Well I promised @detlev to write a post before Friday about my favorite beer! I am a man of my word, so here is the post!

Maybe first some background! I am a beer and white wine lover. The taste for wine and beer has evolved and is more or less the same. Just like I only drink white wine, I do love the blond beers the most. Which is strange because I really used to love Palm! Which is from the darker segment!

Karmeliet

Well at the moment and to be honest since a year or 3, Karmeliet is my favorite. I do even remember when and where I did drink my first Karmeliet! I have to admit that the taste immediatly was great but that was not the reason why I do remember it!
The real reason is that I did knock over my first Karmeliet ever! So it wasn't love at first sight I can say!

Karmelier is brewed by the Bosteels brewery, which is now owned by the largest beer company in the world ABinbev! The beer itself has 3 main ingredients: wheat, oats and barley and was first brewed in 1996. But does follow an old recipe from 1679 derived from the Karmeliet convent in Dendermonde!
The beer is bottled unfiltered.
The color is described as complex, somewhere between gold and blond! When you drink it, it starts with a mild sweet taste, which evolves into orange taste to end with a mild bitter taste! It is just perfect for me!
I do try out other tripel and stronger blond beers, but each time I do fall back to Karmeliet!

Where to drink?

In Belgium Karmeliet is offered in the bottle but some bars also have it fresh from the tap. The latest has the advantage that also smaller glasses are offered. Which could come in handy, because it has an alcohol percentage of 8.4%. So normally I do stop after drinking 2 of these!
I rarely drink beer at home, I do prefer to drink it in a bar or snooker hall!

Awards

Karmeliet has won 3 awards and is climing in popularity in Belgium. Where it used to be hard to find a bar with Karmeliet, every bar which has a contract with ABinbev does sell it, and they do sell them a lot!
After winning their first global beer award a shortage came around! There was just too much demand and not enough available. This was in 2009 and in 2012! Glad that they increased the production twice!

But back to the awards!

• 1998 -> Gold in Best Belgian Style Triple beer
• 2002 -> Silver in Best Belgian Style Triple beer
• 2008 -> Gold in Best Pale Ale Abey

If you ever have a chance to drink it, don't let this chance pass by!
If I am not mistaken a good #beersaturday post does have 3 pictures of the beer! So I couldn't leave this one out :)

Cheers,
Peter