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For those of you who don’t want to stray from the Champagne concept on New Year’s Eve, there’s a school of beer imports, loosely referred to as Bière de Champagne, that smartly straddle both worlds.
Usually a Belgian or Belgian-style Strong Ale, Bière de Champagne undergoes the same kind of bottle conditioning, maturation, riddling (the process of aging the beers at a 45° angle and rotating those bottles over a course of several months to collect what sediment might occur) as Champagne.
Many Champagne beers receive additional yeast (sometimes actual Champagne yeast) or sugar for what is essentially a third fermentation. This process adds an additional fizziness to the beers. And some of these beers are even shipped to the Champagne region of France for this special treatment.
American Champagne beers also tend to be Belgium styles that lean on additional fermentation processes as well to add to the beer’s sparkling character.
And here are three Champagne beers that you might want to have on hand this New Year’s Eve…
DeuS by Brouwerij Bosteels is one of the most highly regarded of the Champagne beer imports but you’ll have to scour the internet to find it in the US.
Described by the brewery as a “wonderful symbiosis of beer and sparkling wine”, DeuS is brewed at Bosteels, Belgium and then transferred to the Champagne region of France where it is matured like a champagne with the bottles inverted and the yeast expunged and bottle recorked.
Spicy and peppery with an uber-dry finish DeuS is a light and bright showcase earthy and funky Belgian yeast qualities. And at 11.5% ABV it also delivers Champagne-like buzz.
Malheur Brut Reserve is another terrific example of a Bière de Champagne. More Pale Ale than Saison, Malheur Brut Reserve is an 11% ABV masterpiece that’s an almost perfect marriage of wine and beer.
Described by the great beer expert, Michael Jackson, (no, not that one), as having a “remarkably flowery aroma, with a beautiful restrained bouquet of peach, rose, apricot and lemon rind plus a very dry finish.”
On the craft beer side of things, Mikkeller Nelson Sauvignon Brut is a Champagne beer with a distinctly hoppier aspect that is crafted using New Zealand’s Nelson Sauvin hops, renowned for their fruity white wine-like flavor.
Fermented with both Champagne yeast and wild bacteria, then aged in Austrian white wine casks, Nelson Sauvignon Brut is a tart and dry 9% ABV sparkling wine/beer hybrid with hoppy notes of gooseberries, tangerines and grapefruit.
