Try this Belgian bubbly

As the holiday season rolls on and New Year’s Eve approaches, it’s easy to fall back on familiar celebration beverages. Champagne and sparkling wine are the traditional choices, but beer lovers have a bubbly option, too.

Bière de Champagne, also known as bière brut, is made with Champagne yeast, which yields a dry, light, effervescent beverage akin to Champagne with the body and hoppiness of beer. The style developed in Belgium, where only a select few bières undergo the méthode champenoise just like Champagne. This long process involves shipping the beer to the Champagne region of France for bottle conditioning, maturation, riddling and dégorgement.

Since production of bière de Champagne is costly, only a handful of breweries around the world make it. Deus, by Belgian brewery Brouwerij Bosteels, is the most widely available example of the style. Deus looks like a wheat beer with a light straw color and fizzy head. However, one sip will tell you otherwise. With spicy, peppery notes up front and a fruity, dry finish, this beer is sure to be a hit with both beer enthusiasts and their Champagne-toasting friends.

For a similar, locally produced beer, take a seat at newly opened tasting room The Side Project Cellar and order a bottle of Side Project Blanc de Blancs. “I didn’t set out as much to make a true bière de Champagne as I did to make a beer that reminds me of Champagne,” said Side Project head brewer (and Sauce beer columnist) Cory King. His bière brut-American wild ale hybrid is brewed with a bière de Champagne malt bill and fermented in chardonnay barrels with chardonel grapes from Charleville Vineyard in Ste. Genevieve. The beer is bottle-conditioned with Champagne yeast, and the wild Missouri microflora found on the grapes adds a sour complexity that takes bière brut to the next level.

Side Project Blanc de Blanc, $25. The Side Project Cellar, 7373 Marietta Ave., Maplewood, 314.224.5211, sideprojectbrewing.com, Brouwerij Bosteels Deus, $34. The Wine and Cheese Place, all locations, wineandcheeseplace.com