St. Idesbald Rousse Amber 330ml

Description from Jason, The International Beer Collector, who kindly supplies Australia with St. Idesbald. Cheers Jason!

The St Idesbald label is a much lesser-known part of Brouwerij Huyghe’s stable, most well-known for the iconic Delirium beers.  But there are several beers brewed under the St Idesbald label, which really shouldn’t be that surprising.  The brewery has over 200 unique beers accredited to it over the years.

In 1992 Brouwerij Huyghe took over the St Idesbald brewery, and in doing so inherited the range of St Idesbald beers which they have kept in production.

This is their red amber ale, which pours a delightful toffee colour with notes of sweet malt mixed with floral spices and Belgian yeast character.

I’ve been enjoying tasting the several Belgian ambers we’ve recently had in the packs.  They are a nice mix of sweet, grainy malt with enough hop bitterness to really balance out that malt profile and leave things quite dry and ready for the next sip.

And that’s exactly what this beer does.  I think the balance is the biggest feature, as while the malt body does stand out at the start, the beer is so easy to drink that you hardly notice the ABV at all.  Just a very enjoyable beer without any fanfare.