Expert: Ed Westemeier - 6/26/2002

Question
Hello Ed,

I have been looking for years for a particular beer called Abbey of leffe blonde ale. Apparently it was imported by Coors some years ago via Paulaner North American but neither Coors or Paulaner have any information on this beer at the present time. It is a Belgian Abbeye de Floreffe brew I believe. I have been searching for this to no avail for a long time and I think that if you don't have any info I will have to give up my search. If you are familiar with this please help, if not perhaps you can advise me on a beer that would be similar in taste and style. I consider this to be the best beer I have ever had the pleasure of tasting and hope you can help.

I will look forward to your answer.

Sincerely, Roger Wilkerson

Answer
Leffe is one of the best selling beers in Belgium, brewed under license from the Abbey Notre-Dame de Leffe. A very nice abbey-style beer, it comes in both blonde and brown versions. I don't know where you live, but it's frequently available where I live near Cincinnati.

Leffe is currently imported by the US division of Labatt, the big Canadian brewer. You might contact them to see if they can tell you of a distributor in your area.

Good luck!