Unibroue

This week features the return of Hockey and to honor the start of the 2010-11 season, I felt the need to "Drink Canadian".

I went straight for Quebec's Maudite brewed by Unibroue. I have to admit, I was influenced by the art of the bottle when making my decision. The four-pack carrier features a flying canoe and a pretty intense drawling of Satan with his arms crossed - inspired by an old Canadian myth about fur traders far from home making a deal with the devil to visit their wives back home via devil-powered aircraft.

The first I had heard of the "bewitched canoe" or "La Chasse Galerie" as it's known in French-Canadia, was during the 2010 Winter Olympic Ceremony in Vancouver (Hard to believe that trippy and strangely frightening event was only 8 months ago).

When my brain connected the beer label on the shelf to the flying devil I witnessed during those ceremonies back in February, I had the strong urge to discover how this old myth translated into beer.

Maudite is a bottle fermented Belgian style strong ale. 8% ABV of dark Belgian joy. The flavor and nose were somewhat hard for me to distinguish - spices, cloves, very complex - but the Belgian sugar sweetness and yeast flavors were obvious. I had my glass of it with pork lion that we had slow cooked in apple cider and apples and it was a fantastic match, perfect for a cool fall night.

I highly recommend visiting Unibroue's website for some entertaining and educational videos on their world famous brews: http://www.unibroue.com/en/home/

(It's fun to watch them in French too...)