Chambly Noire, We Hardly Knew Ye

Let me tell you something about my wife Stella. She is not a bellwether. If she likes a new fall TV show, it is almost certain to get cancelled pretty immediately (be on the lookout "Ringer" and "Homeland"). She, rather famously, watched 10 minutes of the "Grey's Anatomy" pilot and deemed it stupid. She hates "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and probably singlehandedly killed the show "Reunion" because she would read about plotlines on fan sites and such. Her work is not confined to just television, Schlafly No. 15 was her favorite beer and we all know what happened to that.

I didn't think too much of her anti-bellwether  when she grabbed a drink of a new to us beer the other night. I didn't think too much of it when she grabbed a bottle of that beer for herself to go with dinner last night because she loved it so much. It was my immediate thought when I was buying a 4 pack of that same beer this morning (it was on sale) and Brad at Royal told me that it was not going to be available in bottles anymore.


That beer is Unibroue's Chambly Noire. I had initially picked it up because I was cold and was looking for a nice beer for a cool evening. I don't drink many foreign beers just because there are so many American beers to try and I have to focus on something. So, while I've had most of Unibroue's beers, I'd just never gotten around to Chambly Noire and nothing else was jumping out at me at the time. I didn't know that I would singlehandedly kill the beer for the home drinker in KC.

What I'd like to know is if a phone rang at the distributor the exact moment that Stella tasted the beer and declared "that's really good" or if this is just an amazing coincidence. This sort of thing happens with alarming frequency. I'm a little worried that "Homeland" is going to get cancelled just because I mentioned it above.

Chambly Noire is still going to be available in kegs so bars can put it on draft. I'd recommend a couple of bars do this for the winter because it really is an enjoyable Belgian style dark beer with  good fruit flavor and just a hint of nice roasty malts. As mentioned above, 4 packs of it are available on sale for $7.99 at Royal on State Line but it's available nearly everywhere with a good beer selection.

Other Popular Posts on KC Beer Blog