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Chimay Red: Cork vs Crown.
Chimay (it's pronounced "she-may", not "shimmy", nor "chimmy", nor "kai-may") are probably the best-known, and most widely distributed, of all the Trappist beers. They produce three beers, named after the colour of their label and cap; red, white and blue. Broadly speaking, the red cap (or "capsule rouge") is close to a dubbel in style, with some fruitiness, quite a bit of malt sweetness, and relatively little hop influence; the white cap is pale, drier, with a peppery hop character; and the blue cap is darker, richer, a slightly figgy, with a winter-spice edge to it.
They also offer two different bottlings of each beer; the regular 33cl bottle, under crown cap, and the 75cl bottle, sealed with an agglomerate cork. As suggested in the video accompanying this piece, the cork-stoppered bottles develop slightly differently, seeming cleaner and more full of life in this comparison. The larger, cork-sealed bottle was certainly pulsing with an energy that you don't often find in bottled beers. It reminded me of the vigour displayed by a sample of Brooklyner-Schneider Hopfen Weisse, tried straight from the conditioner at the brewery. Well, not quite, but it had a curious, vital quality that I've fumbled into words in the video.
Chimay Red may well have been my introduction to speciality beers. I remember it appearing occasionally at home, along with bottles of Taylor's Landlord, and stubby little tins of Ind Coope Burton Pale Ale. Actually, now I think of it, the Chimay was much less frequent, and treated with a bit more reverence (and glee) by my father when it was in the cupboard. Rightly so (on both counts).
Happily, Chimay Red is very widely distributed, and at the time of writing is available in many UK outlets; supermarkets, wine chains and heavens above, I even noticed that Makro has started selling it.
