That’s right, one for me, and another one for me! Have you seen any of these beers in better beer stores that say “The Brewmaster’s Collection”? Would you believe it if I told you they were “unique expressions of the brewmaster’s art”? Well they are. It’s a series of beers put together by DE PROEF out of Ghent, Belgium. I just looked at this lineup, and I’ve had just about all of them – and not one has been a dud. I don’t think I quite realized until last week what a stunning collection of beers they are, honestly. That’s when I tried WITTE NOIRE, an “imperial amber wheat” that blew me away. Allow me to explain.DE PROEF really have earned the hallowed right to use highfalutin hyperbole like “unique expressions of the brewmaster’s art”. This plumtastic, pruney mouth-rager is outstanding, and well in keeping with the experimental Belgian tradition. It’s a dark amber beer, almost “chesnut” really, and it has this very grape-like, dark fruit (plums) intensity along with a tangy wheat flavor that you might find in a souped-up hefeweizen. They say that there’s even some smokiness going on, and sure, I can buy that as well. It got just as high marks from the two folks I split it with, and I recommend it highly for you to imbibe this evening. 9/10.
