Youngho Kang

9.2

$6 정도의 벨기에 맥주!! 알콜도수 10% 맛있다!! 과일향도 적절하고 목넘김도 부드럽고~~^^ 좋다~~*^^*
— 7 years ago

Drew Summers

Sales Northampton Wines

9.2

2014 Louis Jadot Sample Bottle — 8 years ago

Martin Chan

9.0

This is a smooth liquid bread! This abbaye beer included toast, caramel and pears on nose. Honey, pears and malts with a medium sweet malts finishing. Well balanced structure. A very smooth bubbles that created by double fermentation process. They start to make beer since year 1074! — 9 years ago

Hideo Owan

8.9

Comfortably spicy. Perfect fit with today's mood. — 9 years ago

Ryan Brazell

Rise Over Run

9.2

Tastes like devils on horseback. — 9 years ago

Kirsty Buchanan

9.5

Fresh yet very refined — 9 years ago

David Smith

9.5

Very strong, buttery and rich — 10 years ago

Aiko Kudo

9.0

重いしっかりしたワイン。タバコの香り。ピーマンや、スパイシーな味。 — 10 years ago

Stephen Becker

9.6

Those monks know what they're doing. Sweet and herbaceous and full of flavour. — 10 years ago

Joe Carroll

Owner/Wine Director Spuyten Duyvil, Fette Sau, St. Anselm & Gotham Artisanal Provisions

9.5

Jean Van Roy's amazing story of Zwanze 2013. When we started renovation works in the cellars of the brewery two years ago, much to our surprise we came upon the remains of some very old walls. In agreement with the medievalists of the city of Brussels, the works were stopped in order to allow archaeological excavations to take place.

Shortly thereafter we were astonished to find out that Cantillon brewery had in fact been built on the ruins of the very ancient Abbey of Cureghem! According to the medievalists, this religious community was well-known during the middle ages for its fowl fed on draff and, more specifically, for its dish of stuffed Cureghem capon, which was served with a beer brewed at the abbey and apparently drew pilgrims from all over Europe.

Yet it was truly a heavenly surprise when the excavations uncovered the cell of the abbot, Father Faro. In the small room the archaeologists found quite a few old reference books, one of which contained the original recipes for the beers brewed at the abbey several hundred years ago. We didn’t hesitate for a second and decided on the spot to recreate one of these mythical beers.

This beer, which will be our Zwanze for 2013, therefore bears the name of its illustrious place of origin, Abbaye de Cureghem (Cureghem Abbey). Cureghem was formerly a village established many centuries ago on the banks of the Senne, the river running through present-day Brussels. The area was very heavily industrialised during the 19th century and, among other things, became home to many breweries. Today, it is part of the municipality of Anderlecht.

Since beers commonly referred to as “abbey beers” are not, or not any longer, products of spontaneous fermentation, we decided to brew a top fermentation beer, from a technical point of view in any case. The yeasts were selected in collaboration with Institut Meurice, a post-secondary college in Brussels specialising in biotechnology. Brewed in March 2012, our “Cureghem” beer fermented four weeks in stainless steel tanks before being blended with 10% lambic and pumped into 400-litre barrels of various origins. After maturing for six months, the beers were blended and put into casks or bottles to undergo re-fermentation and reach 7.2% ABV (Alcohol by Volume).

Inevitably, a top fermentation beer brewed in a spontaneous fermentation environment will be affected by the wild yeasts in the air, and this is certainly what happened in our case. For our Cureghem, the cultured yeasts were clearly the main factor behind primary fermentation and I think that the wild yeasts in the beer will instead play an increasingly important role as the product ages. However, despite the addition of the lambic to give it a little “extra something” in terms of character and ageing characteristics, this Zwanze cannot in any case be considered a spontaneous fermentation beer.

The long fermentation period coupled with the presence of wild yeasts lends this beer a solid character with a dry finish that lingers on the palate, while the combined use of fresh and aged hops yields both freshness and bitterness. Moreover, the different malts used give this year’s Zwanze a coppery colour along with a touch of caramel and candied fruit that provide body. Clearly, this is not your standard “abbey” beer but, perhaps, it is representative of what these beers were one or two hundred years ago — 11 years ago

Nate Miles

9.0

Always need some Muscadet around the dwelling. — 7 years ago

Jonas Hartz

9.5

Wine safari — 8 years ago

Martin Chan

9.0

A structured Belgium brune abbaye beer! Caramel, malts, coffee with a hits of chocolate cup cake on nose. Caramel and malts on palate with a medium sweet malts and hops finishing. Very smooth bubbles with a well balanced structure. — 8 years ago

Peter Adams

9.1

After 2 years of age this really was amazing — 9 years ago

Joseph Gannon

9.1

Weird and wonderful. Notes of apple, honey, pineapple. Medium bodied and unctuous. Sold as reminiscent of Condrieu, which is pretty accurate. Great value — 9 years ago

with Brooke

Chris Missick

9.7

Sommelier Bates, you'll love this my friend! — 9 years ago

Will Stanley

9.0

Beautiful. Refined, dignified and in denial about its age. — 10 years ago

Peter Wasserman

Importer Le Serbet/Becky Wasserman Selections

9.6

Right next to the Abbaye de St Vivant (DRC white Hautes Cotes) super terroir! — 10 years ago

João M. Neto

9.5

Excelente vinho. Serviço de bordo da KLM. — 11 years ago

Jordan Katz

8.9

At bistro d'oc. Full, great French wine. — 11 years ago

Jeroen Koenen

9.3

Mesmerizing nose, crazy complexity, salty caramel, gunpowder, grilled peach, sweet tobacco, matchstick, marzipan and - as my daughter added pretty aptly - a whiff of 'honingdrop' (traditional Dutch honey/licorice-flavoured candy).
On the palate, these nuances are slightly less articulate and clear, which keeps me from throwing in an 'extraordinary' score. Highly recommanded, though! — 8 years ago

Cathy Corison

Owner/Winemaker Corison Winery

9.1

Chenin Blanc! — 8 years ago

with William

Lindsey Cohen

9.4

Rose's Luxury — 9 years ago

Philippe Dauguet

9.0

Tout en finesse, l'on dirait un Puligny... Belle longueur — 9 years ago

Gerich Fellermann

Sales Grassroots Wine Wholesalers

9.2

A+ fondue wine! Goes very well with Raclette, Comte, Etivaz, Beeler Seeboden & Abbaye de Tamie .....also functions well with Champagne chaser... — 9 years ago

Maxence Guilluy

8.9

Beer like, honey wax, apple, rond — 10 years ago

Miss Vicky Wine (Anne-Victoire Monrozier)

Sales Miss Vicky Wine

9.5

2012 - citronné, floral, mur, très parfumé, anis. En bouche minéral et rond, plutôt délicieux. Fresh & intense. #millesimeLanguedoc — 10 years ago

Marcus Ericsson

9.0

Caramel, licorice, chewy, fragrant, minty , abbey style. — 10 years ago

Kris Woyzbun

9.7

Pretty and floral rosé! — 11 years ago

Nohito

8.9

騎士。力強さ。気品。 — 11 years ago