Chimay blue.

mark_68 · Post by **mark_68** » Wednesday Feb 21, 2007 8:58 pm

I am left wondering if this stuff is worth $7.99 a bottle after tasting it ,it wasn't foul,but had a definite medicinal taste to it.I was very surprised at how light bodied this stuff was considering it had 9% ABV;It tasted like any normal light ale with no hop character and i couldn't even taste the alcohol.It had a strange medicinal taste in the background though.I will taste test the other two i can see at the bottlo and suss out the flavour of these as well,but so far i can't taste anything special about these beers.

lethaldog · Post by **lethaldog** » Wednesday Feb 21, 2007 9:01 pm

Maybe it just doesnt suit your taste, i fell in love with it the first time i tried it and thought it was fantastic

Danzar · Post by **Danzar** » Wednesday Feb 21, 2007 9:24 pm

Agreed lethal. It's the single most well-balanced beer I've had.

derfly · Post by **derfly** » Thursday Feb 22, 2007 12:40 pm

Althought his isn't really one of my favouites, I found it interesting enough that I brewed a clone of it. bottled 15 litres of the stuff last night and I'm hopng that it'll be ready for those long dark evenings in July, August.

If I don't like it, I'll do my damndest to get over it!

DarkFaerytale · Post by **DarkFaerytale** » Thursday Feb 22, 2007 2:09 pm

when i first tryed it, wasn't much of a fan, doesn't taste like beer i thought

anyway now that my pallet has changed heaps after actually finding out what beer is and making it it's right up there as one of my favourites, wish i could drink it more often

whats your recipe if you don't mind my asking derfly? hopefully i'll get one down to celler for next year

-Phill

derfly · Post by **derfly** » Thursday Feb 22, 2007 7:59 pm

Dark,

I used something very close to Lethal's recipe posted over in the Recipes section (see below). This is also pretty close to the recipe in the Brewcraft "Blue Book".

I only used 2kg of LDME simply because I got too carried away with the business and forgot to open the third bag. Also used 50g of grain as I read somewhere that this recipe was a little light in colour compared to the original. Oh, also made a starter from the Chimay yeast.

Cheers!

ldme 2.3kg
black grain (crushed) 30g
soft dark brown sugar 400g
blended honey 250g
bittering hops hallertau 40g
bittering hops goldings 20g
if you can get hold of a bottle of chimay blue label then make a starter out of it but if not just use a good ale yeast eg. safale or wyeast abbey ale
final volume 15litres

boil all ingredients for 40 min then strain and adjust to 15 litres with cold water, wait to pitch yeast until it reaches 25*c.

lethaldog · Post by **lethaldog** » Thursday Feb 22, 2007 9:07 pm

It is a little lighter but the taste is as close to identical as you will get

DarkFaerytale · Post by **DarkFaerytale** » Friday Feb 23, 2007 7:56 am

wow, no trouble getting the yeast out of the bottle? thought it might be to high in alc content, will deffinatly give it a go, even if i do have to drink a bottle of chimay to get to the yeast, it's hard being a brewer

-Phill

derfly · Post by **derfly** » Friday Feb 23, 2007 9:18 am

Dark,

Yes, you can reculture the yeast but it takes a while. Start small and as soon as you see activity, step it up with a bit more LDME and water. Do this a couple of times over the space of a few days

I pitched a good big starter and my primary ferment still took close to three days before it went off, so if it seems to be taking all a bit too long to get going, don't worry too much.

Have fun...

lethaldog · Post by **lethaldog** » Friday Feb 23, 2007 5:28 pm

I recultured from 1 stubbie and didnt step up from the first, not alot of activity in the starter but the brew took off quick smart

Tipsy · Post by **Tipsy** » Friday Feb 23, 2007 8:19 pm

derfly wrote:Althought his isn't really one of my favouites, I found it interesting enough

Its interesting all right, don't quite know what I think of it.
Thought it had too much of an alcohol bite. It took me all night to drink 330mls and while i don't know if I liked it all that much it did seem one of those things that you could learn to appreciate

Boonie · Post by **Boonie** » Friday Feb 23, 2007 8:58 pm

Loved it....mind you this was on a "Beer appreciation night" with nothing but Belgiums

Belgian?

derfly · Post by **derfly** » Friday Feb 23, 2007 10:05 pm

Yeah, it's got some sort of slight cough-oil taste to it which is somehow appealing in an odd way. Can't really explain any better than that

blandy · Post by **blandy** » Saturday Feb 24, 2007 7:10 am

Tipsy wrote:it did seem one of those things that you could learn to appreciate

I think Chimay would be pretty expensive to "learn to appreciate"

Iron-Haggis · Post by **Iron-Haggis** » Sunday Feb 25, 2007 12:39 am

Chimay Blue is brilliant. Well worth the $8 for a 330ml bottle. I have a 750ml 2005 Chimay Blue sitting in my beer cupboard. Also brilliant with some good quality aged cheedar cheese.

Tipsy · Post by **Tipsy** » Sunday Feb 25, 2007 11:24 am

blandy wrote:
Tipsy wrote:it did seem one of those things that you could learn to appreciate
I think Chimay would be pretty expensive to "learn to appreciate"

Moneys no object when it comes to beer. (Just don't tell the missus I said that)

MOFO · Post by **MOFO** » Sunday Mar 04, 2007 8:31 pm

I just had Chimay Blue today as a personal celebration. Whilst it was clearly a lovely, complex beer that I really did enjoy - It doesn't knock off the Rochefort Trappiste 10 which I still think is #1 of the belgiums. It could be that I dont have a proper bowl-like glass for it, which is does deserve - but I just found it to not have the depth of the Rochefort.

Even though the Rochefort is higher in alcohol, it doesnt come across as much as the Chimay - at times it was akin to drinking a bundy and coke for me.. I just found it a bit strong.

I must say though, I could get used to buying my belgiums in the 750ml bottles. At $15 it is reasonable, and you get to pop a cork, which makes it seem that cut above

I would pick Duvel or Triple Karmeliet over it next time I buy a beer in that range though.

derfly · Post by **derfly** » Sunday Mar 04, 2007 8:41 pm

If you have the misfortune to be dragged along to IKEA by the missus,they have 750ml brandy balloons for $4 each which work rmarkably well for the belgian ales

dragonphoenix73 · Saturday Apr 21, 2007 3:09 pm

My local has the Chimay blue for $8.95

However, I have to honestly say it is the best beer I have ever drank. Other than my own of course....

And I found it was a bit of a creeper.... all of a sudden I was standing in the kitchen cooking, and my partner asked me something and I had to ask her to repeat it, my head just kinda went zooingptang-b'uh-kweeeow...

Nice beer..... mmmmm.....

Think about it - if you were living in a monastery, wouldn't you spend all your time brewing homebrew?!

Scarfy · Post by **Scarfy** » Monday Apr 30, 2007 4:54 pm

after having it recommended by you lot a grabbed a bottle yesterday. while i dont have a remotely refined taste in beer, i still enjoyed it emensely. well worth revisting is that brew of those good trappists.