Syndicate
Media Player
The Weekly Pint: Bon Secours Blonde
Ah, blonds. What is it that makes them so appealing? The body? The effervescence? The deceptive aura of innocence? Yes, all those things. This time 'round I had a French version of a Belgian blond. It was from Brasserie Caulier and it's called Bon Secours.
I'm not really sure what Bon Secours means. "Healing" is apparently part of the meaning. The beer is also labeled 'bier vivante' which I believe means "this beer is alive ... IT'S ALIVE!" (to be shouted in your best Gene-Wilder-as-Dr-Frankenstein voice). So, this "live beer" (or bottle conditioned, as we say in the industry) will "heal" you from whatever ailments you may have. Please note, I'm not French at all, so I'm not positive about the above meanings. I'm fairly certain, of course, but not positive. After all, I'm not French. These meanings were lifted from various online dictionaries. I tried contacting the brewery itself, but they've not written back to me - probably because I'm, you know, not French.
However, I do know that the beer was bottle conditioned for I got bits of sediment in my beer. It poured a deep yellow; in fact, it was slightly brown - a well tanned blond.
. It had a pure white head. It smelled like paint thinner. Or perhaps a better analogy would be nail polish, since we are talking about blonds. There was a very slight hops aroma, a European variety. To be fair, I was brewing the same day I took this blond, so the Sterling hops I was using to brew my Belgian strong ale were wafting through the air. Fortunately, I did not taste any hops. I think the nail polish aroma and taste overpowered any hops that might be present. It tasted sweet and spicy like a peppered liqueur. The body was viscous and effervescent. Despite the effervescece, the carbonation felt subdued. There was no aftertaste. The 8% abv sneaks up on you. It was absolutely wonderful.
The Belgians have superb beer styles and this French brewed version was really a lot of fun - just like a blond should be.
Until the next pint ...
Old Tasting Notes: Downtown Brown
It is time for another beer from the Notes. For any who don't know about this series of blog entries, here's the scoop: I stumbled upon an old file that contained tasting notes from approximately two and a half years ago, possibly even older than that (definitely older than that - more like four or five years old). I decided to post these very sparse notes and I hope to eventually find these same beers again and evaluate them once more, just to see what differences are manifest.
This third beer of the Old Tasting Notes series is: Downtown Brown, a brown ale from ... well, I'm not totally sure(nor could I capture a good pic!). Here's the deal: I wrote in my notes "Downtown Brown - Acme." So, I looked up those terms and came up with North Coast Brewing, who carries the Acme beers (though not the brown anymore?); and Lost Coast Brewing, who has a beer called Downtown Brown, though Acme is not associated with it.
The Lost Coast label looks very familiar, but that could be deceptive. I like their Great White beer, since that's my favorite shark. So, I may not be remebering the label from the day of the tasting. I just don't know. I may be getting the label mixed up with Beertown Brown, too. The "Acme" thing just threw me right off.
Thus and so, on to the notes. The scorecards used contained five categories: Color, Collar, Boquet, Mouthfeel, Taste, Overall. At the bottom of the card there is a space to score the beer from 1 to 5. They're very generic scoresheets and notes.
COLOR - Orange/Brown
COLLAR - Spectacular - thick & foamy
BOQUET - Malty
MOUTHFEEL - Light - smooth
TASTE - Cologne/perfume - missing the nut of brown
OVERALL - Color is off - almost a brown hint, but not quite
SCORE (1-5) - 2
COMMENTS - Should be a red, then would be to style
The notes are kind of boring. It almost sounds like I got a bad bottle, foamy and solventy.
Whatever. The next Old Taste will be a "specialty ale". I don't know what that means. I think it's a winter beer. Until then, have an old pint. Er, no, just have a pint.
Homebrewing Update: Clawed the First Now in Bottles
It happened Tuesday. I had the day off (part of a very long weekend, the 16th anniversary for my wife and I). After the kids went off to school, I drug out my bottling bucket, the full carboy, a racking cane, tubing and the bottle filler.
The beer had cleared beautifully. It was a little darker than I'd hoped, orange instead of gold. I'm guessing that's because I used aromatic grains instead of just pale malt. Still, it looked great and smelled even better. That Belgian character was present, no doubts. It was fruity, like banana and maybe something else.
I think I've finally mastered the siphoning thing. It went very smoothly, very quietly. Once I got it all in the bottling bucket I dropped in the hydrometer. It was 1012, this time. Yes, yes it was. I know that after a couple of weeks in the secondary it dropped a degree. It was clearly 1013 when I racked it to the carboy. It was clearly 1012 when I bottled.
Bottling went smoothly as well. It was a very pleasant morning.
Once they are ready to drink, maybe I can con the staff photographer into snapping a few pics to accompany the review.
Old Tasting Notes: Red Nectar
It is time for another beer from the Notes. For any who don't know about this series of blog entries, I stumbled upon an old file that contained tasting notes from approximately two and a half years ago, possibly even older than that. I decided to post these very sparse notes and I hope to eventually find these same beers again and evaluate them once more, just to see what differences are manifest.
This third beer of the Old Tasting Notes series is:
Red Nectar, an amber ale from Nectar Ales, now owned by Firestone Walker.
Well, I apologize, I have very little extra info about this brewery. A slacker I am, obviously. Go surf the Firestone Walker website. They are reputable.
Thus and so, on to the notes. The scorecards used contained five categories: Color, Collar, Boquet, Mouthfeel, Taste, Overall. At the bottom of the card there is a space to score the beer from 1 to 5. They're very generic scoresheets and notes.
COLOR - Red
COLLAR - Lingering
BOQUET - Pronounced hops
MOUTHFEEL - Astringent, full body
TASTE - Slightly bitter, great hops finish
OVERALL - Excellent - perfect balance of hops & body - finish is beautiful
SCORE (1-5) - 5
COMMENTS - Spectacular color, superb balance - necessary for regular consumption
'Necessary for regular consumption' - well, isn't that ambiguous and open to interpretation. Either I want to drink this beer a lot or the 'superb balance' makes it drinkable.
Whatever. The next Old Taste will be a brown ale. Until then, have an old pint. Er, no, just have a pint.
Another Pint: Trappistes Rochefort "8"
What is the point in being a “contributor” to a blog if you never contribute? It is a query akin to many such questions that plague my mentality on occasion: Shouldn’t people pass some kind of test before they are given a license to operate a motor vehicle? How can I be the staff photographer when there really is no staff to speak of and the photos I produce are at least as rare as Bigfoot? Are you a brewer if you don’t brew but have brewed? I don’t know. These questions are for the ponderers to ponder.
I have at this particular juncture, however, managed to have another pint. It is an authentic Trappist product. It says so right on the label. This quaff is a Belgian Ale weighing in at 9.2%. More specifically, it is the Trappistes Rochefort 8, the Green Cap. In 2004 and 2006 this brew took home the Gold Medal from the World Beer Championships. To really get details about this fine import you might visit their website: http://www.trappistes-rochefort.com/. I must warn you, if you are French impaired you will gain little from the visit. Since it originates with Trappists, I did a little web search. According to a well known internet source: A Trappist beer is a beer brewed by or under control of Trappist monks. … Only these seven breweries are authorized to label their beers with the Authentic Trappist Product logo that indicates a compliance to various rules edicted by the International Trappist Association. Right. I am not going to pretend to know anything further about the brewers of my pint. (Saying that, I have probably offended a great many readers and completely alienated those of you out there who really appreciate the art and craft of brewing. My apologies.)
The head was quite ferocious in its arrival. It was an off-white colour with many tiny spheres that dissipated leaving large orbs that collapsed into a film of foam upon the surface of the chocolately hued potation. Although a nice dark brown (very fitting for a Belgian-Style Dark Strong Ale), I swear I could see a tinge of fire red as the light pierced the glass directly. The bouquet did not hint at hops, but had a spicy note that I can’t quite pin down. My first down hit my palate like any good Belgian should, a nice tart mouth awakening pop that spoke of the alcohol it contained. Smooth. As it glided down the gullet the sweet malt flavor took up abiding about the tongue. Skitting between my teeth like a gnome flitting between trees was a fruity presence. There! Did I just get a bit of slight hop flavor? Maybe, maybe not. Give this beer a check mark in the “complex” column. It is spicy, sweet, smooth, medium bodied, mouth awakening, and yet all the while comfortable.
I like it. It is that perfect end to a long day. I feel the heat in my ears. As I sit and try to describe the various qualities I realize that my glass is empty. So is the bottle. I do not regret spending $4.99 for these 11.2 fluid ounces one bit. I did not purchase the “6”. I am an idiot. Perhaps it will be there when I return. I don’t know what the monks do when they are not brewing, but I dare say they should spend less time doing it.
The Weekly Pint: Leffe
This beer caused a near dilemma. Nothing about its style or taste or anything like that; no, it was the fact that I saw Anheusur-Busch was associated with it. I almost couldn't drink it (because I have a self-imposed boycott against A-B products). I was afraid they were doing some contract brewing. I was relieved when I realized they were simply the importer. That doesn't taint the beer. So, on to my pint for this week: Leffe, a blond Belgian.
The label says that Leffe is best enjoyed in its own specially designed, chalice shaped glass which helps preserve aroma and create perfect head. I do not have said glass so I grabbed the closest thing at hand - a margarita glass. Sacrilege you cry out! Well, call down the Beer Nazi Secret Gestapo Police Force or whatever; I am blatantly mixing Belgium and Mexico! Bite me. Let's see what happens.
I have an 11.2 ounce amber bottle wrapped with gold foil. I have opened it. The vapor of carbonation undulates around the opening like mystic smoke from an ancient cauldron . How inviting. It is now time. I shall pour - that's right, into the ... margarita glass. Beware.
It is done.
At first I'd swear it smells like Heineken. Nay, it is a subtle hint of hops - fruity hops. I think the margarita glass did an ample job of dispersing the harsh aroma of banana. It also provides a wide area for the thin collar of white to float atop a golden body. It's like a pond, a pond of Beglian delight.
And the taste ... oh, joy. The wonderful spiciness of a Belgian ale. I love it. I'm not certain how to explain the taste. It's a pepperiness embedded in the beer. It lingers for a time on the tongue. The finish is a spectre of the initial spicy taste. This Belgian blond ample body, thick and a little sweet - and don't we all love blonds with ample bodies (oh, I see, it's the 8% abv talking again - super). The hops balance the beer just right, I actually found that I appreciated their presence.
Fear not fellow Beerists, the ghost of Corona did not possess this fine abbey beer via the margarita glass. Leffe triumphed. Oh, and their website rocks!
Until the next pint ...
Homebrewing Update: Clawed the First, a strong Belgian ale
On April 12 the whole family brewed together. We did two batches of soda for the kids, root beer and cream soda. I wasn't sure what to expect but it turned out to be really simple.
The soda extract came in small two ounce bottles. We combined the extract with about a gallon of water and eight cups of sugar (that's right, eight cups). We'd already made up a little "yeast starter" - a tablespoon of dry champagne yeast and a cup of hot water. That was added to the extract and sugar and topped off with another three gallons of water. After making sure it was mixed together well, we bottled. We ended up with 43 bottles of cream soda and 44 bottles of root beer. The extract costs $5.95 for a bottle and the dry yeast is $1.25. Not bad for eighty bottles.
After the soda was done, Dad went on to make his beer. It's the First Edition of Clawed, the Strong Belgian of Bottled Llama Brewing. I did a partial mash, which I've not done in years. I think it went pretty well. I made good use of a strainer and grain bag. I shoved the strainer into the top of my kettle, lined it with the grain bag and recirculated my mash water through it a couple of times then sparged with hot water. It looked and smelled wonderful.
The whole day went very well. I even remembered to write down everything I did - temperatures, times, ingredients and amounts. I can actually duplicate this beer later. I even made a 1000ml yeast starter. Fermentation started in under twelve hours and it was very active - stuff was blowing out the airlock for two days. Original gravity was 1060. I was hoping for a little higher, actually, and for a Belgian strong ale it should be (the ranges I saw were from 1064 to 1075). I'm guessing my mash wasn't perfect.
I racked to the secondary on April 19. The gravity was 1013. I figured the alcohol content (by volume) should be around 6.2%. I'm hoping that racking the beer may kickstart the yeast a little and it will ferment out a little more.
The beer is a murky orange right now. It looks like five gallons of unfiltered, raw honey. It smells spectacular. The alcohol is evident and the fruitiness of the Belgian yeast is really outstanding. Can't wait to try it. It'll be one of the Weekly Pint's, no doubt.
The Weekly Pint: Korbinian from Weihenstephaner -- UPDATED
This another beer that makes me feel so very cosmopolitan, so recherche; like James Bond of the beer world. Just imagine: you walk into a sweet pub, all decked out, full of pomp and circumstance and you say to the bartender: "I'm a beerist, {insert name here} the Beerist. I'll take a Korbinian - draft not bottled." The bartender looks at you and says, "What? Are you on crack?" You smile glibly and say, "No."
Well, let's get on to serious matters. The folks at the Weihenstaphener brewery were kind enough to provide some background info on their spectacular doppelbock. The beer is named after Saint Corbinian. He was sent to Bavaria to evangelize and established a Benedictine monastery on Nahrberg Hill near the city of Freising in 725 AD. Apparently, Corbinian was the one converted, for now the Weihenstaphener Brewery sits atop that hill and continues to produce superb beer.
This beer is a bock, so it's stylistically appropriate for the namesake to be a monk, eh, even if his name doesn't end in -ator. Ironically, Korbinian is also the name of a neurologist from the nineteenth century - and this doppelbock can affect the brain, that's for sure.
The label is laden with imagery and symbolism as well. The brewery sent me an explanation of the images. Instead of mangling it all in the retelling, I'll quote their words:
"Corbinian's symbol is the saddled bear. According to his hagiography, a bear killed Corbinian's pack horse on the way to Rome and so the saint commanded it to carry his load. Once he arrived in Rome, however, he let the bear go, and it lumbered back to its native forest. Both the heraldic element and the legend itself carry significant symbolism. One interpretation is that the bear tamed by God's grace is the Bishop of Freising himself and the pack saddle is the burden of his episcopate. The bear's submission and retreat can also be interpreted as Christianity's "taming" and "domestication" of the ferocity of paganism and, consequentially, the laying of a "foundation for a great civilization in the Duchy of Bavaria."
Korbinian is a "dunkles starkbier," or, dark strong beer. Living up to its name, it pours very dark - a brownish red, like beautiful cherry wood. It's got a thick, smooth, yellow-white head that came apart as I drank, bits of it floating here and there across the vast expanse of the body. It was like globs of fungus floating on a dark pool. Or maybe the continents as Pangea split.
My favorite quality of the double bock was its aroma. It smelled like a muffin; a bready, alcohol drenched muffin. Yes, it's like a perfect pastry in a bottle. Anyone for breakfast? Hmm ... make some beer pancakes and drench them with a syrupy scotch ale and accompany that with Korbinian. Screw the 'breakfast of champions,' that's the 'breakfast of brewers.'
As far as flavor, it's oily sweet with a brief touch of carbonation. It evaporates from the back of the tongue, leaving a crisp finish. No hops were evident so I loved it even more. It's a heavy beer, made for after dinner (if you decide against breakfast, that is). It's very rich.
Many thanks go out to Nicole Rupprecht from Weihenstephaner. I was terribly excited to find her response to my email waiting in my inbox Monday morning and I'm glad to know a little more about the 'world's oldest brewery.' I look forward to trying more of their beers.
Until the next pint ....
Old Tasting Notes: Red Seal Ale
It is time for another beer from the Notes. For any who don't know about this series of blog entries, I stumbled upon an old file that contained tasting notes from approximately two and a half years ago, possibly even older than that. I decided to post these very sparse notes and I hope to eventually find these same beers again and evaluate them once more, just to see what differences are manifest.
This third beer of the Old Tasting Notes series is:
Red Seal Ale, a pale ale from North Coast Brewing.
Apparently, North Coast has been around since 1988. No one informed me. After poking around on their website, I think I may have had some of their beers other than Red Seal, but I'm not sure. I know I've heard of them. Old Rasputin and Brother Thelonius. They also have some Acme Ales which I desire to consume. I automatically thought of the Coyote and Roadrunner cartoons. With such good beer names and a good reputation ("worth seeking out" according to MJ and lots of awards) I definitely want more.
Thus and so, on to the notes. The scorecards used contained five categories: Color, Collar, Boquet, Mouthfeel, Taste, Overall. At the bottom of the card there is a space to score the beer from 1 to 5. They're very generic scoresheets and notes.
COLOR - Orange - kind of cloudy
COLLAR - Clung well to the glass - good mix of bubbles
BOQUET - Strong hops
MOUTHFEEL - Sticky, kind of oily
TASTE - Unexpected tang, excellent hop finish
OVERALL - Very nice, decently balanced, not overpowering
SCORE (1-5) - 4
COMMENTS - Fermentation not perfect - too orange for a red, decent for style - too cloudy - yeast bite
I sound stupid with those ratings. 'Good mix of bubbles?' Who says that? Would you go to your bartender and say, "Yo, I wanna beer with a good mix of bubbles?" No. Stupid. My favorite dumb comment is "too orange for a red." Obviously I simply read the name and assumed this was a red ale. I did not do my homework and realize it's a pale ale. 'Fermentation not perfect.' What in the name of brewing does that mean? I embarass myself with these stupid rantings.
Whatever. The next Old Taste will be an American amber ale. Until then, have an old pint. Er, no, just have a pint.
The Weekly Pint: Breckenridge Vanilla Porter
"The problems of two people may not amount to a hill of beans," said Frank Drebin (masterfully portrayed by Leslie Nielsen in The Naked Gun). "But this is our hill and these are our beans."
That movie was hilarious. You're probably wondering what it has to do with beer. Not much, really, I just thought it was funny. I guess the only real link between that quote and this week's pint is the bean reference. I drank the third bottle from the Great Assortment, a six pack of assorted beers purchased in Tempe, AZ after the Great Arizona Beer Festival. It's a vanilla porter and Breckenridge Brewery uses vanilla beans, directly from Papua New Guinea and Madagascar, in the brewing process. See the connection now? Whatever.
I noticed it at the Arizona Beer Fest and made sure to make my wife try it. She liked it, just as I knew she would. It's a sweet piece of beer candy. I found out it's better in three ounces than twelve, though.
It had a refined, blossoming, dirty ivory head which fell rather fast, leaving a thin bead atop a brown and red body. The aroma was fabulous, beginning with a tinny fruit smell, progressing to harsh roasted grain. Then the vanilla blankets both, melding and blending them together. No hops were evident - even though they use four different hops: Chinook, Tettnang, Perle and Goulding - and as you all know that suits me well.
It was tingly right at the tip of the tongue and that tickle of carbonation was just enough. The body was incredibly slick with the vanilla weaving itself everywhere. It's just amazingly sweet. In fact, I'd say the vanilla clogs up the body. Yet, it doesn't seem out of place. I know, that sounds contradictory; but the vanilla belongs in this beer. It finishes dry even though it's a sticky and thick beer. Overall, it was sweet and creamy. It was like a root beer float with extra ice cream and some whipped cream. Oh, and some vanilla extract poured on top.
I found it hard to drink, which is something I never thought I'd say about a beer, but it really is a good beer. Craft beer drinkers, or beerists as I now refer to people in the craft beer world, will certainly enjoy the beer. It's a fantastic extrapolation on a classic beer style. I don't think it's a cross-over beer. Sure, it would expose an average beer drinker to a powerful taste but it might just be too much.
Until the next pint ...