Brittany's beers: one more time

It has been a while since I've written about beer from north-western France but I'm prompted to do so again by this pair, kindly donated by Mark from his trip there last year.

I quite enjoyed the Dremmwel Blonde on the last outing, so here's Dremmwel Dorée Bio as a follow-up. This is all of 7.7% ABV and thick and heavy with it, pouring out a dense golden amber troubled by just a slight haze. It smells... golden: lagery cereals with a definite waft of strong alcohol. Unsurprisingly, the flavour is big on malt -- sweet and chewy -- but with an extra perfumed intensity, all oils and spices. It took me a little while to settle into it, but when I did I enjoyed it. It makes for a relaxing and warming outdoor sipper just as the evening chill begins to set in.

A tripel to follow: Duchesse Anne by Brasserie Lancelot, down near Nantes. It's lighter in colour than the previous beer, but oddly lighter in alcohol too, at just 7.5% ABV. The tripel spicing is present and correct in the aroma but the taste is miles off the mark, showing all the refreshing sweet lemon notes of a witbier. I'm not complaining: this beer tastes lovely, but tripel purists are in for a surprise. If you like the idea of tripel but find real ones to be too much work, Lancelot has you covered.