Once a month, the postman drops off a plain brown box of goodies at my doorstep. Inside, I will find two bombers of some hard to find beer; The Rare Beer Club beers have arrived.

This month, I received Geuze Mariage Parfait from Brouwerij Boon of Lembeek, Belgium and 12 Drummers Drumming from The Bruery of Placentia, California.

Each ale has a sheet describing the beer in detail. The Rare Beer Club’s lambic writeup for the Geuze Mariage Parfait is worth reading.

“There’s definitely something about lambic.

Actually, there are a whole bunch of things about lambic. Part of it’s the unknown; the fact that traditional lambic production involves spontaneous fermentation, with local wild yeasts and bacteria coaxed from the passing air. (it can seem a bit like sorcery.) Another part is the patience required: those yeasts and bacteria frequently take their good sweet time fermenting, with blended offerings like geuze incorporating barrels of lambic that can be three or more years in the making. Part of it is the blending: that learned art of tasting and combining older and newer barrels of lambic, or creating something tastier than the sum of its parts. And part of it is the long-awaited result: sour, funky, refreshingly complex beer that’s unlike any other.”

The specs are Style: Geuze (a blend of young and 3-year old lambics); ABV 8%; Serving Temp. 42-49 degrees F.

I love The Rare Beer Club’s description:

“This basically looks like a nectar. After the wisps of head fade, after the effervescence below subsides, this really does look like some sort of orange nectar: golden and bright and sunny. It’s almost like it’s gilded. The aromatics on this are just expansive: salty, citrusy, clenchingly tart, with just layers and layers of fruit-driven sourness, brine, and 100%-pleasant funk. This conjured memories of sharp bleu cheeses, tucked in there with honeyed cantaloupe notes, a pervasive sour-citrus core. The nooks in the aroma were endless. As this warms, the citrusy, lemon-like approach further opens up to offer more underlying toastiness and soft oak.”

The 12 Drummers Drumming is last of The Bruery’s “The Twelve Days of Christmas” series. This 12-year series crescendos with this Blend of Belgian-style Quad and Old Age aged in Bourbon Barrels, a 12% ABV beverage.

“The Bruery’s 12 Drummers Drumming pours a deep mahogany color with modest foam and reasonable lacing around the periphery of this glass. It looks dark, dense, intricately built. The rich aromatics of dark fruits land immediately, with quad-like elements of plums, raisins, and well-ripened figs. While generous from the get-go, give this beer a bit of time to warm from fridge temperature to get the full effect. There’s a lot of complexity to dig into: from the vibrant toffee and a hint of vanilla, to the deeply rich brown sugars and burn caramel of the old ale.”

The Rare Beer Club

So, my friends, I have a couple of special beers just waiting for a special occasion.

Cheers!

Warren