I promise not every blog I do will involve Belgian beer, but I just saw this when I walked into my brewery this morning and it got me excited.  It’s the Cannibal in a very active fermentation.  It got me thinking about how I’ll soon have a bottle of the Cannibal signed by the Cannibal himself.

For those of you who don’t know, this beer has a story behind it.  I’m a bike nut and I’ve always wanted to name a beer after the Cannibal, partly because I think it’s a cool name for a beer and partly because he’s one of my heroes.  The Cannibal by the way is Eddy Merckx, a Belgian who raced in the 60s and 70s and whom many consider the greatest cyclist in history.  He’s kind of the the Pele or Babe Ruth of cycling.  He was called the Cannibal because he was said to devour his opponents.  Basically if you were in a race and Eddy Merckx showed up you were now racing for second place.

So we made this strong Belgian beer in tribute to a strong Belgian rider.  We also brewed it in celebration of the Tour De France and the bike club Iron Hill founded.  This beer always goes on tap on the first day of the Tour and stays on tap through the Champs de L’elysee.  We also save a keg that we break out every year at our thank you party for the organizers of the Iron Hill Twilight Criterium.  So this beer is pretty steeped in cycling culture.

Anyhow I’m excited to say that by now Merckx has probably enjoyed a couple of his namesake beers!  A couple of years ago I made a friend in Denver who runs a cycling clothing company.  After several discussions about beer and bikes and how well they go together I came to learn that Brian works with Eddy Merckx.  A couple of weeks after having seen him at the Great American Beer Fest he e-mailed me to let me know that he’d told Eddy about the beer and that he thought it was cool.  Brian asked if he could bring some bottles to him next time he went to Belgium.  Of course! I was excited enough to know that Eddy would be drinking the Cannibal but was even more thrilled when Brian asked if I had anything I wanted autographed.  So I sent a couple of Cannibal labels along with him to get signed!

Anyhow the latest batch of the Cannibal is bubbling away right now.  What we don’t bottle in early April will be going on tap in the restaurant.  I hope to see you at the bar so we can toast a legend!

Oh and the beer itself?  It’s golden and light bodied, but complex and 7.2% alcohol.  It uses the Duvel yeast which gives it a bright tropical fruit nose and dry spicy finish.  It also won us a gold medal at the Great American Beer Fest and a silver at the World Beer Cup.

Cheers,

Chris