Our brew day went well yesterday. We now have 5 gallons of “Chimay-ish” happily fermenting.
Andy persuaded me to make it much stronger than I had anticipated. I’d been aiming for about 7% (OG 1.062), but Andy egged me on to go up to 9% (OG 1.074) on the grounds that we are bottling it (so it can be drunk over a longer period) and that strength is very in-style for Chimay. Ooer.
Then we sat and discussed a name… always tricky. Given that this is based on a monastic ale, we looked for a suitable local name with a similar theme, and came up with Norton Priory.
But we struggled to find a satisfactory name for the Belgian Dubbel. Any suggestions from my extensive readership gratefully received! Incidentally, we tasted the Dubbel last night too. Very, very pleased with it. Deep, complex, smooth, warming and with a distinct figgy note. That’s going to be great around Christmas.
Norton Priory. Photo: Wikipedia.
Well, you asked for it...
ReplyDeleteSince Dubbel originated in the Trappist Abbey of Westmalle in 1856 (coincidentally exactly 100 years before I was born) I thought I'd try and find a Trappist connection with Cheshire as a basis for a possible name. Dear old Google joined the dots and came up - not with a Trappist abbey - but with a Cistercian one: Vale Royal. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vale_Royal_Abbey).
Any good?
I tried an alternative of blending rich malty spicy red figgy Christmas but began to see why you'd been struggling! How about "Santa's Beard"?
Or something almost totally unconnected to anything but which sounds evocative of the season, like "Winter Solstice"?
Thanks John.
ReplyDeleteI spotted Vale Royal Abbey when I was looking up the Norton Priory name. It's a good idea, and avoids nasty puns and the like.
I also like Winter Solstice. That's a great name, but doesn't have any Cheshire links. Maybe trying to find Cheshire links is just restricting us too much. Sooner or later we'll run out of Cheshire ideas all together. Especially the peaks, because there aren't many!
Going to need to see what Andy thinks when we bottle it tomorrow.