Tripel

Chimay Cinq Cents

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I’m pretty sure I’ve covered all the Trappist beer tropes before, so I won’t bore you with the general trivia again. Chimay is probably the most commonly found of the Trappist beers… Indeed, back in the day, they were probably one of the most common Belgian beers you could find (in particular, the Chimay Red was pretty popular). The name of the monastery is actually Scourmont Abbey, but they market all of their products (aside from beer, they also make a line of cheeses) using the name of the tiny town in which they’re located: Chimay.

This particular beer is variously known as Chimay White, Chimay Tripel and Chimay Cinq Cents. The first refers to the white cap that was used in bottling, the second is a reference to the style, but the third is a mystery. It only appears on the 750 ml bottle… the smaller, 12 oz. bottles make no mention of the… catch phrase? What does it really represent? At first glance, I thought it perhaps translated to “Five Cents” and referred to, perhaps, some aspect of the pricing in the distant past. But it doesn’t make any sense that a Trappist brewery in Belgium would name their beer after American monetary units. After some google-fu, I figured out that it really translates to “Five Hundred”, but I was still a little unclear as to what that really meant. More googling ultimately lead to this post from 52 Brews (apparently their first post!) where the author heroically answers the question:

Michael Jackson’s Great Beer Guide features interesting write-ups on some of the best beers in the world, and upon perusing its pages, the answer was right under my nose. Regarding Cinq Cents, the book makes note that while this beer was once identified only by its white cap, the “Champagne-style presentation” was introduced to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Chimay, the town.

Mystery solved. Not only does that explain the significance of the phrase, but it also explains why it’s only on the 750 ml “champaign style” bottles.

I’ve probably had this beer a dozen times over the years. On tap, in small bottles, in large bottles. It’s often one of the few good beers available, which I’m usually pretty happy with because these beers really are great (indeed, I had one of these along with a Blue during my recent Vegas Trip.)

Chimay Cinq Cents

Chimay Cinq Cents – Pours a cloudy golden color with lots of fluffy head. Smells strongly of sweet, fruity Belgian yeast. Taste is sweet and very spicy with a dry finish and a little lingering bitterness in the aftertaste. Chimay beers have a certain distinctive element that I can never place, but I think it’s the way it’s spiced – it’s more peppery (?) than most other Belgian beers (this is probably entirely due to their yeast, not actual spice adjuncts). It’s here in the Cinq Cents, but it’s not as prominent here as it is in the Red, and I think this more subtle treatment works better here. It’s got a full body and tons of carbonation. Overall, it’s a great beer. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 8% ABV bottled (750 ml caged and corked). Drank out of a goblet on 7/17/11. Cork says 07/10, so I’m guessing it was about a year old when I drank it.

I think the Chimay Grand Reserve (Blue) is probably my favorite of their beers, but comparing that with the Cinq Cents is an apples and oranges type of thing. Strangely, despite the fact that I love dubbels, I’m not a huge fan of the Red. It’s a really well crafted and unique beer, but something about it just doesn’t jive well with me. Of course, I haven’t had it in years, so perhaps my tastes have changed…

Julytful Beer Club

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Get it? Julytful, like delightful! Eh, so yeah, good beer puns are sometimes hard to come by. Consider yourselves lucky, as a British attendee to this month’s beer club contributed this one, which superceded my initial thought of Brewly Beer Club (which isn’t the worst possible beer pun, but still pretty terrible). For the uninitiated, the beer club is basically just a bunch of folks from my work who get together once a month to enjoy a nice dinner together… along with lots of different beers and wines and other alcoholic wonders. A relatively small group of people this month, but lots of beer (thanks mostly to a club member who was just on vacation in Ohio recently, and thus was able to bring a bunch of beers we’ve never seen or heard of before!). Here’s what we had:

July Beer Club Beers

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For reference, here are some brief thoughts on each. As usual, this isn’t exactly ideal tasting conditions, so take them with a grain of salt, but still… From left to right in the picture:

  • Troegs Dead Reckoning – Very nice porter. Roasty and smooth, but not overpowering. I’m not normally a huge fan of porters, but this one’s pretty decent. Not something that’s lighting the world on fire, but good in it’s own way. Unfortunately, it was probably overshadowed by a couple of stouts we had later in the tasting… I’ll give it a B
  • Ohio Brewing Verich Gold – A kolsch style ale that’s not particularly good. It reminded me of a typical Bud/Miller/Coors style beer, with a bit of a twang. It’s a beer that might be ok on its own, but when drank side-by-side with a bunch of other good beers, it just pales in comparison. I suppose it just ain’t my style of beer.. but then, it was also pretty much the unanimous worst beer of the night among beer club peeps. D
  • Thirsty Dog 12 Dogs of Christmas Ale – Probably the worst time of the year to drink a winter warmer style beer, but I quite enjoyed this spicy beer. It’s relatively dark, but not roasty. Very spicy with a full malt backbone. Some folks thought it was almost too spicy ,but I quite enjoyed this beer. B+
  • Great Lakes Holy Moses White Ale – Seriously one of the best Belgian wit beers I’ve ever had, rivaling the likes of Victory’s Whirlwind Wit and Ommegange’s Witte. Very effervescent, almost lemony, but with lots of balancing spiciness of the light variety (coriander, orange peel, etc..) Right up there at the top of the list for wheat beers. B+
  • Thirsty Dog Cerberus Belgian Tripel – Nice fancy foil packaging, with a beer to match. Extremely sweet and boozy, it’s a bit hot for the style, but very good. There was a bit of a twang to it that I could place, but which differentiated it from other examples of the style. Quite good. B+
  • Great Lakes Commodore Perry IPA – I’ve had this beer a few times before… and have never really enjoyed it. It’s not particularly bad, but it’s definitely a victim of circumstances, as I always find myself trying one when I’ve already had much better beers. By the time I got to this tonight, it just wasn’t doing it for me. Again, not a bad IPA, but not particularly accomplished either. C+
  • Hoppin’ Frog B.O.R.I.S. The Crusher Oatmeal-Imperial Stout – We tried to drink the beers listed here from lightest to darkest, and this one ended up being the last beer of the night… and the best! Dark as night and seemingly thick, with a nice brownish head. Very sweet, chocolaty, and roasty, with a nice booziness apparent. A wonderful imperial stout. The name of the bear stands for “Bodacious Oatmeal Russian Imperial Stout”, and it’s well worth the moniker. A-
  • Hoppin’ Frog Turbo Shandy – A shandy is normally a beer mixed with a citrus flavored soda like 7up or Sprite. Usually this is something that happens after the fact – a beer coctail, as it were. But some breweries release shandies right in the bottle… and in this case, the beer really does taste like a 7up/Sprite… Extremely sweet and crispt, maybe some lemony/lime feeling to it, and you can’t really even detect the relatively strong 7% ABV. Would perhaps make a good lawnmower beer, but not particularly something I’m all that interested in… C+
  • Rogue Shakespeare Stout – Another oatmeal stout, this one was second to last in the drinking order, and quite a solid example of the stile. Very chocolately, but with a surprising earthy feel to it. This is quite good, but not great. B+
  • Red’s Rye Pale Ale – I know next to nothing about Rye beer, but I have a few more of these in the fridge, so expect a full review in the nearish future. Initial impressions are quite positive.
  • My Homebrewed Saison – This actually turned out far better than I was expecting. It seemed to be a general success with the folks of beer club, and it’s the first beer I’ve made so far that I really enjoy drinking from start to finish. It’s very light in its way, but it makes up for that with some Belgian yeast spiciness and a nice hoppy aproma/taste character (though it’s not particularly bitter). My favorite batch so far. Makes me want to pour my last batch down the drain!

And that covers all the beer we had… Someone did bring a bottle of Australian wine, but they said they were a bit disappointed by it (no idea what it was called). Good times, as always, and I’m already looking forward to the next meetup.

Allagash Curieux

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I should drink more Allagash. Along with Ommegang, they’re the other major east-coast brewery that seems to specialize in Belgian style beer, so it’s no suprise that I tend to enjoy their beers. They make the standard Belgian styles, but they aren’t afraid to experiment either. Their 2009 Fluxus was a bit of a revelation for me. “Ale brewed with sweet potatoes and black pepper.” It certainly doesn’t sound all that appealing, but it was a unique take on the Saison style. I would love to try it again, but alas, it was only a one-time brew (Fluxus is released once a year, but the recipe changes – 2010 was an Imperial Chocolate Stout). Sometimes their experimentation isn’t quite as successful, but I’m always game for a new one. However, I’ve been a bit neglectful of late. Indeed, I’ve had this bottle sitting on my shelf for a solid six months (and according to the label, it was bottled in May 2010).

Allagash Curieux is a Belgian-style Tripel aged in Jim Beam bourbon barrels. It was apparently their first foray into the world of barrel-aged beer, though they’ve clearly expanded their scope in the past few years.

Allagash Curieux

Pours a cloudy golden color with minimal head. Smells of sugary sweet fruit, spicy Belgian yeast and maybe even a little of that Bourbon. Tastes very sweet. Candi sugar, fruits, some spiciness. Finishes dry with some sticky alcohol in the aftertaste (perhaps a hint of Bourbon in there too). Mouthfeel is quite harsh, making this more of a sipping beer. A good thing, too, considering the 11% ABV. As it warms, the beer becomes more clear and a little more smooth, though it’s still full bodied and the alcohol still asserts itself. It’s perhaps a bit too hot for the style, and certainly not an everyday beer, but it’s another interesting offering from Allagash. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 11% ABV bottled (750 ml, caged and corked). Bottled May 2010. Drank out of a Goblet on 5/14/11.

In case you can’t tell from the past several reviews, I’m in the midst of a bit of a drink-down right now. I’ve collected quite a few bottles over the previous months, and despite my best efforts, quite a backlog has accrued. Most of them tend to be high ABV monsters, which partially explains it, but I’ve also been a bit overzealous in my procurement. This is, of course, a good problem to have. I’m a bit behind on reviews as well, and may end up grouping a few together here and there. In any case, whenever I manage to dig out of this wonderful hole of great beer, I plan to try out a few more of Allagash’s limited releases. I’ve had their standard stuff, and several of the limited releases, but I’d really like to explore more. However, looking at the beer on my shelf (not to mention the homebrew that’s building up), that may be a while.

Ommegang Tripel Perfection

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I love Ommegang, but even I have to pause at their presumption of “perfection” on the label of this beer. They even mention on the label that tripels are brewed “with simple ingredients and fierce attention to detail, there is little room for error – but lots of opportunity.” Indeed. Belgian tripels are among my favorite styles, and Ommegang is among my favorite breweries, so I had high expectations here. Indeed, this was a hard one to find, raising expectations further. The only place I saw it was in a holiday package that also had a couple other Ommegang beers and some nice glassware (which, unfortunately, didn’t show up particularly well in the image below).

Ommegang Tripel Perfection

Ommegang Tripel Perfection – Pours a cloudy orange/brown color with a couple fingers of head. Smell is full of fruity and spicy belgian yeast. The taste starts off sweet (some fruity character here), hits a spicy note (coriander?) in the middle and finishes dry. That dry finish may be partially because I waited so long to open the bottle – tripels tend to get more dry the longer they age. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and it’s not out of place at all here. The bottle I have is marked as having been packaged on 6/29/10, so it isn’t that old, but still. In any case, the beer is extremely well balanced, which is something I’ve come to expect from Ommegang. Mouthfeel is high in carbonation and a bit harsh, but those are welcome for the style. Just a hint of stickyness and some warming alcohol notes. Very complex for a tripel. Perhaps not the best in style, but certainly in the top tier. In general, I feel that Ommegang’s seasonals and special releases aren’t as good as their regular stable of beers, but in this case, I think they really have a winner. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 8.9% ABV bottled (750 ml caged and corked). Drank out of a goblet on 5/6/11.

There’s an anonymous quotation on the bottle that says “One can not adequately explain perfection. One can only enjoy it.” Indeed. I don’t think the beer quite lives up to Perfection, but it’s close!

Vegas Beer Update

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I’m in Las Vegas this week for a work conference and so far I haven’t really run into an awesome beer selection, though Bouchon in the Venetian has a pretty decent selection of beer for a fancy restaurant. There may be some other opportunities for great beer later in the week, but for now, this is what I’m making do with:

  • New Belgium Fat Tire – A pretty straightforward amber ale, this reminds me of a sorta west-coast Yuengling lager. It seems to be ubiquitous around here and while it won’t blow you away, it makes a good session beer. It might be a little better than the Lager, but that also may be the novelty of it speaking, as New Belgium does not distribute anything near me… Hopefully I’ll be able to find some of New Belgium’s more adventurous beers at some point.
  • Chimay Cinq Cents (aka White) – Chimay’s version of a tripel is fantastic, as always. I’ve had these many times before and may even have a half finished blog entry about it somewhere. I still wouldn’t call it my favorite tripel or anything, but it’s very good and retains a certain distinct Chimay character. I had it on tap at Bouchon, and it went well with my meal.
  • Delirium Tremens – Another beer I’ve had several times before, but which is, as always fantastic. In fact, I enjoyed it much better while having it during a meal. It’s a very sweet beer, so having it all by itself can get a bit cloying after a while. Mixing it with rich, meaty flavors of my dinner worked really well. Also on tap at Bouchon.
  • Shiner Bock – There’s a bar attached to Treasure Island called Gilles. It’s a Country/Western bar (strike 1) and their beer selection featured mostly macros (strike 2), but out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the Shiner Bock and was glad to have a few of these. The bar is pretty funny though. It’s got a mechanical bull, and the waitress’ uniform was… interesting (I suppose these two features mitigate the two aforementioned strikes). Oh yeah, the beer. It’s good. As Bock’s go, I have to say it’s easily better than the recently reviewed Yuengling Bock, and made for a nice session beer last night. I can see why this beer is so popular (though I don’t know why the beer nerds and BA are so hard on it).

I’ve had a few other beers and will hopefully have something more interesting before the week ends. More to come…

April Beer Club

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Every month, a bunch of friends and I get together at a local BYOB and drink lots of beer. I seem to have run out of beer puns for this month, but there was no shortage of beer at tonight’s gathering (despite only 7 attendees):

April Beer Club

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No real theme this month, but lots of new beers, along with some new ones. Not all of the pictured beers were cracked open, but most of them were (I believe only 4 left unopened, though there was still some beer left in a couple bottles). For reference, here’s what I tried:

  • Sea Dog Wild Blueberry Wheat Ale – Intense blueberry aromas and very fruity taste. Overwhelmingly blueberry. Not bad, but not especially accomplished either. C+
  • Unibroue Éphémère – Again, an intense sour apple aroma and flavor, this one is much better balanced and an interesting beer. I’ve actually had this a few times before, and it’s something I’ve always enjoyed, even if it’s not my favorite of Unibroue’s offerings. Everyone seemed to enjoy it though, and it’s probably a good gateway craft beer. B
  • Southampton Biere De Mars – A very nice looking beer, with a nice spicy aroma and a flavor that is quite unusual, but still drinkable. The consensus among attendees was somewhat mixed, but I enjoyed it, even if it’s not exactly a favorite. There’s a flavor there that I couldn’t quite place, but which made this a rather unique tasting beer. Fellow beer club members had a similar feeling. I’ll give it a tentative B
  • Ommegang Rare Vos – One of my all time favorites, I’ve actually got a bottle of this in the fridge, so expect a full review… at some point. A great beer though, and very popular with the beer club crowd, even with the non-beer nerds.
  • Victory Prima Pils – I have had many of these over the years, and it’s one of those beers that tastes very different out of the bottle than it does on tap. And honestly, I think I prefer the bottled version. For a pilsner style beer, it’s extremely hoppy, but I rather like that distinction. Well worth a try, and probably something I’ll give a more thorough review to later. For now, I’ll leave it as a B+
  • Oskar Blues Gordon Imperial Red Ale (aka G’Knight) – One of my contributions for the night, and a solid DIPA. Expect a full review at some point in the near future. Beer club crowd seemed to enjoy it, despite it’s hoppy nature.
  • Peak Organic Simcoe Spring Ale – It’s got that pine resin aroma and flavor from the Simcoe hops, but it’s otherwise a pretty standard IPA. Not particularly popular with the overall beer club crowd, but it’s solid, if nothing special. B
  • Long Trail Pollenator – Holy shit, is this a terrible beer. And of course, I ended up taking more of this than most other brews. I immediately regretted the decision. Tasted like skunked piss. My first F since starting the blog.
  • Oscar Blues Ten Fidy – A very roasty 10.5% stout. I enjoyed it, but those who don’t typically go in for stouts didn’t seem to care for it. Not to get all sexist or anything, but all the guys seemed to enjoy it, while the females seemed to dislike. I have a couple more of these, so expect a full review at some point in the indeterminate future.
  • Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy – Smells and tastes of a sorta carbonated lemonade. Very little beer flavor and I really did not enjoy, though some of the more girly beer club members seemed to like it. D
  • Blue Point Spring Fling – A very average pale ale. Not bad, but absolutely nothing special about it. Profoundly average beer. C
  • My Homebrew Tripel – I brought a nice 22 oz bottle of my tripel, which has really undergone a transformation since bottling. I’ve been trying about one bottle per week since I bottled, and it’s gone from an overly-sweet and under-carbonated beer to something much more drinkable. It used to be a very bright orange color, but it has since matured into a more appropriate lightish brown color. The taste is still a little too sweet and too alcoholly, but it’s still a pretty good attempt, and I have a feeling it will mellow out with more time. Expect a more thorough review of this homebrew at some point. If nothing else, I do believe it came out better than my first attempt. This was one of the first beers we opened though, and someone did mention that it could have been a bit of a palate-killer because it’s so intense (but luckily most people only took a small sample). It certainly was a strong beer – more than one person commented that they got the sorta wine-flush feeling from the alchohol. So far, I’m pretty happy with this beer, and I think it’s only been getting better with time.
  • Dana’s Maibock Homebrew – Fantastic homebrew brewed by my friend Dana from a Mr. Beer specialty kit. Very sweet with a nice tang in the finish that I couldn’t quite place. Still, very enjoyable beer, maybe my favorite from Dana’s homebrewing efforts. Most of the Mr. Beer stuff is pretty average (and Dana also brought a Red Ale which was pretty normal stuff), but their specialty kits seem to produce some really good beers, and this one is a prime example (I also rather enjoyed Dana’s specialty Tripel from a while back). We made a deal to trade some of my tripel with some of her maibock. Excellent stuff

So yeah, I suppose you could take the ratings above with a grain of salt (as conditions were not optimal for tasting), but I think the ones I actually rated are pretty accurate. And several of the others will be reviewed on this blog in the near future. It may seem like the above are pretty low, and there were definitely a couple of real stinkers, but some of the ones I didn’t provide a rating for will most likely come in to the B to A range, so there were definitely some great beers that were available tonight…

All in all, another successful outing for the beer club. I was surprised at the amount of beer that we ended up getting through, even if we did leave some of the beers pictured above unopened (though I will say that the only unopened beer that I’ve never had before was the Breckenridge Vanilla Porter). As always, I’m already looking forward to next month!

Beer Blogging and a Double Tripel Feature

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I have to admit that I have really grown to love the concept of a double feature. So far, I’ve generally used the opportunity to compare two beers of similar style to see how different they can be (not to mention, which is better). I feel like I’m getting better at evaluating beer, but I still really appreciate the opportunity to compare two beers of similar style, one after the other. It’s something you don’t see much. For instance, you rarely, if ever, see any sort of comparative notes on Beer Advocate or Rate Beer. I always found this strange. It would be much more helpful if you could tell me how a given beer differs from a standard or, at least, common version of a beer.

Noted beer scribe Andy Crouch has recently lamented the state of beer writing, citing the common reliance on tasting notes as a crutch that are uninteresting. I can see how one person’s subjective evaluation of beer at a micro level could get tiresome, and indeed, much of the beer blogosphere is focused on that sort of thing. In the Aleheads’ most recent All Beers Considered podcast, they discussed how boring a tasting notes sorta post could be, noting that they try to avoid such things. And yeah, I can see how that could strike some folks as being boring, especially if the review is solely based on one person’s opinions.

When I started this blog, I didn’t really want to fall back on reviews or tasting notes, but I almost immediately settled into exactly that sort of post. I think this is perhaps due to my tendency to blog for my own benefit, as opposed to what other people will want to read. This is no doubt why I have, like, 2 regular readers (if that). But as usual, my pattern of long-winded online writing has taken hold. Lately, I’ve been trying to be more interesting with what I write, even if it almost always culminates with tasting notes. Writing a review is easy, but being interesting and providing more information about the beer, the history of the style, or whatever, is more difficult, and I seem to have started to provide more context about the beers I’m writing about.

I always tried to spice things up with my other passion, movies. But I’m sure most beer blog readers don’t really care much about that, unless I get ambitious and come up with a screenplay post. Still, I hope that my recent writing has been more enjoyable. I also hope that these double feature posts, with comparative reviews of similar styles, are considered more helpful and interesting than a simple tasting note.

And tonight, I have a particularly interesting double feature. I didn’t watch two movies (as I often do), but I was switching back and forth between the Flyers game (we clinched a playoff spot tonight) and the NCAA Wrestling championships (college wrestling is rarely televised, so this was a welcome surprise). On the beer front, I tried two tripels I’ve been meaning to drink for a few months now. I always find it interesting when a single brewery releases multiple beers of the same style. When it comes to a style with a wide variation in flavors, like an IPA, it certainly makes sense. But for more narrow styles, like, for example, a Belgian style dubbel or tripel, there seems to be less room for variation. That being said, when I got my hands on a variety pack featuring 6 different St. Bernardus beers, I noticed that there were two dubbels and two tripels. The dubbels turned out to be interesting – one was a lot lighter than I was accustomed to, and the other was more of a standard dubbel. Both were great. And tonight, I’ve got two tripels for you.

St. Bernardus Tripel

St. Bernardus Tripel – The standard version seems to be quite popular, and this is the one that is more widely available as well. This is evidenced by the fact that his beer has 951 reviews on Beer Advocate, while the Watau tripel has only 217 reviews. This beer is a slightly hazy gold color with ample head and minor lacing as I drink. Smells of spicy belgian yeast (typical cloves and bananas smell) with a little fruity alcohol peeking through. The taste is fantastic – spicy and sweet with just a hint of sticky alcohol in the finish. Some fruitiness apparent as well, and that sticky sweetness lingers, especially as the beer warms up. High carbonation and full body with a bit of a harsh mouthfeel, but still extremely drinkable. Dangerously drinkable for such a high alcohol beer (even though 8% is relatively low for a tripel). That being said, I don’t think it really contends strongly for a favorite tripel – though it’s certainly a solid example of the style and something I can’t imagine turning down. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 8% ABV bottled (330 ml). Drank from a goblet.

Palate cleansed with a single UTZ pretzel rod.

St. Bernardus Watau Tripel

St. Bernardus Watau Tripel – The less commonly seen version of the two beers, this version is named after the village of Watou in West Flanders, Belgium (where the beer is brewed, natch). Indeed, I’ve seen the St. Bernardus brewers labeled the “Wizards of Watau”, which seems fitting given the quality of their beer. When I first got a hold of this, I searched around for some descriptions of what the difference was between this and the standard Tripel, but alas, I found very little on that front, which is a big part of why I wanted to do this as a double feature. Pours a slightly lighter, but still golden color. I want to say it’s less hazy, but that might just be because of the color. Less prominent in the way of head and lacing. Smells more intense than the regular Tripel though. Along with the standard Belgian yeast aromas, there is perhaps more fruitiness apparent here as well. Again, taste is fantastic, though similar to the regular Tripel. I think the main difference is that there’s more fruitiness here, and less sticky alcohol (which is a welcome development). There’s some additional complexity and maybe even some funkiness that isn’t present in the regular offering. The body seems fuller as well, and this is actually more drinkable. The ABV is actually less than the standard Tripel, so I’m not surprised that it’s more drinkable, but I am surprised that I like the flavor more – usually I associate higher ABV with more intense flavors, but not in this case. The differences are subtle, but I actually think this one is better than the regular St. Bernardus offering and it could even rival my favorites. A

Beer Nerd Details: 7.5% ABV bottled (330 ml). Drank from a goblet.

There’s less variation between the two than there were between the the St. Bernardus 6 and 8 versions of the dubbel, but I think the Watau is the clear winner. The differences are subtle enough that I can see why folks who don’t drink them back to back don’t offer much comparison between the two, but drinking them back to back made it clear to me.

Febrewary Beer Club

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I’m a little behind on posting stuff here, so bear with me as I play catchup this week. At the beginning of every month, a bunch of friends from work and I meet up at a local BYOB and bring some new/interesting beers to try. This particular meeting was a long time coming, as weather and a hectic holiday schedule conspired to delay this session multiple times. We went to a different BYOB this month… it’s a legitimate restaurant, and thus the mood lighting wasn’t quite conducive to picture taking, but here’s what we brought (you can click for a larger version):

Febrewary Beer Club

The theme this month was beers with a picture of an animal on the label, though there were a couple of non-qualifying beers. Conditions weren’t ideal, so no grades here, but I’ve included some thoughts on each beer:

  • Jolly Pumpkin Bam Bière – My contribution to the theme went over pretty well, though it would probably make a better summer beer than a winter one. Still, it was quite refreshing, light colored ale with a little citrus. Again, would make a great summer beer.
  • Ravenswood Zinfandel Vintners Blend – Technically, it’s “beer and wine” club, but I don’t really have a clue when it comes to wine. Still, this one was pretty good. Sweeter and less dry than I’m used to from a red wine, but whatever… Also, hard to see in the image, but the Ravenswood logo is awesome.
  • Ballast Point Sea Monster Imperial Stout – I’d call this one an above average stout, a little more on the oatmeal side of things, and a good counterpoint to the other stouts people brought. I didn’t have enough to make a good judgement though, so it’s something I want to revisit at some point…
  • Terrapin Hop Karma IPA – The first in a hoppy trio of beers from Terrapin, this one was interesting, but ultimately didn’t blow me away. Again, didn’t have a lot of this, so I should probably reserve judgement. Cool label though.
  • Terrapin Rye Pale Ale – Seemed like a pretty standard, but well executed, Americal Pale Ale. Another cool label.
  • Terrapin Hopsecutioner: Pretty standared IPA territory here, though I love the label on this one. Little guy looks like a TMNT.
  • Weyerbacher Blithering Idiot – I’m going to review this one in detail at some point in the near future, so I’ll leave it at that. I’ll just say that it seems like a pretty good European style barleywine.
  • Founders Breakfast Stout and Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout – I’ve already written about these before. Coffee drinkers seemed to like the Founders one better than me, though I don’t think anyone thought it was as good as BA says…
  • River Horse Tripel Horse – I was looking forward to this, as River Horse is one of the few semi-local breweries I’m not that familiar with, and the Tripel is one of my favorite styles. However, I found it quite disappointing. I didn’t have a lot of it, but it didn’t seem much like a Tripel at all, and it had this strange kick to it that I’m having trouble remembering.
  • Wintertraum Christkindles Gluhwein – Another wine. Sorta. Not sure how this is classified, but it was super-sweet tasting reddish wine. Not bad for what it is, I guess, but not really my thing either.

Another successful beer club! Like I said, not exactly ideal conditions for formal reviews, but a great time. The restaurant we went to was pretty good too. Not the best sushi in the area, but a welcome addition that didn’t break that bank. As usual, I’m looking forward to next month!

Sly Fox Incubus

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If you happen to mention Royersford, PA to me, two things immediately come to mind. First is their distinctive fire horn (seriously, that’s a badass horn). Second is Sly Fox, a brew pub and micro brewery that’s been steadily expanding. They’re one of the few craft breweries with a canning line, something they started doing long before it became trendy, though they also have a bottling line for big beers like the one I had recently:

Sly Fox Incubus

Sly Fox Incubus – Pours a hazy yellow gold color with a white, fluffy head. Smells of spicy Belgian yeast (cloves, etc…). Maybe a little fruitiness in the nose as well. Taste is pretty straightforward. Sweet and spicy like the nose, and some booziness as well. In fact, that sticky alcohol flavor lingers a bit in the aftertaste. Coming in at 10.3% ABV, it’s a bit too strong, even for a tripel. Highly carbonated with a bit of a bite, it’s nevertheless pretty easy to drink. All in all, it’s a pretty straightforward Belgian tripel style beer. It’s one of my favorite styles, so I do really enjoy this, but on the other hand, there’s nothing particularly complex about it. A solid effort. B

Beer Nerd Details: 10.3% ABV bottled (750 ml, caged and corked bottle). Drank from a Goblet.

I’ve got a couple other Sly Fox beers in my fridge, and perhaps someday a trip out to the brew pub for some dinner and beer someday.

Grindhouse Double Feature: Tripels

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One of the crimes of modern cinematic history is the failure of Grindhouse at the box office and the subsequent lack of proper DVD/BD distribution (which was, in itself, a result of the bad box office). Grindhouse was one of my favorite movies of 2007, so this was most distressing to me. Sure, the two feature films that made up the total experience were available individually, but they were different cuts of the films and they were missing one of the key features of the Grindhouse experience: the trailers. Amazingly enough, this egregious oversight was recently corrected with the Blu-Ray release of Grindhouse (in it’s full cinematic glory). Tonight, I watched that movie, and took the opportunity to retry two of my favorite beers. As I write this post, I’m watching the movie with the Audience Reaction Track on. It’s kinda lame. Just a lot of hooting, cheering, and hollaring. But the movie is awesome, so there’s that.

Westmalle Tripel

Westmalle Abby Tripel: Brouwerij der Trappisten van Westmalle is a Belgian Trappist Brewery, one of only 7 in the world. Yes, this beer is brewed by Monks, and as it turns out, they’re among the best brewers in the world (and have been for a long time). Some reading around on Wikipedia indicates that this brewery in particular is responsible for inventing (or at least popularizing) two key Belgian beer styles: the Dubbel and the Tripel (which I’m drinking tonight). Pours a hazy golden color with an impressively huge head. Lots of bubbly activity in the head, good retention and a smell of sweet malty goodness with a little bit of fruit and some spiciness added in for good effect. Taste of fruity malts and a yeasty kick, with a nice warming booziness. Good carbonation and medium body, a near perfect taste. It’s not hard to see why this beer is considered the standard for the style. A

Beer Nerd Details: 9.5% ABV bottled (750 ml, caged and corked bottle). Drank from a goblet.

As Planet Terror ends and the glorious fake trailers begin, I pop the cork off what could be my all time favorite beer:

Unibroue La Fin Du Monde

Unibroue La Fin Du Monde: The perfect beer. Pours that same hazy gold color, with that same large, active head. There’s a bit less retention here, and the smell is more spicy. Taste has a similar malty goodness, and the spiciness is more pronounced – lots of coriander and orange peel detectable here, and maybe a little clove (these spices are seemingly favored by Unibroue, as a lot of their paler ales have that sort of mixture). Spicy sweet, this beer is perfectly balanced. Medium body and good carbonation, with perfect taste and like the Westmalle, the strong alcohol content gives it a nice, warming, boozy kick. The name translates to “The End of the World”, and given that name and the high alcohol content, this makes for a great last beer of the night (or, you know, if you ever think the world is going to end)! A+

Beer Nerd Details: 9.0% ABV bottled (750 ml, caged and corked bottle). Drank from a goblet.

Whew, drinking two 750 ml tripels in one night is perhaps not entirely advisable, but if you ever cross paths with either of these, give them a shot. You won’t be disappointed.