What happens when Captain Lawrence brings in one of their biggest supporters who happens to also be a high end food market?  You get a Abbey Ale made with Imported Italian Chestnut Honey and Jam.  I’m not even sure what “Italian Chestnut honey and jam” is, but it peaked my interest.  As a big supporter (or at least I try) of local breweries, I drove up to Captain Lawrence on Birra DeCicco’s release day to snag a couple bottles of this intriguing brew with Lee from Hoptopia.

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Belgian style beers have always fascinated me, especially the tripels and quads.  So much potential flavor with so few ingredients. I haven’t had many beers from South Hampton, so I was looking forward to this strong dark ale.  At 9.9% abv this Abbot 12 would be considered a quad.

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New Glarus Brewing Co has a reputation of making good Belgian style beers.  However if you don’t live within driving distance of Wisconsin, they are pretty elusive beers to get since they do not ship or distribute outside of their home state. But lucky for me I was able to trade some beer with a guy in Wisconsin (thanks Mr. Johnson!) and I’ll get to drink my way through most of this years brews, starting with Stone Soup.  Stone Soup is “classified” as a Belgian Pale Ale by some, but New Glarus calls it an Abby Ale.

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