Leffe Brune

The second of the "Big Three" of Belgian brewing, Leffe Brune ('the authentic Belgian abbey beer') has been brewed since 1240. The rear lable states "the roasted barley malts give this Leffe Brune its sweet caramel yet bitter taste." However, judging by the wine glass supplied to drink it from, I suspected this was going to be another Chimay-style disaster.

The beer is very dark and at 6.5% abv, would be classified as a malt liquor if brewed in Canada. I poured it into the glass and drank. This beer is not for lightweights. The brew hit my tongue with an almost sickly sweetness that many dark beers possess, but followed up with an overwhelmingly bitter finish. This beer is actually not at all unlike the black malt homebrew my father and I used to make. I am certain that Goldings hops were used along with a little crystal malt in the initial boil. The taste profile is almost exactly as I remember our homebrew to be like, except that this was a lot less strong. I strongly suspect the heavy malt of this one will likely result in an early morning "Leffe moment" after a frantic run to the bathroom. It is not as bad as some other Belgian beers I have tried, but it definately is not the best. Perhaps Stella Artois will impress where others have failed.

Pink Champale

"Live a little on very little!" was the tagline when this malt liquor hit the streets in 1960. Heavily marketed toward African-Americans as a poor man's champagne, Champale is responsible for the widespead appeal of malt liquor today. However, unlike traditional beer, Champale is brewed with yeast strains more commonly found in winemaking and allegedly creates a beverage that can be described as "sparkling and elegant." Champale comes in four varieties: Golden, Pink, Dry and Red Berry.

Pink Champale pours like a champagne, quickly fizzing up like soda but leaving no discernable head in the glass. It has an inoffensive fruity aroma and goes down smooth without the burn of traditional street liquor. However, being almost identical in colour to the hideous nightmare that is Strawberry Cisco, I suspect it contains the same cancer-causing dyes as it's psychotic brethren. It should also be noted that the sweet flavour of this stuff is a fairly good indication that a night getting drunk it would lead to one mother of a hangover the next morning. Not being strong enough for the hardcore street crowd, I imagine you would likely find empty bottles of this stuff littering your local teenage drinking spot.