Unibroue La Terrible

out of 4

Where to buy: LCBO

Price: $10.95/750 mL bottle

Food pairings: Roast lamb, wild game, dark chocolate.

The verdict: Terrible name, spectacular beer.

If you’re spent any length of time on a Toronto pub patio in summertime, odds are you’ve probably tried, or at least seen, Blanche de Chambly.

The Belgian-style wheat beer is a delightful summer refresher, and is the best-know brew from Montreal area brewery Unibroue. You’re far less likely, however, to have sampled the other end of Unibroue’s range.

Thanks to a welcome addition to the LCBO’s winter seasonal release, that could be about to change. As part of the release, the LCBO has brought in the elegant and powerful Terrible, a strong, dark Belgian-style ale.

Brewmaster Jerry Vietz uses three different malts, two varieties of hops, some sugar and three kinds of spice in the brew. In keeping with the tight-lipped Belgian brewing tradition, he won’t say exactly which ones he uses. (Personally, I get a distinct clove finish, and I’d also wager on some bitter orange peel having been added). No matter, because whatever ingredients he’s thrown in, it’s working.

This is a beer that shows a stunning amount of elegance and grace for something weighing in at a rather hefty 10.5 per cent alcohol. The dark brown brew has a slightly fruity, spicy aroma. The fruit and spice character are there in the flavour as well, particularly as the beer warms up (at the potency and size of this bottle, it’s something you should take a while to get through anyway, this has the added benefit of revealing its layers of complexity.)

There’s also a slight sweetness to the brew, along with hints of molasses, and a noticeable but not outlandish boozy character. Because this beer is bottle conditioned — that is, an extra hit of live yeast is added when it’s bottled — it can evolve as it ages.

The 2002 vintage, the first time Terrible was made, is still going strong, says Vietz, although it occasionally suffers from the same cork taint that plagued wines around the world in the early part of that decade.

“When it is not corked, the beer is phenomenal,” said Vietz. Just as in great wines, aging a great beer can tame any rougher edges, for example toning down some of the spices, or lessening the boozy heat.

No matter when you drink this, it’s a beer that shouldn’t be trifled with, as Vietz’s father-in-law discovered one night three years ago. He and Vietz were having a heart-to-heart chat, and a few bottles of Terrible were opened up in the course of discussions.

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“At the end of the night, my father-in-law was ready for his rocking chair. Since then, he’s addicted to this beer,” said Vietz.

josh@thestar.ca