About halfway through the Challenge it's Friday again. Time to look at... more Belgian Beer!
When the Paris mob stormed the Bastille in 1789, sparking the French Revolution, this rapidly turned into an orgy of Violence. The crusade against anti-revolutionaries, reactionaries, and the aristocrats in general, prompted the need for a means to quickly and "humanely" dispose of the enemies of the People. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin (1738-1814), a member of the French National Assembly, delivered a speech on Oct. 10, 1789, in favor of reforming the death penalty. Guillotin proposed that all those condemned to death be executed in the same way (until then, the method of execution depended on the state of the condemned person or the nature of the crime), by having them beheaded by a machine. When the Paris executioner Charles-Henri Sanson informed the Assembly that there could be problems if many beheadings with the sword were to take place, the decison was taken to use the guillotine.Thus, the device was introduced to make executions faster and - it was believed - more painless. However, the history of this machine goes back to the 13th century. It was used from the middle ages in France, Belgium, Germany, Sweden and some Swiss cantons. Still, it has become the symbol of the French Revolution.
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To commemorate the bicentennial of the French Revolution, the Huyghe Brewery in Melle created the occasional beer La Guillotine in 1989.It is a golden-blond tripel with an alcohol content of 8.5%. The beer caught on very quickly in a dozen countries and won several awards. A fitting beer to symbolize the Violence theme, I'd say.
Enjoy your beer, but don't lose your head!
For your further enjoyment, we have:
- some green officers from Lee;
- John pursueing his very own Trade War;
- Adam taking to the water and looking for Lt. Gruber;
- Mike going epic again;
- and Peter finally leaving the Abyss behind.
And whatever else may turn up. Stay tuned!
Martijn
Your posts are doing wonders for Belgian tourism. I'm longing to head over and sample those beers! Maybe not so much for the French tourism though ;
ReplyDeleteMore nice Belgian beer!! Not heard of that one before?
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your beer Martijn. I hope you’re getting ad revenue from Belgian brewers! FYI, as a celiac I can’t enjoy these beers but my wife enjoyed a Chimay Red with her chickpea curry recently.
ReplyDeleteAlas, no. I’ll give them a nudge if sales in the UK and Canada go up suddenly. I sympathise with you, I have lived with a celiac for years and it is often not easy! Sadly, there is no Belgian wine to speak of, as far as I know. They do some gins (jenever), but far less than the Dutch. Some hot (Belgian) chocolate perhaps?
DeleteThanks Martijn - this is one beer that got away before gluten did for my guts. Back in the day (1980's that is) belgian beer was a favorite - my most memorable being the Aalst beer festival in a giant hanger? and an american sharing our taxi back to the station and deciding he really could not get a 12 bottle case of cherry beer on the plane so left them with me. I took them home - by rail and ferry - no problem and then tried to get everyone else to drink it because - well - cherry beer turned out not to be my thing - you live and learn......
ReplyDeleteAh, Kriek Lambiek! I like one every now and then, but not too often! It is a bit of an acquired taste…
DeleteAnother wonderfully boozy post Martijn. At 8.5% it's aptly named for being able to take your head off if you're not careful. :)
ReplyDelete