Switzerland

I took a sharp right turn from France to Switzerland when Jérôme Rebetez of Brasserie des Franches-Montagnes asked me to help pick the blend of barrel aged beer that will become the next Abbaye de Saint Bon-Chien.

We had to taste 28 different barrels of beer and take detailed notes on each one. It’s the first time I’ve spit out beer- but considering the volume, we had to. Unlike wine, when evaluating beer one generally swallows because some bitterness is only detected in the back of the throat.

Next Jérôme considered the final balance and character he was looking for. He wrote up the recipe and I took the portions from the barrels to make a sample batch which we then tweaked to arrive at the final amazing result. Try it for yourself in the US soon!