Allagash 11th Anniversary, again

Yes, this has been the best beer week of my life. And my checkbook can prove it. Anyway, my inhibition has been thoroughly compromised. This is the champagne of beers, in more ways than one, and in no way related to the other similarly touted shit beer. At this price, you'd think it would be higher than 9.2%. Yet, I still don't feel guilty for having bought it. The scent and taste on the palette and sides of the tongue is apple cider. Maybe Gala apples? Something juicy and only slightly tart. It also tastes distinctly like champagne, without the weird cheesy flavors or any of the other badness that comes with all the cheap-ass champagne and cava I've had. Not too bubbly. Refreshing. Maybe a little on the over-sweet side, but I had it as dessert. Actually, it also tastes great, though obviously different, alongside overpowering-ly garlic-y hommous, so I guess it serves multiple functions. Great beer, God-awful price, hats off to Allagash for forcing me to drop $15 on 750mL of beer.

Heavyweight: Old Salty Barleywine Ale 2005

like their Perkund's (sic?) Hammer, this beer tastes great after more than a year, and probably would age well. At 11%/vol, you can be sure it would last. It reminds me a little bit of J.W. Lee's Harvest ale, though at less than a quarter of the price, I think it qualifies as infinitely better. I can't decide whether to try to age one of these in a closet or what. I think this is probably the last of this beer I'll ever be able to buy, because Heavyweight, may they RIP, died an unnatural death (whenever a good brewery falls out, like Dogwood in Atlanta, it's unquestionably not natural). Anyway, back to the beer. I think it's a very good dessert beer. It's sweet and strong, but smooth and flavorful. I'll miss this brewery.

Du Bocq and d'Achouffe

Brasserie Du Bocq: Blanche de Namur (Belgian White)
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4.5%/vol. 12 EBU. 5 EBC.

http://www.eurobrews.com/dubocq/BLANCHE.html

Very smooth and tasty white. Low alc content made up for by taste and ease of drinking.

Brasserie d’Achouffe: imported by B. United Intl http://www.bunitedint.com. also see http://www.achouffe.be

One of the most popular and often imported breweries, and for good reason. I don’t remember all of the beers they had, but many of them were very good. Brasserie des Franches-Montagnes La Meule was also exceptional. The Italian Birrificio Montegioco Draco (with blueberries, but still good) was nice. I wasn’t a huge fan of the Demon Hunter Strong Ale. Italian Birreria Le Baladin Noël was also nice.

La Chouffe
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the first Belgian I ever tried. One of my favs, and very nice glass with Chouffe gnome guy. awesome.

Mc Chouffe Scottish stile Ale. see the website for all the details. My least fav of their offerings, but still damned tasty, as matt will attest to.

N’Ice Chouffe barley wine. very good, despite the lame name.
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Houblon Chouffe
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double IPA / Tripel. Tastes like it sounds.

La Gnomette Part II Collaboration w/ Brooklyn. same recipe as Brooklyn’s BLAST with Chouffe yeast. much better than the Brooklyn version, which was also very tasty.

Allagash

Allagash Brewing: http://www.allagash.com

Their white is available pretty much everywhere in the northeast, and it’s not bad, but they had some exceptional brews at the fest.

11^th Anniversary amazing beer brewed with champagne yeast. This was one of my favorites of the fest. Very flavorful with high drinkability.

Curieux Allagash Tripel aged in Jim Beam barrels. I can’t remember whether this one or the Musette (Scotch style in bourbon barrels) was better. I do remember, however, that the Weyerbacher beers aged in bourbon barrels achieved subtle liquor notes much more effectively. While the Allagashes were tasty, the bourbon almost overpowered the beer.

DeuS, Kwak, Karmeliet, St. Feuillien, St. Bernardus

Artisanal Imports: http://home.mn.rr.com/artisanal

This was by far the best table at the fest for my tastes. I already knew Kwak and Tripel Karmeliet, which are available relatively widely, but everything they had was amazing and distinctive, even the Flemish.

- Brouwerij Bosteels

DeuS I don’t remember particularly. the description is Bière de Champagne or Bière Brut, like the Allagash 11^th.

- Pauwel Kwak Strong pale. The bottle comes with a wooden stand so you don’t touch the glass. My friends in London stole this glass from our Belgian Pub so often that they began to require a 10 pound deposit. The funny part is that they didn’t ask the guy who stole about 4 of them to deposit because he’d been there so often that they knew him.

- Tripel Karmeliet Not as good as I remembered, but still a good, darkish sweet tripel.

- Brasserie St. Feuillien

- brun: Dubbel. tasty. don’t remember specifics

- Cuvée de Noël: Strong dark ale. By definition, I love strong dark ales, especially when you add the word “Belgian” to the beginning,

- Tripel

- Brouwerij St. Bernardus

- Grotten Brown Ale

- Grotten Flemish Golden Ale one of the few Flemish style ales that I truly enoyed.

Brooklyn, Steenberge (Draak, Piraat, Augustijn, Bornem), CBC, Saxo, Abbaye des Rocs, Girardin, Verhaeghe

Brooklyn Brewery: http://www.brooklynbrewery.com

BLAST hoppy. tasty. not as good as the Belgian version, but still very nice.

Brouwerij Van Steenberge: http://www.vansteenberge.com

Piraat apparently pronounced “pihr-ahh.” crazy flems. I remember liking it, I don’t remember why.

Gulden Draak cooler bottle than beer. it’s a dark triple, which is kinda interesting. It was a little sweet for my tastes. Still malty and flavorful. I’d still buy it at a bar, but only as a dessert after probably a red meat meal. the description says it has lots of vitamins. who knew?

Augustijn Interesting. not my favorite. actually tasted a little skunky. I wonder if something went wrong in shipping?

Bornem Double soft dark double. very tasty.

Bornem Triple a good tripel. of course, I like the double better.

Cambridge Brewing Co: http://www.cambridgebrewingcompany.com

I get the impression that this is Boston’s Bosco’s. Expensive, but good. I’ve heard they actually have a good Oktoberfest.

Bière de Miel honey ale. surprisingly good and not too sweet. tastefully done.

Weekapaug Gruit: dark ale. lots of herbs and stuff. malty and nice, though somewhat un-beer-like.

D&V Intl (importer) http://www.specialtybeer.com

Imports a huge selection of fancy beers. Tried this one late, so I don’t remember it particularly well. They weren’t as solid as Artisanal or B. United, but they had some nice offerings.

- Brasserie Caracole: Saxo my favorite at this table. a blonde ale, nonetheless.

- Brasserie de l’Abbaye des Rocs: Grand Cru sweet, strong. dessert.

- Brouwerij Girardin: Gueuze 1882 Black Label lambic. not bad, citrusy. Apparently there’s something special about the way they make these, but without knowing that before tasting, I’m not sure it’s worth the effort.

- Brouwerij Verhaeghe: Echte Kriekenbier Flemish cherry ale. Not bad despite its inherent flaws.

Urthel and Dogfish Head

De Leyerth Brouwerijen (Urthel): http://www.urthel.com

Annoying flash website, but otherwise a great brewery. The married owners/brewmasters were there, which was cool.

Vlaemse Bock inspired by the German seasonal. don’t remember it specifically, but I did like everything these guys had to offer.

Samaranath Quadrium Hildegard (brewmaster) suggested I try this one first, and she was right. Quite smooth and tasty, and 11.5%. sweeet.

Hop-It Belgian pilsner/IPA. crazy, but somehow it works. very well.

Tripel another great Tripel.

Dogfish Head: http://www.dogfish.com

In their defense, the 60, 90, and 120 minute dry-hopped IPAs are very tasty, though probably not worth the cost.

Pangaea ingredients from every confident. whoop-dee-fuckin-doo. boring.

Raison d’Etre they call it the “red wine” of beers. they’re wrong, but it is a very interesting brew. way too sweet and raisiny, but I’ve never had anything else like it.

Raison D’Extra somehow they boosted this one up to 18%. I guess if you’re going to drink something so sugary, having the alcohol kick is a nice consolation.

Chimay, Rogue, Stoudt, Maredsous, North Coast, Harpoon, Framboise Lambic, Rochefort, Westmalle, Sixpoint

Global Brewers Guild: http://www.myspace.com/globalbrewersguild

I don’t want to talk about all these beers since they’re so popular and readily available, but I’ll mention them because they’re all pretty impressive:

Chimay Cinq Cents, Grande Réserve, and Première. De Koninck. Maredsous 8 and 10. North Coast Pranqster. Rogue Festive Ale. Stoudt Triple.

Harpoon: http://www.harpoonbrewery.com

Tripel very disappointing. I wonder if it had gotten stale or something? Not good.

They of course, have many very good beers.

Merchant du Vin: http://www.merchantduvin.com

Framboise Lambic basically a sparkling sweet raspberry malt liquor, but damned tasty.

Rochefort 6 and 8 I don’t really remember beyond liking them.

Westmalle Dubbel and Tripel I like both quite well, but the Dubbel is my favorite.

Sixpoint http://www.sixpointcraftales.com

all surprisingly good from another brewer in Brooklyn.

Belgian IPA not as good as Houblon Chouffe, but still interesting and fun.

Express: nice malty alcohol concoction

Grand Crue (cask). mmm. sweet and strong

Stone Vertical Epic 06 and 04

Stone: (!) http://www.stonebrew.com

04/04/04 Vertical Epic Ale: a good Tripel.

06/06/06 Vertical Epic Ale: (on draft) my other favorite beer of the fest. very dark. I guess it was similar to a dubbel or something. roasted and malty without any overbearing sweet or chocolate flavours.

Weyerbacher

Weyerbacher: http://www.weyerbacher.com

I’d never tried anything from this brewery before, but everything they had at the fest was very good and unique.

Prophecy Tripel aged in bourbon barrels. very subtle liquor flavors. This is by far the best use of a liquor barrel that I’ve tasted (or known I was tasting).

Merry Monk’s Ale tripel. nice.

Rasberry Beret they call it an American Wile Ale with rasberries and Brettanomyces. Whatever the hell that means. It was a nice fruit beer.

QUAD Belgian quadruple. dark and beautiful.

Belgian Beer Fest: Overview

Beer Advocate’s Belgian Beer Fest was amazing. I was so wrapped up in beer-ing that I even forgot to get a Blegian waffle. oops. I’ve listed here everything that I can remember… kinda. Of course there were many many many more great beers, but these were the ones that stuck in my head (or gave out nice flyers) the most. Overall, the tripels were surprisingly un-amazing and mostly non-distinctive. I never thought I’d find myself getting bored of that same flavor. I’m coming to think of the “strong ale” and the quadruple as my favorites of the Belgian varieties, though all the others have plenty of potential. I also learned that Flemish sours can be good. Who knew?

the rigours of (de)-labelling

and the wondrous utility of a pot big and trustworthy that can cook lentils, pasta, apple cider; heat or cool beer; even loosen beer labels.


Tomorrow is the Belgian Beer Fest. 150+ brewers, including every Belgian beer I've ever heard of and plenty more.

I will do my damnedest to avoid blacking out or losing the sensation of taste before I've tried and noted the best and worsts. My desire to be drunk or sober is irrelevant considering the high gravity exquisite beer abundance. mmm.
I'll report back.

Aventinus 2001

German: Schneider Aventinus, 2001.

It was great. The aged version even comes with fancy paper wrapping. There was a lot of nasty crap on the bottom of the bottle, but I think that's a good thing. Sadly, the best glass I had was Sam Adams, but the glass isn't all that dissimilar.
Honestly, I think it's just as good, though in a very different way, as the same beer fresh. The difference reminds me of most cask-conditioned IPAs, which taste great both fresh and aged, but for different reasons. I think that fans of Aventinus should keep an eye out for this beer from years past, but I wouldn't bother leaving it in a cellar for 5 years. It doesn't improve, neccessarily, for my tastes, but it certainly is a worthwhile experience. Anyway, this should be considered a rave review because the beer was bad-ass. All in perspective.

Brooklyn Oktoberfest (draft)

Example number two of a microbrewed American Oktoberfest and perhaps the most bizarre Märzen (MARE-tsen) I've ever had. The first thing I noticed was that the color was a little too dark, almost ruby instead of straight amber or brown. That's not too surprising given the American tendency to brew märzen a little heavier since we don't drink it by the liter over here, and Brooklyn's was certainly no exception. Malt flavors were robust to the point of hurting drinkability, but complex and enjoyable after one stops thinking of the beer as a Märzen. After a second and third sip I began to doubt whether the beer actually conformed to the Reihheitsgebot (purity law). I was convinced that there was a belgian style sugar or fruit additive at work, but according to the Brooklyn website only Munich and Pilsner malts were used, very much in accordance with the style. If that is the case, then I am particularly in awe of the strawberry flavor they managed to massage out of those malts, but I remain unconvinced that it was a good idea. To my mind a Märzen should have some toasty malt flavors and a hint of sweetness, but Brooklyn's was brown sugar and dried strawberries. A tasty, interesting beer, but not really a Märzen. I'd be interested to know if the bar was working from a funky keg or if their beer lines had some residue from a fruity Belgian number, because I still can't quite believe that a brewery like Brooklyn would make a Märzen as weird as that...

Against Me!

I have a new favorite song. "Baby, I'm an Anarchist" by Against Me!. Yes, I needed both those punctuation marks because Against Me! has a "!" in their name. Weirdos. But I do like the song. I heard a friend cover it at an open mike night awhile back, and I finally got around to downloading the discography. Most of it's a little too screamy-punk for me, but their over-the-top, politicized lyrics are delightful. "Baby, I'm an Anarchist" is on the album Reinventing Axl Rose along with other gems such as "Pints of Guiness make you strong" and "Those Anarcho Punks are Mysterious". If you need some screaming anarcho-punks in your life, then this is the band for you. And lets be honest, there's a corner of everyone's soul that wants to throw a brick through a starbucks' window...

belgians: jupiler

this beer is more boring than this post 

belgians commit beer atrocity

it's a good thing the hague tribunal is so close to belgium because this freak of brewcraft should be put on trial for flagrant disregard for decency post-haste. with the disfigured body of an aging dutch madame and costing a whopping 1.50 for 750 ml, it tastes like a mixture of stale malt liquor and bum wine. so congratulations, belgium, on one-upping both the 40 and thunderbird in fuck-u-up/cheapliness ration. the two sips i took before sending the rest to the liquid afterlife in the sink were terrible, maybe even worse than that warm, half-finished glass of jaegermeister, coke, and red wine that i drank that one time. but it was so worth it just so i could write this review. 

belgians: togerlo tripel

weighing in at just 8% with a thin body, light lemon flavor and thin body, this tripel comes off more like a blond, if it weren't for a lingering bitterness. now that i've tried it, i won't be buying it again. tons of kookyness points for the name though. TOOnnnngerLO! 

florival tripel, belgium

a monastic belgian tripel. pronounced bitterness, some wheatiness. a little shy on alcohol for a tripel. fruit flavors also lacking. unusually drinkable for a tripel, however. 

new contributor

hi everybody
as of now, i will be contributing to this blog as well. beer reviews will start tonite, but if you want to know more about me, my personal blog is reine-vernunft.blogspot.com

Oktoberfest!

The confusion about the actual dates for Oktoberfest makes for some problems for stateside brewers and drinkers, but I think I'm just going to have to accept the fact that people here refuse to acknowledge the fact that Oktoberfest actually happens in September. At any rate, South St. Brewery has finally released an Oktoberfest Märzen, and against all odds it's quite good. It's a little to big to really fit the style, but it stays true to the standard ingredients, limiting itself to only crystal and munich malts with a healthy portion of german noble hops. With an OG of 1.088 it's the heaviest beer on the menu at South St. which is very strange for a typical Märzen, but I definitely think it helped. The Märzen style has a tendency toward boredom for the sake of drinkability (envision a beer that you want to drink a gallon of in one sitting...), but the South St. incarnation was tasty and complex while not surrendering all of it's high-volume potential. There was a hint of "bite" as Charlie says, which I think was due to some overemphasized alcohol notes from the increased gravity, but thankfully they hopped it more generously than usual for a Märzen and the dry bitterness from the Noble helped to offset the alcohol bite. Sorry to not offer a more complete flavor analysis, but I was concentrating more heavily on a friend's relationship difficulties. I do remember a sourness that was unique, and not unpleasant, probably again due to the gravity and length of fermentation. All in all, a welcome surprise from a style that I tend to expect to be pleasantly mediocre in the hands of American brewers. I'll need to get a Paulaner and a Spaten märzen to make a comparison.

More posts to come on the South St. Porter and Pale Ale.

Also, speaking of boring Märzens: Yuengling is boring. Very boring. Not much to say other than it tastes vaguely like a Märzen.

Brazilian Girls

although itunes eats up memory for no good reason, has a very annoying user interface, is terrible with playlists, and takes forever to load up a large media library, it does have two distinct advantages to anything else.
1. sharing. listening to music from random people in my building has been great. That's how I found out about this band Brazilian Girls. They're considered "electronica," I guess, but in the way that Bjork or Stereolab or Portishead might be called electronica. Their website says, "Imagine grace jones, blondie, the sugar cubes, and astrud gilberto having a wild party and you are only half-way there." I think this is an overstatement, but it's not entirely inaccurate. The singer reminds me of Stereolab's, and they cover many different genres. Their lyrics are not only in four different languages, including some hybrid phrases ("...ignite mein leibe"), but quite entertaining. e.g., the profound and delicate turn of phrase in the chorus "pussy pussy pussy marijuana..." I've listened to their self-titled album twice, and I do hope to find more from them. Enough about them. The point is, sharing on a server via itunes is pretty damn sweet. Let's not forget college, and the beauty of "ourtunes."
2. podcasts: I've learned more in the past year or so from podcasts than probably all of my classes combined. This is partly because I am a terrible student and I only retain things just long enough to do well on the test, but it's also because most podcasts are designed for entertainment, not pure learning. In some ways, this can be a hindrance. For instance, Science Friday, a podcast from NPR, hosted by Ira Flatow, is one of the most reliable and interesting podcasts available. However, sometimes in the interest of entertainment and broad listenership, they skip or skim the actual science and focus more on the pop aspects of new technology and research. I still think it's one of the best science podcasts. NPR also has great podcasts available for many of their shows, including truncated versions of Piano Jazz w/ Marian McPartland. The most recent one I heard was her with Elvis Costello. Classic. anyway, there are a million other really interesting podcasts.
NPR.org also tends to have lots of good music available (e.g. right now all of the Beethoven Symphonies performed by, I think Wiener Philharmoniker (however they spell it) is available). You just have to peruse the site and have windows media player. I'm sure mplayer or something could play the streams too, but i'm not going out of my way to find out.

Tomorrow I get to see Badly Drawn Boy in concert. This should be interesting, considering how important strings, samples, and other production-room antics are to his music. So, I'll update on that ASAP.

food:
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it's official. even though a chocolatey oatmeal stout would be the hypothetical ideal accompaniment to chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, coffee is still a million times better. i guess beer's not omnipotent.

and homemade cookies rock. except for the fact that you have to see all the ingredients (sugar + fat = cookies), and you can't eat the dough.

booze news 2006-10-08

U.K.: J.W. Lee's "Harvest.": "ale matured in calvados casks, brewed in 2004." With an APV of 11.5%, ringing in at $6 a 275ml bottle, and having been aged for two years in some fancy cask, this beer has all of the trappings of a fancy-ass wine. Except the taste. I don't know what a Calvados cask is, but I imagine it must be something used for port or transporting sugar. I know they need sugar to boost the alcohol so high, but this is honestly just way too sweet. I think it's most comparable to a belgian style quadrupel, though usually they aren't quite so sweet. You'd think the Brits would know better. For those who don't drink trappist beer regularly, it tastes like un-spiced apple cider, with extra sugar and a shot of everclear. Ok, that was cruel, the alcohol flavors are actually enjoyable, and I didn't not enjoy the beer. I just wish I hadn't dropped $6 - three 40s - on this 'highly recommended' limited edition stuff. Honestly, for a dollar more, I could have gotten an amazing Belgian quadrupel on tap at Publick House. So, this is one strike against many positive points for the wine-gallery near me. Maybe they just reccomended it to get it off their shelves, but prior reccomendations have included some really good ones.

Chicago: Stockyard Oatmeal Stout: 'Irish style' stout, but don't think Guinness. This one has oatmeal in it. Anyway, nicely chocolate-y/coffee-y and oat-y. It's nothing to write home about, but at $5 for a sixer at Trader Joe's, it's an amazing deal. Trader Joe's has %100 positive reviews from me so far as far as brews go. Their "Black Toad Stout" was also very smooth and nice, and around $5.50 a six pack, and their "Fat Weasel" Ale is like a Long Trail Double Bag (high alcohol 'double-alt' whatever that means) except not quite as smooth. Same price as the stout. I'm of course afraid to try the amber lager (as with all amber lagers) and the 'oktoberfest,' but anyway, it's cheap and good.

Stone IPA

While I haven't had time to search out a beer-snob store here in town, I'm constantly surprised by the great beer lists that I find in bars and restaurants when I go out. Most places typically carry brews from one or the other of the two local brew-pubs, but in addition there are many with great bottle selections of Belgians and some Germans. And last night I found a place with draft Stone IPA, one of my absolute favorites from a great brewery.

Their IPA is dark gold with a malt richness that really gives it plenty of weight to balance the generous hopping. It gets surprisingly high drinkability marks in my opinion for being such an aggressive beer, probably due to the superb balance of flavors. Both the hop and malt flavors are complex and complement one another well. A friend compared it to the Harpoon IPA, which is lighter and has a floral nose with some dry bitterness in the finish, but the Stone is just a larger, more complex beer.

Also, to clear up some terminology, what does "bite" mean, FretlessC? I interpret is as some sort of harshness or perhaps an aggressive bitterness either in the roasted flavors of the malt or the hops, but I think a description would be helpful.

first beermusic post

(copied from FretlessC blog:)
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Beer:
Moylan's: rated highly by many beer snobs. I think this is for its independence and exlusive customer base. I tried their entire line at a tasting in Brookline, and wasn't particularly impressed. If the double IPA is on sale, as it has been in Boston, for $2.99 per 750mL, it's awesome. Normally priced, it's better to stick with any other double IPA.
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Polish: "Okocim - Porter" and "Zywiec - Porter." both very much like chocolate liqueurs, though moreso for the Okocim. the Zywiec has more bite, though is certainly not as smooth. Both exceptionally tasty thick, creamy, smoky, and chocolatey porters. Very strong (around 9% alcohol), and relatively cheap ($2.50 for a 1/2 liter at a Boston beer snob store).
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- German: Schneider "Aventinus": one of my favorites ever. The related "Eisenbock": basically the normal Aventinus double bock dehydrated to fit into a smaller bottle. Not as good, though interesting if you're a big fan of Aventinus to try it with less water. The organic weisse with American Cascade hops is also amazing, on the level of the Aventinus but more... honestly, American tasting.
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Jersey: Heavyweight ... Porter: some fancy name referencing mythology or something. Anyway, similar to the Okocim porter, and going out of business, so generally on sale in the states. 6ers of a great porter with very high alcohol for $5.50.
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U.S.: Founders "Black Rye:"

"dry hopped dark ale made w rye." this is a seasonal from January 06. I think it has aged well, which is nice in a world of beers that skunk after a couple of weeks. for $7 a 6er, it's quite tasty. reminiscent of a porter with more bite. better served cold. i think it's probably relatively strong, though i don't see an APV on the bottle. anyway, I've heard that Founders is a quality brewery, and this is a testament.
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Wine:
Charles Shaw:
wine for between $2 and $4 at any Trader Joe's that sells wine.
I suggest the shiraz and merlot. It's exceptionally good for the $3 Boston price, and convenient.