After launching a pair of dead ringer Belgian brews in 2022, 7th Day Brewery are backing up Sinner and Saint with In Bruges Belgian Pale Ale, named after a great movie to watch if you want to laugh and feel depressed at the same time.
Pouring a rich caramel that is almost bordering on amber, the luscious head emits a classic-meets-modern aroma of toasted malts, noble hops and a hint of well-loved books with orange peels for bookmarks.
Immediately, it's a veritable journey, starting warm and malty – like walking into your childhood best friend’s living room – before continuing on to some tangy salted caramel sweetness. The end is a bitter hoppy citrus splash that leaves an echo of your odyssey like a slideshow of that Belgian beer tour you force your friends to sit through (you sat through theirs, after all).
At 5.2 percent ABV, the alcohol doesn’t render you useless like many of the beers that have made Belgium's beer culture famous; instead, the beer provides a light boozy kick in a rather sessionable manner. In Bruges would go down well with semi-hard cheeses, moules frites and English pork pies (if you don’t care about the whole matching the cuisine thing).
Benedict Kennedy-Cox
Published April 5, 2023 2023-04-05 00:00:00