Moinette, still my favorite little nun
Posted By Braumeister on October 29, 2009
while rummaging around in my cellar (don’t ask) this week, I came upon a long forgotten, dusty 750 mL bottle of Moinette. This was one of my early experiences with Belgian specialty beers, but I haven’t had one in a very long time. So, I chilled it down for a couple of days, and opened it this evening. In fact, I’m enjoying it as I write this, so any typographical errors are to be attributed to the beer, not the author.
Moinette is officially classified by the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) as a Belgian specialty ale. They call that a “catch-all category” for Belgian beers not fitting in any other subcategory, but I tend to differ. In my view, Moinette falls very nicely in the Bière de Garde category, despite being brewed some distance away from the traditional BdG territory.
Moinette (the name essentially means “little nun”) is a very pale golden ale with a big fluffy head. It’s a product of Brasserie DuPont, an artisanal brewer in the Hainaut region of Belgium. Since it’s brewed on the DuPont farm, I think it’s obviously correct to call it a “farmhouse ale” which is another name for Bière de Garde.
This bright golden ale, with a pure white head that lasts and lasts, offers a fruity and hoppy aroma that has overtones of almost a perfumey character, derived from the DuPont yeast. It’s definitely a big beer (8.5%ABV), but you don’t notice the alcohol at all. That’s one of the low-down, underhanded, sneaky tricks that many Belgian brewers have learned, much to the regret of naive American visitors.
Moinette’s flavor comes through with a really delightful hop character, but it’s right alongside a creamy, malty texture and a spicy yeast note that gives it the complexity that a beer geek like me finds so utterly compelling.
There is a low to medium level of bitterness, and a good, medium body. Finally, in the finish as it goes down the pipe, you can feel a bit of the warming that goes with such a strong ale. It’s not quite a tripel, not quite a strong golden ale, not quite a traditional Bière de Garde, not quite a standard farmhouse ale, but most definitely a beer you want to have in your cellar. I once (many years ago) described it as “the winter warmer equivalent of Saison DuPont” and I still might go along with that tag.
Well, I’m down to the last few ounces of this bottle, which I shall savor after posting this. You can probably find Moinette in most really good beer stores, and I highly recommend that you search it out. In this size, with it’s cork and bail, you may find that it’s a perfect accompaniment to many meals, and just the right amount to share with a very good friend. Try it with smoked salmon, and you’ll find yourself wishing for a second bottle.
It was with great sadness that I learned this week of the most untimely death of Greg Noonan. Greg was born in 1951, when there was really no such thing as craft brewing in the United States. Greg changed that, forever.