Delirium Tremens

Belgium is considered by many to be the spiritual heart of the brewing world, and Belgian beers will certainly feature prominently in the future of this blog.  For a country the size of Maryland, Belgium has produced an inordinate number of the most unique and sublime beers on the planet.  You may know some of them: Trappist ale, oud bruin, lambic - to name a few.  These are timeless elixirs, crafted at the blurred intersection of faith, science, and history.  They have pedigrees that stretch to the Middle Ages and beyond.  They are the subject of books and the vice of kings.

We'll get to those beers in later posts, but first I wanted to write about a Belgian beer with its own peculiar heritage that doesn't fit the traditional image of monks, abbeys, and age-old recipes.  It has a distinctive style, one that seamlessly blends elements of medieval brewing into modern beer culture.  It also has - for my money - the coolest name of any beer out there: Delirium Tremens.

Delirium Tremens is an infant compared to other Belgian beers: as a brand, it has only been around since 1989.  But the history of this brew really dates to 1906 when a Belgian restaurateur named Leon Huyghe purchased the decrepit Appelhoek Brewery in Melle, East Flanders.  Huyghe owned a popular chain of street cafes and his goal was to establish an in-house brewery that would supply all of his restaurants with a proprietary brand of beer.  Huyghe was a beer fanatic and he indulged his passion on the grandest scale possible.  Rather than focus on brewing one or two signature beers, he wanted to create his own versions of all the Belgian classics he could find.  At one point, his brewery produced over 60 beers.  Like many craft brewers of today, he was interested in reviving forgotten styles and recreating specialty brews for the public at large.

His method of throwing everything against the wall and seeing what stuck worked out just fine: the brewery flourished and has remained in the Huyghe family since its opening.  By the 1940s the Huyghe Brewery had narrowed its focus to brewing fine pilsner-style lagers.  In 1985, however, the company decided to shift gears and rededicate their energy towards creating high-alcohol ales.  In 1989, the brewery released its most innovative brew yet: a strong pale ale brewed according to Belgian tradition and measuring 8.5% alcohol by volume...and so Delirium Tremens was born.

Delirium was marketed with an eye to distribution in the United States and Canada at a time when interest in European beers was booming in the New World.  However, the popular legend goes that Delirium was originally banned in North America due to its high alcohol content as well as its name, which is an explicit reference to alcoholism.  For the longest time I thought that "Delirium Tremens" was Dutch or something for "tremendously delirious."  But my fiancee has since informed me that delirium tremens, a Latin phrase meaning "trembling madness," is a medical term for acute seizures caused by alcohol withdrawal (you might know it as the "DTs" or "whiskey shakes").  The pink elephant logo on the bottle is a playful allusion to the hallucinations that sufferers of delirium tremens sometimes experience.

Delirium is pale and hazy with a thick white head.  It's hard to describe the unique flavor of Delirium Tremens, but overall I'd say it gives you the signature taste of the classic Belgian ale - strong, complex, and alcoholic - combined with the smoothness and drinkability of a light lager.  True to Belgian tradition, Delirium Tremens derives much of its character from a complex blend of yeast.  Three different kinds of yeast are added to the brew throughout the fermentation process, giving it a full texture, distinctive spicy flavor, and high alcohol content.  But it doesn't have the same overwhelming yeast character as other Belgian ales, which can often produce tangy and/or fruity flavors in the beer.  Instead, the rich yeast flavor is balanced by the smoothness of the pale malt, which makes for a light brew that is far more refreshing than it looks.  You'll get some good hop flavor but no aggressive bitterness.  It has a dry, champagne-like finish.  Bottles of Delirium Tremens are "bottle conditioned," meaning active yeast is left in the beer in order to provide carbonation after the bottle has been sealed.  Thanks to bottle conditioning, the flavor of the beer will change over time - much like a bottle of wine.

Delerium Tremens is also remarkable for the volume of critical acclaim it has earned in its young life, including winning the title of "World's Best Beer" at the 1998 World Beer Championship.  Beer expert Stuart Kallen ranked Delirium Tremens the world's number one overall brew in his 1999 book The 50 Greatest Beers in the World.  However, it bears mentioning that BeerAdvocate, which assigns scores based on user ratings, does not include Delirium Tremens among its top 100 overall beers.  It ranks only 20th in their "Belgian Strong Pale Ale" category.

As beer goes, Delirium isn't cheap.  You can get it in a 750 ml bottle for about $10-12, or a four-pack of 11 oz bottles for $15 or so.  You'll recognize it by its opaque painted bottle and distinctive label, which looks like something I would have made using ClipArt and Microsoft Paint circa 1993.  In addition to the aforementioned pink elephants there are Asian dragons and strutting crocodiles that appear to be wearing captains' hats.  The date "1654" also appears on the label; this is a reference to the founding of the old Appelhoek Brewery in that year.

Delirium is also available on draft at many bars, particularly those that specialize in Belgian beers.  If you order it at a bar it will probably be served to you in a small rounded snifter glass.  I know they have their reasons for serving it this way, but it always strikes me as a clever ploy to give you less beer for more money.  It's a beer, for crying out loud.  Just put it in a pint glass and sling it down the bar like an Old West saloon.  Keep 'em coming, barkeep!