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Beer Advent Calendar – Day 31: Avec les Bons Voeux presented by Heather Vandenengel

@heathervandy @Honest_Pint

Avec Les Bons Voeus Label

Beer Advent Calendar – Day 31: Avec les Bons Voeux presented by Heather Vandenengel

To celebrate the Holiday Season, 2Beerguys.com and Seacoastbeveragelab.com have teamed up with beer bloggers around the country to host the second annual beer bloggers advent calendar. This is the season of sharing and we intend to share our love of beer with you. 31 Bloggers Blogging – click here for the running list of beers/bloggers.

Let’s see who is spreading holiday cheer today!
Heather Vandenengel

Blogger: Heather Vandenengel
Blog Name:Honest Pint
Twitter: @heathervandy @Honest_Pint
Facebook: facebook.com/honestpint
Untappd: heathervandy
Beer: Avec Les Bons Voeux de la Brasserie Dupont
Brewery: Brasserie Dupont
Beer Details:

  • Style: Saison/Farmhouse Ale
  • ABV: 9.5%

Commercial Description:
The Bons Vœux is a blond top fermentation beer with refermentation in the bottle.

Since 1970, the brewery has been brewing a special beer to give as a new years present to their best clients. (“Avec les Bons Vœux de la brasserie Dupont » means « With the best wishes of the brewery Dupont » ).

Because of the increasing success, they started to commercialise this “cadeau” but kept the name. Although the demands were considerable, only a small quantity was brewed, so they had to make a reservation list, even months before new year.

This Bons Vœux is coppery blond, has very fine hop aromas and tastes bitter, fruity and mild. Our selection of yeasts, in combination with a long riping process, on a “dry hopping” base, create a typical and complex aroma and taste.

A real refermentation in the bottle, which will continue for a long time in your cellar, results in a harmonious and well-balanced beer, full of unexpected and complex aromas.

Why I selected Avec les bons Vœux:

New Year’s Eve is all about the bubbles. I was prepared for the night with a bottle of Enlightenment Brut, a biere de champagne brewed in Lowell by a new nanobrewery, Enlightenment Ales. I made a grave error, however, in keeping the bottle in my work fridge as it disappeared one day with no trace left behind. (Which I can confirm because I went through all the bottles in the recycling bin. (Not that I am at all bitter.))

Avec Les Bons Voeux Bottle and Glass

Fast forward to a few days before New Year’s Eve when I was at a champagne tasting at Julio’s Liquors in Westboro. We tasted six different bottles, capped off with a 1999 bottle of Dom Perignon. After the tasting we wandered over to the bountiful beer section in search of an equally inspiring New Year’s Eve beer. I was weighing options when Chris, a Julio’s employee, suggested Avec les Bons Vœux.

Long story short: When your first choice of a New Year’s Eve beer goes missing, this makes a damn fine runner up. Originally brewed by Brasserie Dupont as a New Year’s present for their best clients it gained a significant following until they brewed it for the masses. Saison Dupont is one of my all time favorite beers and one of the best examples of the Saison/farmhouse ale style, and Avec les bon Vœux is right up there too.

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About the Honest Pint:
Honest Pint is the beer column for DigBoston, Boston’s altweekly newspaper.It covers all things New England beer, from new breweries to old beer bars. http://digboston.com/tag/honest-pint/

Brasserie Dupont Logo

About Brewery Dupont:
The brewery Dupont is co-writer of a real part of the Belgian beer history.  Situated in Tourpes (Leuze-en-Hainaut), in the centre of West-Hainaut, and incorporated in an old farm, originally dating from 1759, the brewing has been going on since 1844.

The original beer was a “Saison Beer”, meaning that this beer was brewed in the winter, to be drunk in the following summer by the workers (season workers) on the fields.

Ever since 1950, the brewery Dupont has been specialised in the production of top fermentation beers with refermentation in the bottle. http://www.brasserie-dupont.com/

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