Piraat Ale - Brouwerij Van Steenberge, Ertvelde

I'm nearing the end of my Brouwerij Van Steenberge sampler pack I picked up about six months ago. These stubby little bottles have been consistently good, with a couple being phenomenal. Piraat is one of the beers that blew me away. It's been a tortured wait for this beer. Knowing that I had a bottle of this floating around the fridge at home meant I didn't want to order one while I was out and saw it on the menu. Well, now that I've killed the bottle at home I'll definitely be ordering this every chance I get.

My prior knowledge of Piraat was pretty slim, I thought it was a Tripel in the traditional Belgian style. It turns out that this beer is considered a Belgian Pale Ale, but after pouring this beer for myself and gazing longingly into the awesome orange bronze colored body, I think someone mistranslated something along the way... Upon further inspection (sniffing), I found loads of fermented fruit aromas that really piqued my interest. I'm getting orange, apple, banana and lemon ...not to mention the honey and pale malt underneath the fruit. I haven't had many Pale Ales, even Belgian pales, that have had anywhere near that much sweet flavor in it. I'm still thinking this is a Tripel...

The really remarkable part of the Piraat has got to be the flavor. The combination of all that tangy orange, sour apple and sweet honey with a complimentary (not overpowering) amount of pale malt was just... amazing. If I have one bad thing to say about the flavors in this beer it would have to be that the malt isn't as up front as I'd expect and the hops are nowhere to be found. Since I'm not the biggest fan of Pale Ales, be they Belgian or otherwise, I prefer the way Piraat handles the malt and hops... which is to say, they are drowned out by a fermented fruit cocktail. It's really quite a lot more delicious than it sounds.

I'd suggest that every beer drinker try this beer at least once. For people who don't like beer, this is a good example of what is possible beyond just pale malt and hoppy hops. For fans of Tripels, Pales and other Belgian styles they'll be able to appreciate the complex combination of flavors in this beer.

Oh, and one other thing... this beer is called Piraat, the Dutch word for Pirate. OK, great, you've got a scallywag on the label, but what is that behind him? It's a Viking longboat... what?