The Abalus project began early in 2019 with various trial brews of Baltic Porter, a departure from the Belgian styles we normally brew. Baltic Porter is the Baltic region’s interpretation of Imperial Stouts – very strong dense beers commissioned from London Porter breweries in the 1780’s by Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia. The Baltic brewers used lager yeast and locally available ingredients, giving their version the punch of an Imperial Stout with a lighter body and much more drinkability. Our favourite trial brew was potent - 11.5%. The beer was rich and deep, with aromas of dark chocolate, butterscotch and freshly brewed coffee, warmth on the palate, leading to fig jam and apple treacle flavours and finishing with a pleasant bitterness. This excited us and lead us to the idea to brew it in a commercial batch and barrel-age it to further develop flavour. Red Tripel, our take on the Tripels brewed by the Belgian Trappist Monastery breweries, was selected to be the companion beer in the series. It’s a complex beer, full-bodied, warming and malty, with additional caramel and fruity flavours. After some searching, we found reassuringly expensive Cognac casks from France and Whiskey casks from Ireland (thanks to Grace O'Malley Whiskey), allowing us to demonstrate the effects of aging in different barrel types on the same beers. All Mescan beers are bottle-conditioned. When it came to the bottle conditioning of these beers, we opted for a relatively low level of carbonation, allowing the full breadth of flavour to be experienced.

The beers in the Abalus series are very suitable for maturing at cellar temperatures. We are delighted with their progression so far – currently they have already been cellared at 10°C for 4 years - and we expect them to continue to evolve over the next 10 years.

We hope you enjoy sipping and savouring these special beers as much as we do.