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Quad Tasting Notes, Part 2

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After our first round of quads, we wanted to try a few less popular versions, with mixed success:

  • Kasteel Donker: Neither Wind nor I cared for this at all — it has an overwhelming black cherry flavor, and not much else going on.
  • Malheur 12°: This was very nice, with a lot of spicy, almost peppery notes.  Definitely taking the typical abbey complexity and spiciness to an extreme, and I think it works well.
  • Gulden Draak 9000: My favorite of the new brews, with a co2 bite and a boozy kick.  Uncharacteristically medium amber color.  Very smooth, clean flavor, in sharp contrast to the Malheur.  As with the tripels, these two are a very good example in contrasting takes on the style that both work well.

We also had a couple of favorites (including another bottle of St. Bernardus to replace a spoiled bottle from the first round):

  • St. Bernardus Abt 12: An unspoiled bottle showed a wonderful complexity, with raisiny sweetness, spiciness, and earthiness.
  • Rochefort 10: A clear favorite of this batch for both of us, with a big boozy kick, but blended perfectly with sweet malt and spiciness.

Overall, I think I found the quads to be a little less varied than the tripels, but still differing quite a bit (and differing in the same way as the tripels — with some being very boozy but otherwise mild, and others being more spicy and earthy).  The Kasteel Donker was the only beer in this group that I’d say was disappointing.  I still haven’t had them side-by-side, so I’d be hard pressed to pick a favorite among the Westy 12, St. Bernardus 12 and Rochefort 10.  I’d happily drink any of them any time.

Quad Tasting Notes, Part 1

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We’ve had quite enough tripel for now, so we decided to move on to quads.  These are heavy enough that we’ll just do a few at a time.  So we started with a few of our favorites:

  • La Trappe Quadrupel: The most commercial of the Trappist breweries (and the only one in the Netherlands).  This quad was actually on sale at our local grocery store last week (no Guinness here, even for St. Paddy’s).  It’s got a good CO2 bite up front, yielding to a nice malty sweetness.  A little toffee.  A very nice, well-rounded quad, with a lighter color than most.

  • Straffe Hendrik Quadrupel: This beer was first brewed by De Haalve Maan in the early 80’s for the inauguration of a statue of St. Arnold (patron saint of brewers) in Bruges.  Sweet and creamy, with an herbal note that is almost like licorice (but not overpowering).  Reminds me of some of the sweeter Russian Imperial Stouts I’ve tasted.

  • Westvleteren 12: Widely regarded as the best beer in the world.  It’s got a ton of sweetness with malt, candi sugar, and some fig. Also spicy, earthy, and a definite boozy kick. Packs the usual abbey aromatics. Since it’s such a pain to come by, I keep hoping this beer will disappoint me, but it hasn’t yet.

  • St. Bernardus Abt 12: The former contract brewer of Westvleteren’s beers (before they brought them back in-house in ’92). I was definitely looking forward to trying this side-by-side with the Westy 12. Alas, our bottle was chipped, and the beer poured totally flat. Though I have to say this was the best spoiled beer I’ve ever had — with the candi sugar, caramel and a hint of vanilla. Really brings out how much of the beer experience depends on carbonation, since this was drinkable, but completely unrecognizable as a quad. We’ll definitely have to get another bottle for the next round.

Tripel Tasting Notes, Round 2

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We had enough disagreement over some of the tripels from our first round, that we did wind up doing a second round of tasting.  Just for fun, we got the top seven and did them all side-by-side.

Upon further reflection, a few interesting tidbits came out:

  • We didn’t agree on an exact ordering, but we did wind up agreeing on the best three tripels (Westmalle, Chimay and St. Bernardus).  These are all slightly different takes on the style, and all very good.
  • I didn’t like the Tripel Karmeliet as much in the side-by-side comparison.  It is much sweeter than the Westmalle and Chimay.  Especially as it warmed up, this didn’t hold up very well.
  • Brouwerij ‘t IJ’s Zatte also did not stand up well to the side-by-side treatment.  Wind and I had almost diametrically-opposed impressions in the first round, and I came around to her way of thinking, as I found the herby, rosy flavor very grating.

Though these last two items really amount to the stronger-tasting beers not doing as well.  This might be because drinking seven beers at once just takes longer and they have time to warm up.  Regardless of the reason, the Westmalle really stood out as the clear favorite.

Tripel Tasting Notes

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There are a million tripels around (I was a little surprised when I started looking at my notes and Untappd checkins and realized we’ve had two dozen in the last week or two). Truthfully, it’s not my favorite style. It’s inconsistent and has no unifying characteristics other than being strong and pale.  In theory, they should be roughly similar to Westmalle Tripel, but that’s a pretty loose standard. Many use pilsener malt that has a creamy sweetness, but not all. Most are lightly-hopped, but some have a lot of floral, herbal notes.  So I’ve generally been more interested in the dark abbey beers. Wind, on the other hand, generally likes tripels and tends to gravitate to them when she’s not sure what else to get.

But as I think about moving back to Florida in June, and being able to brew a batch of beer, I know we should brew something on the lighter side. So, since Wind likes them a lot and I do like some tripels quite a bit, we decided to try a bunch and see what we liked.  We’ve seen some American beer around (especially at De Bierkoning in Amsterdam), but we stuck with Belgian and Dutch tripels for this experiment, since there were a ton to choose from.  Hopefully, it’ll help us narrow down recipes when the time comes.

In general, we found them very drinkable, and agreed on our assessments of them. But, there were a few that only one of us liked, and a few that were standout cluckers:

  • De Leckere Razende Swaen (Raging Swan): this is local, and we’ve liked some of their beers. But it was too herby, and funky.
  • Muifelbrouwerij Broeder Everardus: this is a little bready and biscuity, with more aggressive hops than typical. The typical pilsener malt shows up in the aroma. But the flavor gets lost in the hoppy bitterness.
  • Hertog Jan Tripel: the best thing about this beer was the bottle (it comes in a squat, black earthenware bottle). It has a nice, rich golden color, but the flavor is bland and syrupy.
  • De Koninck Tripel  This seemed OK at first. But it has a lot of unfermented sugar and caramel. I wound up finishing Wind’s glass (she would have poured it out), mostly because I was trying to remember what it reminded me of. Alas, it was a bad batch of homebrew that had an incomplete fermentation, and mostly wound up sweet and overcarbonated.

The vast majority were very nice, and varied quite a bit. I’d divide them roughly into two groups: the boozy and the herbals.

Boozy (clean, simple, and with a definite alcohol kick):

Herbal (a wide variety of fruit, floral, herbal flavors):

There were a few tripels that we really liked.  We’ve been talking about doing a second round and trying these all side-by-side to really compare them closely.

  • Tripel Karmeliet: this is probably my favorite (and I think the first tripel I ever had). It’s sweet and light. Nothing overpowering. But very tasty.
  • Westmalle Tripel: this is one of Wind’s favorite beers. It’s sweet, boozy and creamy.
  • La Trappe Tripel: just a bit of sourness, and a bit earthy and herbal, but not too much.
  • Chimay Blanche (Cinq Cents): a little bitter and floral, but very balanced, with some creaminess.
  • St. Bernardus Tripel: rich, malty, meady and velvety.
  • Val-Dieu Triple: fizzy, and light, with some candi sugar like a dubbel.

There were also a couple of tripels that were split decisions. We’re thinking of adding these into the second round, too.

  • Brouwerij ‘t IJ Zatte: floral, rose and herbal. I really liked this, but Wind hated it. I even tasted some from her glass to make sure that we had the same thing.
  • Triple d’Anvers: Unlike De Koninck’s other beer we tasted, this was not terrible. It had a definite twang you don’t usually see in triplels, and was also very sweet. I didn’t like it much, but Wind thought it was pretty good.

Xmas Beer Roundup

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Our local brewery just released their winter seasonal beer, and we’d seen a few other Christmas beers around town, so we gathered a few and had a tasting.

  • We started out with Swamp Head Hoe Hoe Hoe — which they describe as their Cottonmouth Wit infused with ginger, cranberry and Tupelo honey. I like Cottonmouth quite a bit (it was the first keg in our kegerator). This beer isn’t much different — there’s just a hint of honey and spice, and we couldn’t find any cranberry at all.  It’s also unusual to make a light Wit as a winter seasonal, but I guess you have to make allowances for Florida.
  • Next up was another semi-local beer, Sweetwater’s Festive Ale.  I think this is the first Sweetwater beer I’ve had, though I often see them around town.  In sharp contrast to the Hoe Hoe Hoe, this beer is a very dark Winter Warmer.  It has a smoky coffee bitterness like a porter, but also a big malt and aromatic spiciness that provide a good counter-balance.
  • St. Bernardus Christmas Ale is very similar to their Abt (which is one of my favorite Belgian beers), but with a sharp ginger note added.  This seemed very jarring, but perhaps I should actually follow the temperature guidelines on the bottle instead of drinking at fridge temperature.  As the beer warmed up, the sickly sweet malt mellowed a bit, and the spiciness didn’t seem as sharp, and they seemed to make a better blend.
  • Affligem Noël fell into the same trap as Hoe Hoe Hoe — there was just not much difference from their Dubbel.  I like the Dubbel just fine, and the additional of a little spiciness is a nice improvement.  But I was hoping for something a little more distinctive.

The Sweetwater Festive Ale is the clear favorite here.  I really enjoyed the balance between the spicy/sweet and bitter/smoky aspects.  Though, unlike the other beers in this bunch, I haven’t had a similar beer from Sweetwater, so that could be a factor.

Pumpkin Beer Tasting

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Pumpkin Tasting LineupWe’ve had a couple of pumpkin beers this fall, and picked up a few more in Asheville last weekend, so we had a little side-by-side tasting.

  • Thirsty Dog’s Pumpkin Ale.  This surprised me at how light-bodied it was, since I generally expect fall seasonal beers to be malty, dark, or both.  But this was almost like a pilsner, with a little twang.  The pumpkin taste was very subdued.  But overall, I’d say this is nice, and easy-drinking.
  • Southern Tier’s Pumking.  This brew had a definite pumpkin aroma, but the flavor was overwhelmed by vanilla and spice.  In fact, I had a hard time picking up anything else.  Wind likes this much more than I do, and the ratings online are pretty high, but I find it just barely drinkable, and not very pumpkiny at all.
  • Cigar City’s Good Gourd.  This is my idea of what a pumpkin beer should be, with definite spice and vanilla notes, but not overwhelming the pumpkin flavor.  This beer has a little more sweetness and body, and has the highest ABV at 9.5%.
  • Starr Hill Boxcar Pumpkin Porter.  A decent porter, if a little thin.  Unfortunately, the pumpkin is drowned out by over-strong smoke and coffee.  Finishes a little too bitter, but with more pumpkin at least.

Overall, I’m a little disappointed.  I expected beers with pumpkin in the name to have a more pronounced pumpkin flavor.  Only the Good Gourd met my expectations on that score, and is definitely my favorite of the bunch.  The Thirsty Dog Pumpkin Ale would be the runner up, and I’m definitely glad I picked up a bottle when I had the chance.

Hat improvement

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Don’t let all of Redbeard’s posts about beer fool you – there is also knitting going on. (Okay, mostly along side the drinking – in fact, right now I’m looking longingly over at some lovely roving that I got from Earth Guild while drinking a Pumking as part of a pumpkin beer tasting that Redbeard and I decided to do tonight.)

I finished another Elf hat. This one is for the son of a good friend of mine (and novice knitter, another one joins the fold!). I think I’ve finally gotten the hang of joining the sides. I’m not sure I’m doing a mattress stitch, but I’ve decided that I don’t care. Here’s a close up of the seam:

Not exactly seamless, but then I don’t think it can be with this pattern. Even with the strange join, I still really like this pattern.

Another Earth Guild purchase that portends more knitting:  Melissa Morgan-Oakes Toe-Up 2-at-a-Time Socks. I’ve been interesting in knitting socks for awhile, and there is something really, really appealing about (a) starting with the hard part first, and (b) doing both socks at once. So… now I just need some sock yarn. Yay – field trip to my LYS!

 

Family Beer Tasting

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We went to visit family in upstate New York and brought some local beer to share.  We started with Swamp Head’s Saison du Swamp, which we’d been thinking of as a gentle introduction to saison.  But it was a much bigger shock than we’d expected.  We followed it up with a couple Cigar City beers: Sea Bass (which is very sour and funky, even compared to the average saison) and 110K +OT.

While we were there, we also had a few local beers: Saranac Summer Ale is a light, easy drinking Hefeweizen, and Southern Tier Crème Brûlée Stout is a crazy stout with an amazingly accurate crème brûlée flavor.  We also had some family homebrew: a wonderful strawberry mead, and a chocolate raspberry stout (which I liked a lot more than the Southern Tier).

A Paean To Cigar City

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It came to my attention recently (when Untappd gave me a badge for being such a fanboy), that I’ve had quite a few different brews from Cigar City recently:

Vuja De (6/21)
A very dark saison, practically black.  But still very light and easy-drinking on the first evening of summer.  A collaboration with St. Somewhere (and it shows — this reminds me of their Pays du Soleil).  Very tart, but balanced by a sweetness — but not malty sweet: the bottle mentions cane sugar, so I think that’s where it’s coming from.  The sweetness provides a nice counterpoint to the very tart, cherry twang.  A second drinking yielded more mixed results: we both soured on the blackcurrant flavor.

Tocobaga Red Ale (6/18)
Definitely hoppy, with a piney finish. Balanced with a smooth and mild malt.  Wouldn’t have liked this a year ago, because of the hoppiness.

110k+OT Batch #4 Imperial Red Ale (6/17)
Very dark with highlights of dark red. Full malt with a strong balance of hops, both aromatic and bittering with a long smooth bitter finish.

Continue reading A Paean To Cigar City →

code4lib BrewUp (aka Beermaggeddon)

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One of the nice side effects of having people come from all over the country for a conference is that if everybody brings a bottle or two, you wind up with the beer tasting to end all tastings. In fact, we had so much beer we decided to do a pre-tasting last night (which was mostly dominated by stout).

Tonight was the main tasting, and we had a bathtub full of bottles on ice, a two-room suite packed with tasters, and a makeshift bar staffed by my boss and coworkers from UCSD. I started out with my favorite beer from last year in Asheville (French Broad Wee Heavy-est) and followed that up with some Lost Abbey Sinners 09, a Belgian-style sour fron San Marcos. There were some stouts and other interesting things in the middle (even a white chocolate ale), but I finished the night with the beer I brought: Cigar City‘s Sea Bass, also a sour, though Cigar City’s labels are so clever I wasn’t sure until I drank it.

The Sea Bass was a real hit, and I think I’m going to need to pick up a few bottles when I get back home. Though the tastings were all by the thimblefull, so we’ll see how I like it by the pint.