I'm very picky about beer. Through some experimentation, I've learned that the taste I don't like in beer comes from the hops. The hoppier the beer, the less I will enjoy drinking it. Apparently, there's a way to measure how much I will hate the taste of a beer, and it's called IBU. My three favorite beers are 19, 20, and 24, and all are malty, which apparently cancels out the IBUs somewhat.

But there's another thing about beer that makes me even more finicky, and that's the fact that it gives me a stomachache. There's a number for that, too, and it's ABV. The higher the alcohol content, the less likely it is to give me a stomachache. Only applies to beer! I can drink 5% ABV cider or Smirnoff Ice all night long, but one 5% ABV beer and I'll have a sour stomach for an hour. 7% seems to be the minimum for me to be able to drink a beer. How does this make a difference? How does  such a small amount make a difference? I don't know - and I'm rather unwilling to find out. Mostly, when I do drink, I just avoid beer.

All this is just to explain how there came to be a 4-year-old bottle of Maudite (http://www.unibroue.com/en/beers/17/product) in my possession. I was about to throw it out, when I figured I should check the Unibroue site to find out how long it would keep. Unibroue says: "Like good wine, Unibroue’s fine beers have flavors that develop with age." They suggest that it can age up to 8 years. So I kept it around. And then kept it around some more, never finding the right moment to open up what had suddenly become a potential treasure.

4 years later, I realized that a dream deferred is a dream denied, and now I am having far and away the best glass of beer I've enjoyed in my life. Unibroue, again: "Over time they become smoother, sometimes revealing notes of honey and candied fruit and developing a more assertive and lasting flavor." Yes, that seems about right. It's a 750mL bottle, and I'm enjoying half of it in a glass right now; I've corked it and put the rest in the fridge. And then it will be all gone. On the plus side, my habit of buying beer and not drinking it means that I have a 3-year-old bottle of Maudite maturing right now; only 5 more years and I can see how that one turns out!