A shorter version of this review was first published in BEER February 2010 as part of a piece about beers to taste with chocolate.
ABV: 6%
Origin: Rulles, Luxembourg, Wallonie
Website: www.larulles.be, www.miorgemihoublon.be
Rulles JeanChris Numéro 1
Chocolate may seem a curious entry on the long list of foods that go better with beer than wine, but the two have in common a balance of bitter and sweet over a substantial mouth-filling body. Beer tasters talk about “chocolatey” beers while chocolatiers discuss the “maltiness” of their work. Some brewers even use real chocolate, as in Wells and Youngs’ (sadly not bottle conditioned) Double Chocolate Stout. But the first beer I’ve found specially formulated to match with chocolate is decidedly cocoa-free.
Brewed in Belgian Luxembourg, Rulles JeanChris No 1 was commissioned by Chris Gillard of the excellent speciality beer shop Mi Orge Mi Houblon in Arlon, and his friend and colleague, artisanal chocolatier Jean-François Vaux. It’s brewed by Grégory Verhelst’s nearby Rulles brewery, one of the best of a new crop of Wallonian micros, and has since been joined by the darker JeanChris No 2 from the Sainte-Hélène brewery.
It’s a warm amber beer with a thick orange-tinged head and a chaffy, slightly sweet, quite spicy and flowery aroma. A rounded malty creamy palate has balanced fruit and bittering Amarillo hops, and there’s a smooth fruity finish with mild hops, notes of roast and peach and a late powdery dryness. The beer is well worth drinking in its own right, but its rich texture matches chocolate’s mouthfeel, the hops cut through the confectionery’s strong flavours and compliment its natural bitterness, and the beer cleanses the palate for the next bite
Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/la-rulles-jean-chris-numero-1/87755/
For more beers tasted with chocolate, see next post.
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