Apparently there is a new beer that is getting some attention in Toronto - Delirium Tremens from Belgium.

There is an article on todays' Metro News (page 24):

Beer haven launches Delirium

Aonghus Kealy/Metro Toronto

Chef and restaurateur Brian Morin, left, lifts a $10.47 glass ($7.90 for a small) of Delirium Tremens with Stephen Beaumont at their co-owned beerbistro restaurant.

One sip of Delirium Tremens, and I’m surrounded by pink elephants. They dance above my head, they’ve stuck themselves to the window. There’s even one on the top liquor shelf behind the bar at King Street East restaurant beerbistro, guarding Stephen Beaumont’s ceramic Order of the Pink Elephant medal.

Cutouts of the well-known delusions dangle from the ceiling, they’re pasted on the front windows and glass entrance. They’re from DT’s label. “It’s a gimmicky beer,” shrugs Beaumont, co-owner of beerbistro and a big proponent of Belgian beers that aren’t made by giant InBev. Very good but not the best, he adds, despite its top billing by some as the greatest beer in the world.

A few sips and a deep sniff bring sensations of fruitiness — maybe some pear — and bubble gum notes.

It seems to be light and very drinkable, but you’re only meant to have two of this Belgian beer. It has between 8.5 and 9 per cent alcohol content. Delicious, but not necessarily greater than Quebec brewery Unibroue’s similar brew, La Fin du Monde, Beaumont suggests.

Then big deal, right? Wrong.

My glass was one of the first glasses of DT draught poured in Canada for public consumption. Beerbistro is the first establishment in Canada to sell it on draught; some have sold it in bottles, and others will have it on tap in June. This is the beer the LCBO won’t sell to Ontarians. (It is sold in Alberta and Quebec.)

It’s all in the name. Delirium Tremens, according to the Medline Plus Medical Encyclopedia, is “a disorder involving sudden and severe mental changes (psychosis) or neurologic changes (including seizures) caused by abruptly stopping the use of alcohol. Rapid pulse rate, elevated blood pressure and temperature elevation also may be present.”

They’re commonly called the “DT’s,” or “the shakes.”

So why name a beer after the DTs?

The Belgians have a distinctive sense of humour, Beaumont says.

Well, as noted fictional Belgian Dr. Evil might say, that’s pretty frickin’ weird.

As for the LCBO, they still don’t sell it. The beer’s name is simply not the government agency’s bag, baby. “We, as the LCBO, would not want to appear insensitive to something that is a very serious medical condition,” spokesman Chris Layton said yesterday. Too bad. I sure like the beer.

Contest: Send an e-mail to suds@metronews.ca with your answer to this brain-twister — what country does this fine beer come from? The first 10 e-mailers get a free pass for next Tuesday, starting at 5 p.m. E-mail the wrong country, and you owe me two DTs. Shake on it! Sláinte!

Cheers!