Tripel

Tripel Karmeliet

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So I’ve been strangely neglectful of this style of late. Unless you count beer clubs or near-abominations, I haven’t done a proper tripel review since… January (and while it had fantastic fancy packaging, the product was rather lackluster). So let’s take a break from the realm of trendy limited-edition, imperialized, barrel-aged, face melting dark beers and hit up a readily-available classic that I’ve never had before.

Brouwerij Bosteels claims this is “still brewed to an authentic beer recipe from 1679” and they call it a tripel more because this monastic recipe uses three kinds of grain: wheat, oats, and barley (though it fits the more general guidelines of the style as well). Well sure, I believe that beer made before anyone knew what yeast was would taste exactly like what I’m drinking today. Why not? In seriousness, this is one of the best reviewed tripels in the world, right behind the style codifiers like Westmalle and St. Bernardus (and those upstart Canadians with their La Fin Du Monde). It’s kinda inexplicable that I’ve waited so long to try this, so here goes:

Tripel Karmeliet

Tripel Karmeliet – Pours a bright, slightly hazy yellow color with a massive, 4 finger head and lots of retention. Smells of spicy, musty Belgian yeast, some clove and plenty of light fruit character, like banana and pears. Taste has a huge spice component, again with the clove, but also a softening blow of musty Belgian yeast and that fruit character brightening things up in the finish. Mouthfeel is hugely carbonated, effervescent, but also crisp and refreshing, with a very dry finish that keeps the booziness down. Overall, this is some seriously great beer. Easy to drink, but packed with flavor and extremely well balanced. A

Beer Nerd Details: 8.4% ABV bottled (11.2 oz brown bottle!) Drank out of a goblet on 11/16/12.

I’m kinda shocked at how well this hit the spot. Maybe I should slow down with all this barrel aged nonsense. Haha, like that will ever happen. Also happy that I didn’t have to drink this out of a green bottle that’d been sitting in the window for months on end. Seriously guize, I know there’s not much in the way of hops in this, but green bottled beers do seriously deteriorate quickly. Give us a break. Fortunately, the smaller bottles are brown. This makes no sense, but I’m not going to question it.

Novembeer Club

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Tonight was beer club, a meeting of beer minded individuals from my work who get together once a month to share good beer, a good meal, and good company! We typically congregate at a local BYOB to share all our brews and wines and whatnot. As per usual, much merriment was had by all, lots of beer and wine and good food. It ended up being a rather small gathering by our normal standards, but still plenty of fantastic beer shared by all.

Novembeer Club

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For the sake of posterity, some thoughts on each beer are below. Standard disclaimers about the fact that I wasn’t in a sensory deprivation chamber whilst tasting these, and in a lot of cases, I was only sampling rather small pours, but whatevers. Take these descriptions with a grain of salt if you’re really concerned, but you really shouldn’t be, because I’m pretty awesome. Or not. Whatever. Here’s what I had (in order of drinking, not necessarily in order of the picture above):

  • Kaedrin Abbey Dubbel – My homebrewed abbey dubbel style beer seems to still be conditioning, though it’s getting better every week. Right now, it’s quite tasty, if a bit boozy, and the carbonation doesn’t seem to have fully taken hold of the brew. This is actually somewhat expected, given that the brew came in much stronger than I had originally intended. I suspect this will be drinking fabulously in a few weeks or so… I wll refrain from rating right now, just cause I want to give it some more time to mature…
  • Turkey Drool Homebrew – A friend of a friend of a friend contributed this homebrew, which actually seemed to fall a little flat, especially when compared with other brews we had tonight. There didn’t seem to be any off flavors, per say, but on the other hand, what was there was very subtle if not non-existent. From the ingredient list, I was expecting much more out of this. Again, not the worst thing evar and certainly drinkable, but also completely forgetable. C+
  • New Belgium Snow Day – A strange, but mostly enjoyable brew. BeerAdvocate classifies it as an American Black Ale, but I would say that it’s more of hoppy red ale than that implies. Maybe some winter warmer base here, but quite a nice hop character to it. Overall, very drinkable stuff, a nice hop presence, but it’s not going to light the world on fire either. B
  • Great Lakes Christmas Ale (2011) – Kaedrin friend Dana procured this last year, and has held on to it since then. Apparently a highly sought after beer, this is a very light colored winter warmer style offering, reminiscent of a deeper English pale ale that doesn’t quite contain any of that diacetyl character I associate with it. Sweet, a very light spiciness, flavorful, but not quite blowing me away either. I can see why this is a prized holiday brew, but it’s not something I go out of my way for… B
  • Westmalle Trappist Tripel – A classic, which I have already reviewed in detail. For the most part, it’s as good as evar. On a personal level, I’ve cooled somewhat on the tripel style, though I still quite enjoy one every once in a while… A
  • Kona Pipeline Porter – Holy coffee, Batman! This is apparently a porter, but it’s heavily influenced by coffel flavors all throughout, sorta light a lighter Founders Breakfast Sout. I’m not really a fan of coffee or porters in general, so it’s pretty amazing that I didn’t tink of this as the worst thing I’ve ever tasted. It’s actually pretty solid and goes down easily. That being said, I don’t think I’d ever really seek to try this again… B-
  • Weyerbacher Winter Ale – Another beer I’ve had and reviewed before. For the most part, my feelings remain unchanged. It’s a fine beer, a pretty standard winter warmer, but I’d like to see more complexity and flavor out of this one. B
  • Monk’s Café Flemish Sour Red Ale – One of my contributions for the night, this is one of those beers often recommended to sour newbies, and it actually did seem to go over really well with the beer club folks, even those who don’t go in for normal beertastic stuff. A nice malt backbone and sweet fruit character followed by a very slight sourness that nevertheless cut through and made this one of the more flavorful brews of the night. Overall, definitely a nice beginners sour beer, something I’ll probably try again at some point as well… B+
  • Nebraska Hop God – Reserve Series Aged In French Oak Chardonnay Barrels – Yet another of my contributions for the night, this one turned out to be interesting, if not quite what I expected from a beer called “Hop God”. Hops certainly play a role in the flavor profile, but it’s mostly defined by that oak Chardonnay character, with some booze peeking through as well. It’s really quite nice, though I wish I had a better palate for white wine. B or B+
  • Victory Storm King Stout – Once again, we get a beer I’ve had before. It’s a beer I’ve come to appreciate more and more over the years, but I still wouldn’t rate it among the highest imperial stouts. Still a solid stout with a big hop presence. B+
  • Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout – My last contribution for the night, this is just as good as it was the last time I had it. Beer club peeps seemed to enjoy, though there were a couple that don’t particularly enjoy those bourbon flavors, and thus didn’t care for this. Me, I’ll leave it at an A.

And there you have it. Another successful outing, as per usual. Alas, we didn’t get to all the beers we brought (I was particularly interested in Lancaster’s Winter Warmer, but I’m sure I’ll catch up with it sometime). Already looking forward to next month and some more holiday brews…

Octobeerfest

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Tonight was beer club, a meeting of beer minded individuals from my work who get together once a month to share good beer, a good meal, and good company! We typically congregate at a local BYOB, and this time we hit up America’s Pie, probably the best pizza joint in West Chester. Lots of food and beer and mirth was had by all. Things started small but grew as the night progressed, so this picture doesn’t quite capture all the beers that arrived later:

beerclub1012.jpg

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For the sake of posterity, some thoughts on each beer are below. As per usual, these beers were not consumed under ideal conditions, but hey, these were really fun conditions, which, come to think of it, are ideal enough for me. But you may want to take these notes with a giant rock of salt. Anywho, here’s the impressions I’m left with (in the order of drinking, not necessarily from the picture above):

  • Lakefront Pumpkin Lager – A strangely muted flavor profile that features all the typical pumpkin pie flavors nonetheless, this was actually a decent way to start off beer club. Very aromatic, light, spicy, straightforward beer. Not going to light the world on fire, but a worthy brew. B
  • Duvel – This is generally considered to be a classic beer, but I have to admit, I’ve always come away somewhat underwhelmed by Duvel. I feel like this bottle was much better than any of my previous tastings. Sweet, spicy Belgian yeast character in the nose and taste. Last time I had this, I was a little turned off by what I perceived to be tart, lemony notes, but that didn’t appear to be in tonight’s bottle at all. Strange. I still wouldn’t call this one of my favorites or anything, but I could bump it up to a B
  • Original Sin Hard Cider and Dana’s Homemade Applewine – I tend to call this event “beer club”, but lots of other alcoholic beverages make appearances. This usually amounts to wine, but some folks who don’t like beer will go for some cider too (especially this time of year, I guess). Me, I don’t really care for that sort of thing. I tried a couple offerings and thought, yep, that’s got apple flavor, and left it at that.
  • Cigar City Guava Grove – One of my contributions for the night, this is a big, delicious ball of spicy, fruity saison goodness. Great orangey color, spicy Belgian yeast character in the nose and taste, with a level of fruitiness, presumably coming from the guava. Generally considered to be the best beer of the night, I jokingly mentioned that I wished I kept it all for myself. But I kid. Anywho, exceptional beer. I really must figure out how to get my hands on some more Cigar City stuff. A-
  • War Horse India Pale Ale – Probably suffered a little in comparison to the Guava Grove, but yeah, it’s an IPA, focusing on the earthy, floral notes, with a strong malt backbone and a fair bitterness in the finish. I found it to be somewhat unremarkable, but it was generally enjoyed by the group (we are easily amused). B-
  • DuClaw Mad Bishop – Ah, it was about time someone broke out the other major seasonal style, the Oktoberfest. Not one of my favorite styles, but as these things go, I found myself enjoying this one quite a bit. It seemed a little sweeter than your typical, authentic examples of the style, but that’s not a horrible thing in my book. Very nice. B
  • Lindemans Framboise – Another offering that was popular with the cider/wine crowd, I found it a little on the cough syrupy side of things. Nice raspberry flavors and it’s pretty thick and sweet for such a tiny ABV beer, but I don’t know, maybe I’m spoiled by better lambics at this point. B-
  • Great Lakes Nosferatu – This is one of them Imperial Red Ale beers that goes heavy on the citrus and pine hops, certainly a welcome development at this point in the night. Even with my palate probably being in pretty bad shape, I found this to be quite good. And you’ve just gotta love the label/name of this beer too. I should pick up a bottle of the stuff and give it a fair shake, though I’ll still hand it a B+ rating, making it one of the better beers of the night.
  • Lagunitas New Dogtown Pale Ale – One of those late arrivals, this one actually held its own against some of the bigger beers I’d been drinking. Big citrus and pine character in the nose and taste, making it seem more like a straight up IPA than a lowly Pale Ale. Quite enjoyable and again, one of the better beers of the night. B+
  • St. Bernardus Tripel – Another beer I’ve actually reviewed before, though this time my feelings on the beer haven’t changed much. I didn’t have a lot of it tonight, but it’s pretty much exactly what I remember about it. Excellent Belgian Tripel, if not quite my favorite.
  • Yuengling Oktoberfest – At this point in the night, my palate is pretty well wrecked, but again, it seemed like a really solid, traditional take on the Oktoberfest style. Not exactly my thing, but I could probably put a few of these down in a session if duty called for such. Indeed, I might even prefer this to the ubiquitous Yuengling Lager… B
  • Lavery Stingy Jack Pumpkin Ale – My other contribution for the night, I think this one comported itself quite well. It’s got that big, chewy pumpkin pie thing going on here, but the balance of malt, pumpkin, and spice was pretty well honed here, as I really enjoyed it. Now, again, I was pretty well in the bag at this point, but the bomber I brought seemed to go pretty quickly, and folks seemed to enjoy it. I’ll give it a provisional B+

Phew, that ended up being quite a list of beers. Oddly, they were all pale colored – not a single stout to be had. The closest thing to a dark beer was Nosferatu, which probably couldn’t be counted as pale, but it’s no stout either. Not that I’m complaining. Indeed, I shall declare this gathering yet another success. I’m already thinking ahead to our next meeting…

Green’s Quest

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I admit, I’ve always been curious about these Green’s beers. Never curious enough to pull the trigger, but one of the consequences of being a huge beer nerd is that when my birthday rolls around, people give me beer that I normally wouldn’t buy (just to be clear, this is not something I’m complaining about). In this case, I got a rather awesome six-pack, picked out by my nieces and Brother (who had steered them towards the Belgian aisle, bless him). I got some Chimay and a Westmalle Tripel, and a few others, including this beer – a gluten free “Tripel Blonde Ale”. Yep, no barley in this at all. In it’s place, we’ve got Millet (whatever that is), Buckwheat (Ohhhh Tay!), Rice (I know what that is!), and Sorghum (does not sound like a foodstuff, but let’s go with it). That doesn’t sound too appetizing. On the other hand, it clocks in at 8.5% ABV, so maybe there’s some hope? Ehh, not so much:

Greens Quest Tripel

Green’s Quest Tripel Blonde Ale – Pours a golden yellow color with lots of fizzy, big bubbled head. Smells of sweet green apple and not a whole lot else. The taste kinda leans towards that green apple character too, with a light tartness and big, cloying sweetness. Mouthfeel is actually kinda heavy, highly carbonated (which does help cut the sweetness), but not quite what you want out of a tripel. Overall, it’s not an outright abomination, but it’s not really that good either. C-

Beer Nerd Details: 8.5% ABV bottled (500 ml). Drank out of a goblet on 9/22/12. Label sez: “Best Before 05/01/17”

Yeah, so I can’t say as though I’m going to run out to try more gluten-free beer. I’m just going to be thankful that I don’t have a gluten problem. Let’s just chalk this up as a loss in the great game of Belgian Beer Roulette. And such loses only make the wins that much sweeter.

BBQ Beer Club

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Tonight was beer club, a meeting of beer minded individuals from my work who get together once a month to share good beer, a good meal, and good company! We typically congregate at a local BYOB, and this time we hit up Jimmy’s BBQ. It’s not gonna blow away folks used to spectacular BBQ, but for us unwashed Yanks, it was solid stuff, and quite frankly, our options for good BBQ up here are somewhat limited. As usual, a good time was had by all, and we had quite a nice selection of beers available:

Beer Club Beers for August 2012

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For the sake of posterity, some thoughts on each beer are below. Naturally, these were not ideal conditions, but then again, what were you expecting? It’s not like this BBQ place had a sensory deprivation chamber that would allow us to truly evaluate the beers in an objective fashion. And even if it did, that would take all the fun out of it. Stop being such a Nazi, dude! In any case, here’s some impressions of each beer (in order of drinking, not necessarily the order of the picture above):

  • Sly Fox Helles Golden Lager – Lager lover Paul brought a growler of this stuff, which made a nice starting beer for me. It’s pretty standard golden lager stuff, perhaps a step above the typical BMC macro stuff. Not particularly my thing, but again, a nice start to the evening. B-
  • Sixpoint Righteous Ale – An interesting take on the Rye beer, one that actually emphasizes the rye (as opposed to a lot of hopped up versions, which certainly have their own allure). There is a healthy hop presence, to be sure, but it leans towards the more European earthy, pungent, almost spicy character that actually complements the rye quite nicely. Really quite nice. I’d like to try this under better conditions, but for now, let’s leave it at a very solid B+
  • Kaedrin Simcoe IPA – My homebrewed IPA went over well, as usual, though I’m getting a little worried, as I only have a couple of these left. It is starting to show it’s age a bit – much more piney than it’s initial incarnation – though it’s still quite nice. Definitely something I’m going to attempt to replicate sometime this winter. Solid B+ material here (maybe higher at it’s peak).
  • Kaedrin Trappist Tripel – This was my second batch of homebrew, well over a year and a half old. A tripel style beer, it definitely came in a little higher than expected at 9.5 to 10% ABV, and that booze certainly takes on a too-prominent position in the taste. Definitely too much of that fusel alcohol flavor in this one, though it’s not completely overpowering. That being said, it was an interesting beer to try in the beer club setting, and I actually think the age is doing it some favors. Perhaps another year will mellow this thing out a little more? I’ve got about a dozen of these things left, so I think we’ve got plenty of time to find out. For now, I’ll say B- or B
  • Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier – Full disclosure, this thing had been sitting in my fridge for well over a year, and whatever you may think, a 5.4% ABV wheat beer isn’t exactly aging material. That being said, it was fine, though in the context of beer club, it was kinda overshadowed by other stuff we drank… When fresh, I gave it an A-, and I think it still remains one of my favorite Hefeweizens…
  • Firestone Walker Wookey Jack – A beer many of my fellow blogging travelers have been enjoying, and I have to say, I see what they’re talking about! Of course, it’s no Society and Solitude #2, but as Black IPAs (or Cascadian Dark American Black whatevers you want to call it) go, it’s a solid, perhaps even top tier entry. Very nice pine tree nose, with a taste that is more hops than roast, but with both elements present and prominent. Apparently also made with Rye, which adds something different to the mix, but which I wasn’t really looking too strongly for… It’s a beer I’d love to try again sometime, but for now, B+ it is! Thanks for bringing this one Danur!
  • Duck Rabbit Porter – Um, well, yeah, it’s a porter! As the style goes, it’s a solid entry, though it’s not something that wowed me like, say, Everett. Still, I’m sure it could fill in for my go-to cigar beer, Founders Porter. Duck Rabbit is most certainly a brewery I need to familiarize myself with further though. B
  • Russian River Supplication – So I really enjoyed this the last time I had it, and I’ve been trying to experiment with sours at Beer Club, so I brought this one, and hoo boy… I absolutely adored this beer this time around. Not sure if it was because my palate had already been exercised by the BBQ and preceding beers, or if I just got a particularly good bottle (Batch 7) this time around, but man, this thing was spectacular. Fellow beer club peeps were also blown away by this beer, and I could hardly blame them. It really was quite eye opening, and it stood right up to the strong flavors we’d already been imbibing for a bit. I have to say, this time around, the sourness was less pronounced and better integrated into the beer, which took on more of an oak aged character. It’s something I’m going to have to revisit again sometime soon. I give it an upgrade to an A right now, but honestly, if I get another bottle that’s this good, it could vault itself up into the hallowed A+ pantheon.
  • DuClaw Soul Jacker – A blend of DuClaw’s Black Jack stout and their most excellent Devil’s Milk barleywine. Indeed, that barleywine character, full of hop flavors (but not a lot of hop bitterness), dominated the taste. There was a very light roastiness, which added some interesting complexity. I really enjoyed this, but it also sorta made me crave the regular old Devil’s Milk barleywine. I’ll give it a B+ and leave it at that.

Phew! I think this may be one of the best rated beer clubs evar! Only one real B-, and that’s not a particularly poor rating. Usually, despite all the fun we have, there’s at least something in the C or D range, if not an outright F (apparently someone forgot to bring a 3 year old San Miguel lager, smuggled from the Phillipines, that they’ve been meaning to get rid of – this surely would have opened some eyes in a bad way, but I guess we’ll have to wait for next beer club for that… experience). Not that I’m complaining (about this gathering or, for that matter, previous gatherings with not so great beer – it’s not like I have to drink a ton of bad beer or anything!). As always, I’m already anxiously awaiting the next beer club meeting!

Oh yeah, I should mention, we actually didn’t get to all the beers in the pic above because we’re not all total alcoholics, you know? I did manage to take home the Duck Rabbit Milk Stout though, so I’m sure you’ll get to hear about that at some point…

June Beer Club

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Tonight was beer club, a meeting of beer minded individuals from my work who get together for a meal and lots-o-beer (and the occasional cider or wine) once a month. A very big turnout this month, and lots of good ol’ fashioned pizza place BYOB fun (I actually had a sandwich whose description was: “It’s like a cheesesteak and an Italian hoagie had a baby… it was very good, but the most popular dish of the night were these deep fried stromboli-like things that were amazing.) Good times were had by all…

June 2012 Beer Club

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For the sake of posterity, some thoughts on each beer are below. As usual, these were not ideal conditions, so these notes are probably not very reliable. Or rock solid. The point is that I have thoughts about these beers, and I’m going to share them, and you’re going to like it. I hope. Ok, fine, maybe not, but I’m putting them here anyway. In order of drinking (not in order of the picture above):

  • Prism Bitto Honey IPA – An offering from a relatively new, relatively local brewery called Prism (which, for whatever reason, always reminds me of the premium cable channel from way back when that eventually turned into Starz, I believe). Anywho, I actually got a taste of this stuff at the Philly Beer Week preview a couple weeks back. It is basically a very nice, sweet IPA, with a pleasant floral citrus hoppiness that is offset by a prominent honey character. I would not call it a favorite, but it’s a unique take on the style, which I certainly appreciate. B
  • Kaedrin Earl Grey Bitter – My homebrewed English Style Bitter, brewed with Earl Grey tea and bitter orange peel. The taste actually continues to evolve, though it remains a highly drinkable, light, citrusy take on the traditional English Bitter. Believe it or not, the tea-like character seems more prominent now than ever. Beer club peeps seem to enjoy it, and I’m glad I’ve got an ample supply leftover for summer drinkin… B+
  • Magic Hat Elder Betty – A wheat beer brewed with elderberries, it came off a bit on the muddled side. It didn’t particularly have a strong wheat feel to it, and the elderberry was there, but not super strong. It certainly wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t knocking my socks off either. A nice alternative to macro swill, for sure, but not something to go out of your way for… B-
  • North Coast Blue Star Great American Wheat Beer – Now this one is a little more like it, though it’s not exactly a spectacular beer either. Still, I got that nice wheat character out of this, and it was a really solid take on a standard style. Again, not something that will melt your face, but it’s pretty good! B
  • Victory Summer Love – I had this beer a few times last year and I have to say that I was not impressed. However, trying it again tonight, I was quite surprised with this one. It was much hoppier than I remember, sorta like a lighter ale version of their classic Prima Pils. We weren’t outside, but that’s what this beer is made for… B+
  • Fegley’s Brew Works Monkey Wrench – A very solid take on the Belgian Saison style, a little sweet, very spicy, but not overwhelming the palate. A relatively full mouthfeel, yet it still leaves you with a light impression, which is strange, but nice. A well crafted take on the standard sweet and spicy version of the style. B+
  • Weyerbacher Blasphemy – My other contribution for the night, this is a bourbon barrel aged version of Weyerbacher’s Quad. I must admit that I’m not a huge fan of the Quad, which I found a bit too sweet and boozy for my tastes. I mean, it’s good and all, but not among my favorite quadrupels. Unfortunately, the bourbon barrel aging treatment hasn’t improved things as much as I’d thought it would. It comes off as being extremely boozy, with that bourbon really dominating the finish and aftertaste. But I’m not getting the richness or vanilla oak flavors out of this that I normally get out of bourbon barrel aged beers. It’s still good, but I was expecting a bit more… At 11.8% ABV, we didn’t actually finish off the whole bottle, so I may take another sample of this sucker soon, so perhaps I’ll have a better idea of this then… B
  • Elysian Avatar Jasmine IPA – Holy weirdness Batman! This thing was the weirdest beer of the night. Granted, we probably should have cracked this before Blasphemy, but even still, it had a very strange floral note, almost like perfume, in both the nose and taste. Presumably, that’s the Jasmine that’s dominating the beer. As I drank, I gradually got more of the floral hops, but nothing really seemed to mesh with this beer. It was sorta a mess, definitely not my thing. C+
  • MacTarnahan’s Spine Tingler – A Belgian style Tripel, and a pretty well crafted one at that. It’s perhaps not perfect, maybe a bit too sweet, but still eminently drinkable stuff. Very nice spicy, bready Belgian yeast character, lots of sweetness, a very good beer. B+
  • 5even Helles Bock – My friend Dana’s homebrewed beer wasn’t quite ready, but we tried it anyway. It was actually pretty good, nice and sweet, malt-forward beer. She things it will clear up with some more conditioning time, but it seemed quite nice to me, though I’d like to try it in another month and see where it’s at…

And that just about covers it. Good times were had by all, and as usual, I’m already looking forward to the July beer club!

Adventures in Brewing – Homebrew Review!

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Homebrewing has been a real blast. I mean, I’m not a miracle worker, but I have managed, on several occasions, to turn water into beer. How awesome is that? Even when the results don’t come out as planned, it’s a fun hobby. I reviewed my first batch of homebrew, a brown ale, before I started my second beer (around a year ago), but for a variety of reasons (i.e. laziness), I’ve since fallen way behind on reviewing my beers. So over the course of this past week, I’ve cracked open one of each unreviewed homebrew and gave it a whirl. I suppose I should note the obvious conflict of interest here. While I’m sure you all think of me as a BJCP approved expert and grandmaster Cicerone, my beer tasting notes are highly subjective on even the best day, so my notes on beers I’ve brewed myself might be overly harsh or too lenient. I really don’t know which, and maybe both are present in my notes. Make of this what you will, but since I bore you all to tears with my tedious brewing-day recaps, I figured it’d be worth letting you know how they came out (at least, in my mind and in the probably-no-definitely biased feedback from friends and family).

Homebrew #2: Trappist Tripel – I went a little adventurous for my second brew. High gravity beers are more difficult to brew for a variety of reasons, but I did alright, despite a few rookie mistakes. There are some good things about it, but it ended up with a lot of alcohol character in the taste. It has gotten better with age though, and I think I may be experiencing “waves of maturation”, as sometimes I think this has turned out reasonably well, and other times I think it’s kinda horrible. I still have about a half a case of this left, and with such a high ABV, I think I’ll let it continue to mature (checking on it occasionally). Feedback from friends and family indicates that the beer is rather heavy, which it is… Let’s see how this one treats me:

Homebrewed Tripel

Pours a clearish golden color with a little orange and a finger of head. The smell is quite nice. Typical bready Belgian yeast and spice, along with a surprising fruity character and a not-so-surprising boozy factor. Taste is sweet with that Belgian spice character and plenty of booze, which really asserts itself in the finish and aftertaste. The mouthfeel is full bodied with solid carbonation to start and a little bit of a sticky finish (which becomes more pronounced as the beer warms up). Plenty of warming alcohol character… actually a bit too much hotness here, which is this beer’s one major flaw. Overall, it’s actually gotten better with age, though I wouldn’t call it great. Not bad for my sophomore effort though! B

Beer Nerd Details: 10% ABV bottled (12 oz.) Drank out of a goblet on 3/13/12. Bottled on 3/6/11.

Homebrew #3: Bavarian Hefeweizen – This is, without a doubt, the worst beer I’ve ever made. I’m not sure what went wrong here, but there’s always been a very distinct off flavor here that I can’t quite describe. I want to say it’s vegetative, but that’s not really right. None of the traditional off flavors seem to describe what I’m getting out of the taste of this beer. In any case, at no point has it ever resembled an actual wheat beer, aside from perhaps the yeast character (which shares a lot with Belgian yeasts). Let’s see how it’s doing now:

Homebrewed Hefeweizen

The beer looks pretty enough. Perhaps a little dark for the style, but a nice golden orangeish color with tons of head. When the beer was young, the aromas were dominated by banana, but as time has gone on, the clove has come out more. It actually smells pretty darn good. The taste is better now than it was when it was young, but there are some off flavors present and it still doesn’t taste at all like wheat. There’s an almost tinny undertone to the beer as well. Carbonation is very high and along with the spice, it’s got a bit of a harsh mouthfeel (this isn’t normally a bad thing in my book, but for this particular beer it is). Overall, it’s not a complete abomination and it’s actually drinkable, but there is something wrong with it. (Other folks have told me that they don’t mind this beer, so maybe I’m being to hard on myself, but in honesty, this beer turned out nothing like what I was going for, and so thus I rate it lowly!) D

Beer Nerd Details: 5.25% ABV bottled (12 oz.) Drank out of a shaker pint on 3/10/12. Bottled 5/15/11.

Homebrew #4: Saison – This was the first homebrew I made that I truly loved. I patterned the recipe after Saison Dupont (one of my favorites) and the beer actually turned out that way, so this all makes sense. I was very excited about this batch and impatiently cracked one open after only one week of bottle conditioning. And it was perfect. Beautiful fragrant spices and pale malts, very deep flavors, perfect carbonation and a well balanced, full body. Unfortunately, that perfection hasn’t lasted. The beer is still good, but I perhaps used too much priming sugar, as bottles these days tend to be overcarbonated and as the beer has matured, it’s taken on a bit of that boozy hotness (nowhere near the levels of the tripel, but still there). I think I underestimated how effectively the 3711 French Saison yeast would eat up the wort, as this did come out a bit stronger than I was looking for. If I make something like this again, it will be a little lower in gravity, with less priming sugar at bottling time, and again, I think better temperature control will also be helpful. Anyways, response to this beer has been generally positive, though some don’t like the spicy and overcarbonated nature of the beer. Here we go:

Homebrew Saison

Pours a cloudy golden yellowish color with tons of fluffy head that leaves a little lacing as I drink. Smell is filled with spicy aromas (definitely clove, maybe some banana and bready Belgian yeast. The taste is sweet, but filled with spiciness (again clove), and a mild bitterness in the very dry finish (this level of bitterness wasn’t in the beer on the first week, but it’s not inappropriate either). Maybe just a hint of booze as well. Mouthfeel is very strong, full bodied, and harsh with tons of carbonation. Overall, it’s still quite good, but it’s not even really close to my initial taste of the stuff. B+ (though maybe an A for that first taste).

Beer Nerd Details: 7.5% ABV bottled (12 oz.) Drank out of a goblet on 3/10/12. Bottled on 7/6/11.

Homebrew #5: Stout – The goal with this one was to make a stout with more than a one dimensional roasty character to it. I planned to emphasize chocolate and caramel in this batch, and for the most part I succeeded. However, the beer does have some issues. No real “defects” per say, just things that aren’t ideal. For instance, the final gravity was around 1.020, which makes for quite a heavy tasting beer – I was hoping for more attenuation here. Perhaps as a result, the head on this beer is pretty lackluster, and it fades quickly. Its the sort of beer that starts off well, but gets to be a bit much by the end of the bottle. Perhaps it will improve with time, but here’s what I’m getting out of it now:

Homebrewed Stout

Pours a very dark brown color, almost black (no highlights when held up to light) with a finger of quickly disappearing light brown head. The smell features that caramel malt in full force, with a chalky roastiness also present, maybe just a hint of coffee. The taste is similar, though the roasted malts are more prominent here and it could perhaps have used a bit more hop balance. Still, it’s not one dimensionally roasty, and that caramel and chocolate malt adds a nice complexity to the taste. The mouthfeel is extremely heavy and full bodied. It’s well carbonated, but a little acidic in the finish, especially as it warms up. It’s the sort of beer that starts out well enough, but it really gets rough towards the end of the glass. Overall, it’s ok, in the direction I wanted to go, but it hasn’t quite reached the destination. I think some recipe tweaks, either toning it down (or up!) and using some more hops could help it out. I also need to figure out how to get a little more attenuation out of the yeast… Again, I like this beer, it’s really interesting, but it’s hard to rate it very high when even I can’t seem to finish an entire bottle of it. C+ (would be maybe a B- or B if it held itself together longer)

Beer Nerd Details: 5.5% ABV bottled (12 oz.) Drank out of a snifter on 3/11/12. Bottled on 8/28/12.

Homebrew #6: Spiced Christmas Ale – Not to toot my own horn, but this is the best beer I’ve made so far (ok, I’m going to toot my own horn a little ). It’s a winter warmer style beer whose recipe was created on-the-fly in the homebrew shop (with a lot of help from the owner). Anchor Christmas was something of an inspiration, but this beer isn’t patterned after a specific version and I came up with the spicing regimen entirely on my own. It’s the beer I’m most proud of, from the recipe and spicing regimen to the way it turned out. Seems to be a popular beer when I give it to others, including the guy at the homebrew shop (I totally owed him a couple bottles thanks to his improvisation), who asked if I entered it into any competitions. It turned out to be pretty much exactly what I wanted, and unlike the saison, it’s stayed that way for a few months now. Ok, let’s toot some more horns:

Homebrewed Christmas Ale 2011

Pours a deep, dark amber color (almost, but not quite brown), with a finger of light colored head. Smells fantastic. The cinnamon and clove come through especially well, though I also get a fair amount of sugary citrus in the nose. A friend described it like it was a snickerdoodle cookie, which is pretty awesome. The taste has a sweetness to it, but it’s very spicy and it has a well balanced, somewhat dry finish. The mouthfeel is a dream – smooth, almost creamy, medium bodied, a little harshness from the spiciness, but still quite quaffable (probably my most quaffable beer). Overall, I can’t believe this beer came out as great as it did. I was worried that I’d overdo the spices (and in a lot of spiced winter beers, the spices are overpowering), but the spices I added balanced out really well. Again, this is probably my best beer, and I think it stacks up well against a lot of the commercial winter warmers I had this year. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 6.0% ABV bottled (12 oz.) Drank out of a tulip on 3/11/12. Bottled on 11/20/11.

Homebrew #7: Simcoe IPA – My most recent brew, it’s only been 3 weeks since bottling. I’ve had a few of these so far (again, I was very impatient with this one) and damn it’s been good. A little undercarbonated in the first week, but that should have worked itself out by now, so I’m really excited to try this out…

Homebrewed Simcoe IPA

Pours a very pretty golden color with a finger of head that leaves a little lacing as I drink. Smells strongly of grapefruit and pine (interestingly, more pine now than in week 1) along with a nice sugary sweet aroma. The taste also starts off sweet, plenty of that citrus and pine hop character, and a nice, bracing bitterness in the relatively dry finish. Mouthfeel is quite good. Medium bodied and the carbonation has come up to speed too. Not sure how to describe it, but it’s like the carbonation has small bubbles. Actually quite quaffable. Overall, this is one damn good IPA. There’s nothing quite like a super-fresh IPA, but I can’t wait to see how it matures over time as well. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 7% ABV bottled (12 oz.) Drank out of a snifter on 3/10/12. Bottled on 2/18/12.

So there you have it. All in all, I think I’ve got 3.5-4 cases of homebrewed beer left, with another 5 gallons (about 2 cases) in the fermenter right now. Alas, my best beers are the ones that go the fastest, and the IPA was a small batch to start with. Anyways, I’ve learned a lot since my first batch, and I think my past couple batches show that I’ve at least got the basics down. I’d list out some of those learnings, but that’s perhaps another post for another day.

Yeast Hoist

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Ron Regé Jr. is a cartoonist who has been putting out independent comics and zines since the 1990s. He somewhat recently began publishing a series of comics called “Yeast Hoist” which aren’t really about beer, though there’s some beer in the art and the phrase does seem to be slang for drinking a beer. But mostly it’s just art. A large portion of it is available on the internets, but he was apparently approached by Belgian Brouwerij Sterkens to do some exclusive art for their St. Sebastiaan Golden Ale, and it resulted in one of the most gorgeous bottles (actually a half-liter ceramic crock) I’ve ever seen:

Yeast Hoist Closeup

Apologies for the lackluster quality of the shot, but that is quite awesome, isn’t it? And while Regé’s art is often somewhat abstract, it really fits well with a Belgian abbey tripel style beer. Unfortunately, the contents of the bottle didn’t quite live up to the promise of the artwork…

Yeast Hoist

St. Sebastiaan Golden (Yeast Hoist) – Pours a surprisingly light golden color with an almost nonexistent head. Aroma is sweet, fruity, and spicy. Taste is very sweet, with a little fruit and spice. There’s a sorta bitterish aftertaste, but not quite enough to counter the sweetness. Mouthfeel is light, under-carbonated, and a little sticky. Overall, quite disappointing. A little more carbonation may have done wonders, but as it is, it’s underwhelming. C+

Beer Nerd Details: 7.7% ABV bottled (500 ml ceramic crock). Drank out of a goblet on 1/13/12.

I’m pretty sure the Yeast Hoist bottles were a limited run, but the standard St. Sebastiaan Golden bottle is the same style ceramic crock thing, just with different artwork. It’s apparently somewhat popular, so perhaps I just got a bad, under-carbonated bottle or something.

Decembeer Club

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Tonight was beer club, a meeting of beer minded individuals from my work who get together for a meal and lots-o-beer once a month. Tonight, we wondered why we don’t do this more than once a month. We had a strange turnout this month. Lots of people, but really only 4 of us were drinking lots of beer (other folks bring wine or don’t drink at all). Still, a good time was had by all, and we had a pretty nice selection of beers:

December 2011 Beer Club

(Click for bigger image)

For the sake of posterity, some thoughts on each beer we tried are below. As usual, conditions were not ideal, so take it all with a grain of salt. Actually, no. It’s the final word on the subject. In order of drinking (not necessarily the order in the picture):

  • Harpoon Winter Warmer – A pretty straightforward winter warmer style beer. Not quite as dark as I’d expect, lots of holiday spices in the nose and taste. Decent, but nothing special… B-
  • Achouffe N’Ice Chouffe – Achouffe’s holiday beer brewed with spices turned out to be a bit disappointing. Pours a nice brown color with a bunch of head and a nice Belgian aroma. But the taste is filled with sweet raisiny character that doesn’t always work well for me. It got a little less powerful as it warmed up a bit. Very sweet and raisiny. A decent beer, but I expect more out of Achouffe… B-
  • Great Lakes Christmas Ale – It’s got all the standard winter warmer characteristics, but it’s also brewed with honey, and you really get that additional honey character in the taste. It makes this a somewhat unique brew, and it’s actually well balanced. That being said, I’ve never been that big of a honey person, so it’s still not knocking my socks off. B
  • Leinenkugel’s Fireside Nut Brown – I’ve never been one for Leinenkugel’s beers, and I don’t think this was anything special, but it’s a reasonably well executed brown ale with a nice nutty flavor. Not something I anticipate trying again, but it wasn’t repugnant either. B-
  • Rogue Santa’s Private Reserve Ale – I actually reviewed this last year and my thoughts on the beer have changed very little. A decent beer, but not something I’d go out of my way for…
  • Dixie Blackened Voodoo Lager – My least favorite beer of the night, this one wasn’t really offensive so much as it didn’t really have much going for it. Flavors seemed a bit muted (especially considering the context of a beer tasting) and while it was crisp and clean, it just didn’t do much for me. C
  • Goose Island Christmas Ale – ZOMG! It’s a beer mostly owned by Anheuser Busch. I have a reflexive dislike for that, but then, this was actually one of the better beers of the night. A really well balanced and tasty winter warmer style beer. Hop flavors of pine and spruce dominate the palate, but it’s not particularly bitter either, which is an interesting combination and everything is rather well matched. B+
  • Heavy Seas Yule Tide – A Belgian style tripel, this one doesn’t really have much in the way of holiday spirit, but it’s a decent strong pale ale. Typical Belgian yeast flavors are there, but it is extremely sweet. This worked fine for the limited portions of beer club, but to be honest, I’m positive this would become overly cloying if I tried to drink an entire bottle of the stuff. B-
  • My Homebrewed Christmas Ale – I’ve been trying these ever since I bottled it, but this particular bottle seemed a bit under-carbonated. My regular 12 ounce bottle sseem to be fine (I’m sipping on one right now, actually), but this 22 ounce bottle seemed a bit light on the carbonation. Not sure what to make of that, but it should hopefully work itself out by Christmas…

A few of the beers in the picture were not actually opened. We ended up using them as a sorta Holiday beer exchange/white elephant style gift for each other. Overall, we all had a good time and I’m already looking forward to the January edition of beer club. Until then, expect a whole slew of additional holiday beer reviews!

The Bruery Trade Winds Tripel

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We don’t get a lot of The Bruery‘s beers around these parts, but there are some places that stock them and whenever I see a new variety, I snap it up as quick as I can. I have to admit, I’m not even really that familiar with their catalog – I just know that if I see a bottle from The Bruery, I should buy it. Sometimes an expensive proposition, but usually worth every penny. Even when I’m not completely blown away by one of their beers*, I find myself happy to have tried it anyway. Most recently:

The Bruery Trade Winds Tripel

The Bruery Trade Winds Tripel – In an attempt to differentiate this beer from the throngs of other Belgian style tripels, The Bruery gave this one an Asian twist. Instead of using Belgian Candi sugar (as is traditional for the style), they used rice**, then spiced with Thai Basil. Pours a slightly hazy golden color with lots of fluffy, tightly beaded head. The nose is filled with fruitiness as well as a spicy and musty Belgian yeast character. There’s also an almost, but not quite funky aroma going on here too. The taste starts spicy with some sweetness hitting in the middle, finishing crisp and extremely dry. That finish is actually quite strange; it’s almost like I can feel the liquid evaporating in my mouth, leaving it very dry. The mouthfeel is actually pretty tame for the style. It starts out as expected, but gives way to a gentler, more subtle mouthfeel. This lighter-than-expected body is no doubt due to the use of rice in the recipe. Overall, it’s an interesting take on a classic style***. I don’t think it really rivals it’s competition, and it’s not blowing me away as some of The Bruery’s other brews do, but it is really quite good. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 8.1% ABV bottled (750 ml caged and corked). Drank out of a goblet on 8/26/11.

This marks the sixth Bruery beer I’ve tried, of which three have blown me away, and three have “merely” been great. In a recent beer run, I picked up a couple bottles of Cuir, their third Anniversary ale that is composed partially of a barrel aged version of their second Anniversary ale (there is actually a really interesting reasoning behind this method, which I’ll cover when I review Cuir). Actually, their second anniversary ale, called Coton, was the first Bruery beer I’d ever had, and it knocked my socks off, so I’m expecting a lot out of Cuir. At 14.5% ABV, I’ll have to find a good time for that (or perhaps share it with some folks), but I’m very much looking forward to trying one (and cellaring the other, along with an old bottle of Coton). I’m also very much looking forward to The Bruery’s next step in the 12 Days of Christmas series…

* And in such cases, their beer is still among the best out there.

** Rice is typically an adjunct used by the big macro breweries to lessen costs. Sugars derived from rice are very simple and thus completely consumed by yeast, increasing alcohol but not really impacting the taste. This proves useful for light, flavorless beers, I guess, but in the case of The Bruery, they’re adding it to an 8.1% ABV beer of a style that is usually overflowing with taste. In other words, The Bruery is using rice to enhance and complement the beer, rather than to make the beer cheaper and more flavorless.

*** Indeed, it almost reminds me more of a dry saison than a tripel. Sorta like a summer tripel – and this being a summer release that features the words “Summer Fun” on the label, I guess that makes sense.