At the end of our meeting, Lorenzo came up with a big Italian surprise.
A brand new 13.5 vol% beer from Italian craft brewery Le Baladin, called Xyauyù. A beer brewed with wine-yeast !!!! and matured in wooden wine-casks. It tasted like an old Port wine !!!
Xyauyù, barley wine, 13.5% ABV going to 14.5% in next productions. Malts: Pilsner Durst, aromatic Dingemans, caramunich 140 Dingemans. Hops: Hallertau Hernsbrucker, Spalt Select and East Kent Golding.
Brewing process: the wort is hyperconcentrated, then boiled for two hours and half. Primary fermentation for 25 in steel vessels. Then after a sterile filtration (to eliminate primary yeast strains) the beer is transferred in a steel vessel with transparent membrane, and a "oxygen hat". After several tastings from 6 to 24 months later (it depends from the oxidation velocity, very inconstant!), the brewer decides when it's time to bottle in 50cl. Champagne shape bottles, with good quality cork. The production is very limited. Three productions brewed during two years wil be available from October 2006. For next Christmas 600 gift-boxes of pralines (Xyauyù wrapped in candy orange peels with injected coffee then covered by craftmade chocolate).

Truely excellent stuff !!! Thanks Lorenzo !!!

In the mean time we've reached the end of this picture report.
This was truely an OUTSTANDING artisanal beerfest!
Congratulations towards Yvan De Baets and Bernard Leboucq for making this possible.

Up till the next edition next year.................

CHEERS !
Filip Geerts