It is time for Zurich Beer Tour's Top 3 beers for July 2021. Simona's pick is an IPA with a special ingredient, coming from our beautiful neighboring country: #Austria. Sandro had a hard time to find his July favorite as he traveled to what he calls "Beer Heaven" (It's Brussels), but he managed to pick his favorite #Lambic in the end. This month's staff pick is actually 2 sour beers from Switzerland which we just had to combine for this post. Let's do this!
Simona's pick: Bierol (AT) - Spruce Willis IPA
The Beer:
Spruce Willis is an #IPA without any hops. Wait, what? You read that right, Spruce Willis is per definition not an IPA but more of a spiced beer. The idea was to mimic the aromas of certain #American hops that taste a lot like pine/spruce needles. So what could taste similar to that? Yes, actual spruce needles and shoots, that is what the guys from #Bierol used in this beer to balance out the sweetness of the malt. It almost feels like drinking a tasty tree, what an amazing and unusual aroma profile.
The Brewery:
Bierol is a Brewery from the #Tirol region in Austria. Read more about them in our Interview with founder Christoph Bichler here.
Our food pairing recommendation:
Goat cheese crostini with spruce tip honey
Sandro's pick: 3 Fonteinen (BEL) - Speling Van Het Lot X.ix: Druif: Gewürztraminer
The Beer:
This beer is a so called "druivenlambiek", a #lambiek beer that was macerated on grapes. Years ago Armand Debelder, also known as the father of 3 Fonteinen, brought some natural #wine from one of the most stubborn #winemakers from Pfaffenheim, Alsace for the 3F team and they loved it. The 3F crew ended up picking their own Gewürztraminer from this exact #vineyard for this beer. They came back with 247 kg of grapes which they combined with 250 l of lambiek and put all of this an an ex-Bordeaux barrel. The final beer has lots of character and a #vinous aroma with some spicy notes in the back. The 10.5% ABV are well hidden, a fantastic beer.
The Brewery:
The history of this brewery starts way before the official founding of 3 Fonteinen, in 1883 when Jacobus Vanderlinden and his wife Joanna Brillen opened an inn with a beer blending business on site in the town of Beersel. Gaston Debelder, Armands father, and his wife Raymonde bought the building years later in 1953 and named it "3 Fonteinen" which is Dutch for three fountains. The name referred to the 3 hand-pumps of beers that were used to serve three types of beer: #Lambic, #Faro and #Kriek. Nowadays you can visit the lambik-O-droom in the town of Lot to have some beers together with some delicious food.
Our food pairing recommendation:
Belgian Paté with sourdough bread
Zurich Beer Tour's pick: À tue-tête (CH) - Salsa Verde 2020 vs. Habanero 2020
The Beer(s):
We compared these to beers because they were both brewed using different types of #chilli peppers. The "Salsa Verde" is a sour golden ale that was brewed with #jalapeños (also with tomatillos, lime and cilantro) and the "Habanero" is a red sour ale with, well, #habaneros. Both beers are so full of aromas, and you can really taste what the label says. This may sound weird for you because why shouldn't it taste like the ingredients that were used in the beer? The truth is, it is extremely hard to extract this amount of #flavor into a beer, but the guys from ATT are masters in what they are doing. We couldn't find out which beer we liked more. For us the Habanero was way spicier, which we loved, but the Salsa Verde had this interesting combination of ingredients and layers of tasty aromas.
The Brewery:
À tue-tête is located in Aigle, Switzerland and was founded by Julien Bretheau in 2017. They are not a brewery they are actually a #blendery, which means to buy unfermented wort at WhiteFrontier, add #yeast and #bacteria to ferment it and later blend different beers together to get the perfect result. Not brewing their own wort has the advantage that they could get rid of the big #brewhouse to make space for more #barrels and more barrels means more fantastic #sour beers to blend. (For more info about how sour beer is produced check this blog article.)
Our food pairing recommendation:
Shrimp tacos with spicy aioli
These are our three beers for July. Which ones were your favorite brews this month? Tell us in the comments!
Are you looking for more personalized recommendations, that are made to fit your taste? Check our Pocket Beer Sommelier.
Stay tuned for our August recommendations!
Cheers,
Your Zurich Beer Tour Guides