The beer in Abu Dhabi's bars is usually Heineken, Amstel or Fosters, and since I'm on a diet I don't usually touch the stuff (I stick to the whisky -- much healthier). But when it was suggested that a few of us head out to the Belgian Cafe at the Intercon for mussels and beer, I abandoned the diet (For one night only, of course) and jumped at the chance.
As soon as I started on my first Leffe and savoured the rich malty taste I was transported back to my wayward early twenties in Inverness and Blackfriers Bar on Academy street.
It was at Blackfriers that I tasted my first blackcurrant, peach, cherry and strawberry beers, and as I recall I sampled them all on the same night. Afterwards I washed them down with a few eclectically flavoured shots of vodka. My, how I laughed as I staggered home and, my, how I cried in the morning.
My visit to the Belgian Cafe was a lot more sensible, but I still enjoyed myself, and in the morning, just to authenticate the experience, I could still taste sickly hints of peach.