Last night, we had dinner at Rustico, a new restaurant in Alexandria. It’s owned by friends of ours, by way of the crazy Cajuns. Personally, I loved it. I wished we didn’t have to get back to the midwives for a meeting, otherwise I would have stayed longer and enjoyed more of their extensive beer menu. (The beer and wine list had one page of wines and about 15 pages of beer. My kind of place) The first page of the beer list was all drafts, and it took me a while before picking this one out. A bit more expensive than the others, but something new that I’ve always wanted to try. We are so going back to this place.
On tap at Rustico, a fine new restaurant with a beer and wine list that features one page of wines, and about 15 pages of beers. Gotta love that. Anyway, on to the beer.
Poured into a Chimay glass. The restaurant was dark, so maybe the beer seemed darker than it is, but it was a deep red, close to brown color. The head dissipated somewhat, but left a nice lacing on the sides of the glass.
Wow, the taste. I remember reading about Duchesse, but when I ordered it, I wasn’t sure what to expect. What I got was a tarty cherry flavor smacking me on the tongue. I almost had my non-beer drinking wife try some, but then decided to keep it for myself. The tartness is well-balanced by a very sweet fruity flavor, and it only tastes like what most people would call “beer” in the remotest sense.
This is one of those beers you take to your wine snob friends if you want to turn them into beer snobs. Lots going on, and I could drink it for days.
Overall rating: 4.65 (a new record!)
Duchesse De Bourgogne
The D's 