De Halve Maan Brewery
Brugse Zot
6%
Bruges, Belgium

Following my discovery of  “real ale” aged 22 and when I say real ale I’m talking Abbots Ale, Greene King, Old Speckled Hen etc I then moved on to Belgium beers. Everybody knows how fantastic the Belgians are at producing beer and I went through the likes of Duvel, Leffe, Erdinger, Delirium Tremens and so on. I recently tried Brugse Zot by Bruges brewery De Halve Maan.

The brewery has been around since the mid 1800s and according to their website is, “the only family brewery in the centre of Bruges still active.” Brugse Zot is apparently a Belgian pale ale, which is very, very bitter. When you say pale ale, I expect a sweet and hoppy taste however the Zot is the opposite of that.

It tastes more like a “traditional” lager beer, but of course a million times better. Recently I’ve been finding myself really enjoying higher ABV beers because modern London craft breweries have the fantastic knack of producing beers that despite being a high percentage taste like they are a 4%. The Zot does not fit into this category, you can really tell it’s 6% and after a bottle or two I struggled with each sip. Not a good sign. The Brugse Zot is a fantastic colour and the branding is fantastic. I’d go as far as saying one of my favourite beer bottles, it is definitely staying on my beer shelf.

Perhaps my tastes are changing? I’m so used to intense hops that I struggle with any bitter tasting beer.

SWEET: 2
BITTER: 4
DESIGN: 4
OVERALL: 2