Pauwel Kwak — Brouwery Bosteels

“…..And you’ll just need you to leave a shoe at the bar”.  So you might hear at a bar in Belgium, after being handed a glass of Pauwel Kwak.  This is because the beer is traditionally served in a specialty glass, similar in shape to a half-yard, that comes in a little wooden stand (the bottom of the glass is a sphere, so it won’t stand on it’s own).  The glasses are so distinctive, they’re known to walk off.  So Belgian publicans are known to ask you to leave a shoe as a deposit.  The story of the original glasses comes from carriage-drivers, who would stop to change horses, and pop into the local tap room, and have their glass filled.  Their coach would have a special holder for the glass within arm’s reach of the reigns.  Obviously, the distinctive glass became popular, and were adopted as the standard glassware.  But is there more to this beer than a hip looking glass?

Pauwel Kwak — Brouwery Bosteels

Pauwel Kwak — Brouwery Bosteels

From a 330ml bottle, Kwak pours a slightly opaque copper brown.  About 2″ of white stiff head drops to a fuzzy film that lingers through the glass.  There are nice tropical fruits in the aroma and a big dose of sugar cane.  There’s a slightly medicinal note to the spiciness of the yeast, and a touch of earthy hop.  Taste is lovely and sweet, with more big tropical fruits, and nice spicy yeast.  Sugar is definitely clearly cane sugar, sweet and a little floral/green.  The medium to heavy body is still manageable, as it is lifted by a nice bright carbonation, and a snappy dry finish.  There’s also a good bit of heat from the alcohol, which makes sense as it’s clocks in at 8.4% abv.  A wonderful beer, and perfect as the weather is cooling down.

Buy This Beer

Available at the LCBO, #287466 and great beer bars around Toronto (Castro’s has it year-round, complete with the wooden stand and glass).

Drink It With

Well, at risk of falling into a Belgian cliche, this would be excellent with mussels.  Nice and sweet, like the little bivalves, but with some fruits and spices, and a nice sharp alcohol to help keep things interesting.  A perfect pairing, I would suggest.  For cheese, I’ve been eating a lot of Gouda recently, and I think the pairing would work well.  Especially a lightly spiced one, where the snappy beer would cut through the rich cheese, and the spices would play well with each other.

About The Brewery

Bosteels Brewery was founded in 1791, in Buggenhout, Belgium.  Still family-owned seven generations later, in addition to DeuS, they also make Kwak and Tripel Karmeliet. http://www.bestbelgianspecialbeers.be/main_eng.html

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