooth and balanced. Fingers crossed it shows up on cask at Tres Fantastico to pair with a little al fresco charcuterie.

Driftwood's Spring Rite Local Malt Abbey Ale
Recommended if:
-you're happy to finally see that big shiny yellow thing in the sky
-it's a day for outside beer
-you appreciate a well-crafted beer made from local ingredients

Not Recommended if
-you're a groundhog and you've just seen Bill Murray's shadow
-you don't like rakes
-you're looking for a big tripel/dubbel

2 comments:

  1. i love reading your blog.


    but i hate reading your blog because the back text on orange background is infuriating to read.

    ReplyDelete
  2. That beer is going in my cellar soon !

    ReplyDelete