My love for Beer did not start with the Milwaukee’s Best that I drank when I was younger, but it did start to develop as I drank more domestic  micro-brews (which was a favorite pastime of the mountain town I lived in).  Then, one brisk fall day in the mountains of Flagstaff, Arizona someone handed me a beer.  It was from Belgium, and it was like nothing else I had ever tasted.  Full of flavor, complexity and history. These smaller production imports soon became an obsession for me and I thought it fitting to kick off our beer club with beer from the country that made me fall in love with the stuff.  Belgium.  

 

This month we celebrate Slaghmuylder Brewery’s Witkap Pater Beers.  Slaghmuylder is a unique family company that builds on 150 years of rich tradition. Founded in 1860 by Emmanuel Slaghmuylder who, until then, was a grain trader. The last part of the name Slayhmulder refers to the name of a miller (muylder). Around the turn of the century Emmanuel’s son Ernest took over the company.  His three sons; Emile, Edmond and Edouard started to build a new brewery in 1925.  From 1979 on, the three nephews started brewing Witkap Pater.
 
In order to have an optimal enjoyment and taste, Witkap-Pater is best served at low cellar temperature. While pouring the beer, do not shake the bottle.  By filling the glass up to the top in one smooth move, the grounds will stay at the bottom of the bottle and you can enjoy a clear beer. My recommendations for drinking them if you are trying them side by side would be the single, the triple and then the double. 
 

 

Witkap·Pater Stimulo (Alc. 6% vol.) is a refreshing gold-colored beer of high fermentation and with fermentation in the bottle – thus a living beer with evolving taste. 

Tasting Notes:  coriander, orange, rose petal, lemon curd, white pepper and yeast
 

 

 

  

Witkap·Pater Dubbele Pater (Alc. 7% vol.) is a dark-brown monks-beer with cream-colored foam collar, a mouthful taste with touches of caramel. Remarkable beer that suites Belgium chocolate desserts.
 
Tasting Notes: caramel, maple tree, toasted walnuts and chestnut
 

 

Witkap Abbey Triple Ale

Witkap·Pater Tripel (Alc. 7,5% vol.) is a clear gold-yellow beer, with a complex taste, a fruity nose and a beautiful long aftertaste.
 
Tasting Notes: Similar to a wheat beer, dry grass, ginger, more subtle baking spices then the other two the ‘New York Times’ ranked this beer 8th place of the best beers of the world