Ymm, Beer

[NSDukeFan]

Here ya go:

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/style/29/


I should have included the umlaut over the "a." Embarrassing omission from someone who took 3 years of German in college.

Thanks. So, I see the typical Octoberfest beer is a Marzen (with an umlaut).

[budwom]

^ off to Canuckland tomorrow for lunch, NS, will be seeking a good beer to pair with my delicious chinese barbecued duck.

[devildeac]

St. Lenny-Schmaltz Brewing Company and Cathedral Square Brewery

The Immaculate Collaboration 2 uses grains including Specialty 2-Row, Rye Ale Malt, Torrified Rye, Crystal Rye 75, Crystal Malt 80, Wheat, Kiln Amber and CaraMunich 60 and hops named Warrior, Cascade, Simcoe, Crystal, Chinook and Centennial. This results in a Belgian style double rye IPA that has quite the potpourri of aromas and flavors like mustiness, barnyard funkiness, peppery spiciness, a bit of caramel combined with some piney and citrus-y characteristics. Overall, I think this is a brew in which the rye is overkill and takes away from an otherwise intriguing blend of a Belgian-influenced triple and the traditional IIPA. Green Flash's Le Freak comes to mind as a brew that succeeds with this marriage, without the rye. Poured a cloudy orange-yellow with a moderate, foamy head, it is quite bitter, guessing IBUs in the 80-90 range with an ABV of 10% which just doesn't provide he balance expected from a high gravity ale of this style. Might make a reasonable pairing with some spicy fare but not one I'd re-visit. However, I am happy that August West brought the bomber to share among the 4-5 of us tasting yesterday.

[mattman91]

Cool little segment from the Today Show.

[devildeac]

Bloktoberfest-Atwater Brewery

There should be an umlaut over the first "o" according to the label. I shared my daughter and son-in-law's 12 ounce bottle which poured a medium brown with a foamy head and it washed down a brat and a wiener. Nice combination. Pretty typical for the style with a somewhat sweet, malty nose and medium to dark caramel and toasted dark bread tastes. Minimal bitterness with IBUs of 30 and medium ABV at 6.4%. Not a bad brew but not memorable either. In other words, not quite tasty enough to enjoy several of them, don some lederhosen and polka around the neighborhood. This was also in the Märzen style (Ha, remembered the umlaut this time).

[NSDukeFan]

^ off to Canuckland tomorrow for lunch, NS, will be seeking a good beer to pair with my delicious chinese barbecued duck.

I assume you're off to Quebec, and while it may not be Vermont or Asheville, I believe it's probably the province with the longest history of craft brewing. I like St. Ambroise (especially their oatmeal stout), and have just started trying stuff from Unibroue, Trois Mousquetaires, a Shawinigan brewery that I can't remember, Trois Pistoles?, and whatever else I can find. I think they do a fair bit of Tripels in their breweries, if you like them. Enjoy la Belle Province.

[devildeac]

Almost forgot this sample:

Coffee Porter (draft-growler)-Rock Bottom Brewing-(Richmond location)

Pass the cream and sugar! Thanks to duketaylor for bringing a growler of this yesterday and sharing a generous pour with me. Color was a dark, dark brown and it really did smell like a cuppa Joe. There was also a modest olfactory presence of medium to dark chocolate. I think the intermediate sensation of bitterness mainly came from the heavily roasted grains and I'll guess IBUs to only be about 40. ABV was also probably standard for the style and likely in the 5-6% range. I could have nibbled another one of TNTDevil's decadent, foil-wrapped chocolate coffee fudge espresso cups topped with a dark chocolate covered coffee bean.

[devildeac]

Festbier-Victory Brewing Company

Another Märzen! I've had 3 Octoberfest brews in the last 2 days, probably 3 more than I had in the last 5 years. Thanks again to duketaylor for bringing this which we used in our mini-trading session yesterday. Very slightly cloudy and amber, it is true to the style with a nose of toasted wheat bread with perhaps a bit of nuttiness. Tastes are light caramel and biscuit-y. I kept it simple tonight and sipped it with a few honey-wheat Ritz crackers. I'll guess IBUs around 30 and the ABV is on the bottle at 5.6%. No lederhosen or polkas were desecrated during the consumption of this lager tonight.

[devildeac]

Here's another explanation:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A4rzen

[devildeac]

Pater 6-Brouwerij St Bernardus

I received this as a trader from duketaylor at Saturday's Brunchgate. Quite a choice there, sir! Thanks! It's a pretty traditional abbey ale or dubbel, aka a Belgian brown ale. Poured a slightly cloudy, medium brown with a small light tan head. Quite a bouquet of dark, dried fruits and dark brown sugar and tastes of just about the same. I'd estimate the IBUs around 30 as it's not a bitter beer and it is pleasantly sippable with the ABV at 6.7%. Another one of my favorite styles, this was quite at home in a pint glass and made a nice nightcap but would pair nicely with mild grilled fare, game or a cinnamon-caramel dessert. It was quite interesting to read that this is one of the original recipes from the days of license-brewing for the Trappist monks of Westvleteren, some of the most highly coveted and difficult to find Trappist ales in the world.

[duketaylor]

Regarding the Pater 6, I've now tried 3 different brews from this Trappist Brewery and I think all are quite good/great. Not that I'm all that knowledgeable, but I understand balancing beers. I'm also fond of Founder's brews, Victory brews, Rogue offerings, etc. They are just simply better than most others. Those are some of my faves in my last year of sampling beers. Also seem to enjoy a few of the Baltimore breweries and Dogfish Head. I recently purchased a book by RateBeer.com that has ratings from many beer-o-philes over the years to compare to my palate.

I was chastised earlier today by two friends who refused to let me order my "regular" beer. So, I was forced to go to Devil's Backbone Vienna Lager, they could live with that choice

From their website:

2012 Great American Beer Festival Medals

*Gold: Vienna Lager - Vienna-Style Lager category
Gold: Berliner Metro Weiss - German-Style Sour Ale
Silver: Danzig - Baltic-Style Porter
Silver: Old Virginia Dark - American-Style Dark Lager
*Bronze: Gold Leaf Lager- American-Style or Int’l-Style Pilsener
Bronze: Ramsey's Draft Stout - Classic Irish-Style Dry Stout
Bronze: Ramsey's Export Stout - Foreign-Style Stout
*Bronze: Turbo Cougar - Bock



2012 World Beer Cup Award

Gold: Vienna Lager - Vienna-Style Lager

I'm a big fan of their beer and how they operate-they also have excellent food!! The awards speak for their success.

[devildeac]

Black Chocolate Stout-Brooklyn Brewing Company

My annual review, courtesy of this 12 ounce trader from August West last Saturday. Poured a somewhat viscous, oily black with dark chocolate aromas wafting from the glass and darkly roasted grains (six of them) coating the palate with a dark chocolatey, boozey sensation. No additives or aging here. The bitterness originates from the heavy roasting and the resemblance to Nestle's semi-sweet morsels comes from the black and chocolate malts. Throw in a splash of whiskey and some dark malted milk mix and you have a great sipping imperial stout with IBUs in the 60 range (guessing) and an ABV of 10%. Perfect for a liquid dessert or as the base for a beer float with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a spoon.

[mattman91]

To Asheville?

[budwom]

I assume you're off to Quebec, and while it may not be Vermont or Asheville, I believe it's probably the province with the longest history of craft brewing. I like St. Ambroise (especially their oatmeal stout), and have just started trying stuff from Unibroue, Trois Mousquetaires, a Shawinigan brewery that I can't remember, Trois Pistoles?, and whatever else I can find. I think they do a fair bit of Tripels in their breweries, if you like them. Enjoy la Belle Province.

They do have a bunch of great breweries, though I have a long drive, not too much imbibement...came home thru (sleepy)St. Jean Sur Richelieu as they were having a genuine
terrorist attack (!), guy ran down and killed a soldier with his car, Muslim convert situation...in tiny St. Jean, go figure...

ate 80% of a chinese barbecued duck, am still quacking...montreal is such a great place...

p.s. we often hit the beer scene in the summer in the Eastern Townships, much closer to home...

[NSDukeFan]

They do have a bunch of great breweries, though I have a long drive, not too much imbibement...came home thru (sleepy)St. Jean Sur Richelieu as they were having a genuine
terrorist attack (!), guy ran down and killed a soldier with his car, Muslim convert situation...in tiny St. Jean, go figure...

ate 80% of a chinese barbecued duck, am still quacking...montreal is such a great place...

p.s. we often hit the beer scene in the summer in the Eastern Townships, much closer to home...

It's been a rough week in normally sleepy Canada. Wow, that is scary that you were around during that ordeal. I hadn't heard about it until yesterday or today as all I had heard about was the Ottawa attack.
Montreal is certainly an awesome city, as is Quebec city. I'll have to try to get up there sometime soon, as it has been 7? years since I have been in the province of Quebec (except for the Montreal airport.) Maine is a bit closer for me, and I am beginning to love that state, so I will probably get there more often in the near future.

[fuse]

Trader from devildeac.

Pours a thick murky brown, reminiscent of Bigfoot.

A licorice nose, surprising.

Very boozy- tongue numbing.
A dry, oaky astringent finish.
Some hints of coffee.

Hefty brew, punches way above its 8% weight.

I'd recommend splitting with a friend. Good stuff!

[duketaylor]

fuse, very disappointed I missed you last Saturday. Hope to meet u in the near future. CT

Played golf today with the Sierra Nevada rep for most of Va., we had fun; he's a very nice guy and was impressed (I think) with some of the beers I had in my cooler, many of them trades from Daryl, plus Founder's Rubaeus. We had many different offerings today, many of which I declined as I had to drive home, all 5 miles. New Belgium had a tent there as well, so I tried a couple different offerings of theirs. Decent, nothing more, IMO.

[devildeac]

Liquid Bliss-Terrapin Beer Company

This is the second chocolate peanut butter porter I've tasted with the first being from DuClaw brewing. The pour was dark brown with a small, tan head that lingered for a bit. Not surprisingly, the nose was Jif (or Skippy or Peter Pan), Hershey's with a wafting of Starbucks (or Caribou). Tastes were nutty, chocolate-y and coffee-like, the latter of which is fairly typical for a porter. Best served slightly chilled in a pint glass, with or without a chocolate chip cookie. IBUs listed at 23 and the ABV was 6.1%. Hey, Chuck, here are the ingredients from their web site:

Hops: US Golding
Malts: 2-Row Pale, Wheat, Crystal 85, Crystal 120, Chocolate Wheat, Chocolate Malt, Black Malt
Other: Peanut Butter, Boiled GA Peanuts, Olive & Sinclair Cocoa Nibs

This was their Side Project volume 18. What else might you expect from a Georgia brewery beside this and some variation of a peach ale? Cool label, too.

Liquid-Bliss_web-300x300.jpg

[devildeac]

Trader from devildeac.

Pours a thick murky brown, reminiscent of Bigfoot.

A licorice nose, surprising.

Very boozy- tongue numbing.
A dry, oaky astringent finish.
Some hints of coffee.

Hefty brew, punches way above its 8% weight.

I'd recommend splitting with a friend. Good stuff!

Hmmm, thanks for reminding me. I had forgotten I had one of these hidden from last year.

[devildeac]

anniversary-19-no-warning.preview.jpg

Much more complex than their labeling would indicate. My first thought was a simple mango-flavored wheat ale. Then, remembering the source, my next thought was a mango-infused wheat wine, which is a barleywine with a lot of wheat in the grain bill. But, upon further review (and tasting, of course), it appears they brewed a sour/wild, mango-driven, Belgian-inspired, American pale imperial wheat ale. Time for an explanation. Poured a hazy, yellow-orange with some light sediment in the final 5-10 ml. Not unpleasant, but I should have left that in the 12 ounce bottle. Nose was fruity with mango as expected but some orange also from the wheat base. Tastes were sweet and fruity with mango again, of course, along with some strong orange liqueur booziness, thinking Cointreau or Grand Marnier. Sour patch kids enter here with a bit of pucker, touched with a hint of black pepper from the Belgian yeasts. I'll guess about 30 for the IBUs and, true to Weyerbacher tradition (rules?) that their Anniversary releases must be 10% ABV or higher, this one rolled off the bottling lines right at that rating. The first of the 4 pack went to my son and I sipped the second last PM, so I have 2 remaining, thinking one to trade and the other to age for a year. Very interesting concoction.