7.5

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 8

One of a whole string of ‘bière brut’ variants under the Dame Jeanne umbrella, devised in ‘chic’ Brasschaat – only a brand of ‘champagne beers’ could have come from this municipality in the green outskirts of Antwerp, I guess. In this particular case, the champagne beer (do not call it that or you will get in trouble with the mighty French champagne lobby) has been flavoured with Elijah Craig bourbon, which they allegedly used as a ‘liqueur d’expédition’, the liquid used to compensate for the volume loss inherent to the standard production process of champagne. In the case of actual champagne, this liquid also consists of champagne, with various amounts of sugar; but Dame Jeanne does it differently and works with liquor to restore the volume, see also the calvados or cognac variants. Champagne bottle (of course) shared with Goedele. Egg-white, cobweb-lacing, thick and frothy, fluffy head, remaining quite stable over a near clear, deep and very ‘purely’ golden robe with disparate sparkling (but certainly not as much as in a glass of champagne). Aroma of dried peach, clear vanilla- and pepper-like bourbon, old apple cake, gin or even juniper berry, green pear, spice bread, cava, banana peel, dry straw, clove, apple peel, grass and – warming up – a background hint of ‘putteke’ (sewer water). Sweetish onset, cleanish with some light banana but none of those annoying bubblegum effects, hints of dried apple peel, persimmon and halfripe apricot; something thinly yet persistently sugary runs through it all, probably the sweetness added by the bourbon. Smooth, full body, active yet not too painfully stinging carbonation, white-bready and cereally pale malt core under typical champagne yeast flavours – all remaining quite clean thanks to the production method, following the ‘méthode champenoise’. Notably spicy accents appear in the finish, cove, turmeric but also bitter motherwort, phenolic but also seemingly linked to the bourbon, which also imparts an accent of vanilla and, unsurprisingly, warming booziness. Floral hops provide further background bitterness. The bourbon in the end becomes just a tad too strong for me: I prefer the non-liquor-containing versions of this brand, where the delicate features of the champagne yeast are not overwhelmed as is the case here. Interesting, but could have been executed more subtly, I think.