Dovetail, Clerkenwell 16th February 2007

An old school friend and his wife led me to this bar I've been meaning to visit for ages, calling it "the place that does the wild boar burgers".

So that was the food decision made then, one extremely delicious boar burger for lunch.

The drinks choice was somewhat tougher, as there were hundreds of Belgian beers to choose from. For the first time (possibly ever in a beer buying situation) I felt slightly out of my depth, as I know nothing whatsoever about Belgian beer. At 9.0%, I didn't feel I could try the Delerium Tremens, billed on the menu as "elected as the best beer in the world", as it was only lunchtime.

I started with a bottle of Florisgaarden Honey (4.5%) which was a "fruit" flavoured wheatbeer. It was amazing, it tasted like honey, but in beer form. For anyone reading who is used to these flavoured beers, you'll think I'm stating the obvious, but for me it was a revelation and I'm not sure how else to describe it.

Feeling that I should also try a draught beer I opted for the very sweet Liefman's Frambozen (4.5%) which even with my limited knowledge of Europen languages suggested raspberry. I was not disappointed although it tasted more like lager than the bottled honey beer had done. The selling point was undoubtedly the fruit flavour and there wasn't much of a beer taste underneath.

I stole a sip of my companion's bottle of Lindeman's Peche (2.5%) which again was sweet and rather heavy on the fruit flavour, although delicious and still managed to taste of both beer and peaches. Mmm.

A very informative lunch and at last I know what Belgian beer tastes like. About time!