From a bottle trade, though I've since had it at WF tastings. It doesn't have a strong typical Belgian character with all the candi sugar and spices and such. It's much more of a plain golden with a notable pils hop character with some extra white wine astringency on the back.
Here's a beer I've been putting off for a while. I'm a big fan of Dead Guy, though I've read somewhere that this really has no relation to it. Oh well.
I can't say I'm all that into actually. It's got too much of that squash-y, brown and candi sugar caramel taste which just carries and intensifies the otherwise moderate hop character. meh. It is too hot (car thermometer hit 100 driving down 280) today to really enjoy a beer like this.
The other Triple Voodoo offering I picked up on sale. Really watery/thin tasting, not much malt, a bitter spice, and a little hot. Not very pleasant at all. What's up with this?
I didn't rotate some of these. Whatever.
Saw a couple bottles from this little local brewery on sale so I picked them up. Not a whole lot of ratings for them on BA; in fact, these are the only two beers they have apparently.
I am pleasantly surprised. This is a nice malty, spicy Belgian strong pale. The mild hop bittering plays well with the spices (maybe cardamom, cinnamon, ginger?) and persists with just enough presence on the finish. The mouthfeel is really nice
Overall, I do like this beer, though it could be a bit dangerous at 8%ABV. We'll see how fast it actually ends up going down and whether it's too filling afterward. In other news, I'm going to keep things casual until I finally get caught up on my backlog of drafts. Many are just waiting for a picture, which I do not have with me here, so I don't know if I'll just push them out and edit later or what. So maybe I won't get caught up until the winter. Ho hum.
I forget where I saw this, but it's an interesting looking beer so I picked it up. 13%ABV is proudly displayed on the neck label. For a blonde ale, this is pretty potent. Also, interestingly, this is a French product, not Belgian. It is also a slightly smaller format. I had assumed it was an 11.2oz/330ml bottle but it is actually 8.4oz. Two small numbers are also printed: "28.09.12" and "L12.2.08". I suspect the first is a drink-by date. The second could be a bottling date, but the convention isn't consistent with the first, so it may not be a date at all.
As I was passing the glass to my other side, I got a whiff of wine but not much else. Frenchies. I was concerned that the taste may also reflect it's aroma but was pleasantly surprised. It's a creamy, malty base, rather sweet and esther-y with lots of bananas not cut with a lot of spices, hiding its ABV fairly well until the end. I can taste a fair amount of alcohol there, and it lingers somewhat.
I'm not sure what do do with beer, really. At 13%ABV and its level of sweetness, it's not going to go before or during a meal. The only other thing I would think of is as a dessert beer, which might be ok, but I'm not digging the alcohol aftertaste. To me, this is going to be more of a novelty beer. There are other beers and liquors better suited to fill the dessert or dessert accompaniment role. It's not terribly complex either, so I can't imagine myself wanting to sit down with just this. Eh, a bit of a miss for me.
Also, still abusing that abbey tag.
North Coast, in my opinion, is a bit of sleeper brewery. They don't seem to get much spotlight time, don't immediately come to mind, or seem to put out very many beer. But everyone knows (or should know) Old Rasputin, one of the best examples of RIS. I'm also a big fan of Brother Thelonious which I had way back when I was first really getting into craft beer. I also had their Old Stock Ale a couple years ago as a random bottle pick during a random drinking night at the OT. Even then, I still hadn't put it all together as I remember not knowing who North Coast was at the time. Now that I think about it, North Coast doesn't advertise heavily on their labels, just a small round seal out of the way of some eye-catching, detailed graphic.
I will admit the cork gave me more trouble than usual, taking a good solid minute of working the cork around the bottle several times but then I got to the beautifully clear, bright golden pour with a full head. I don't have much to say about this, to be honest, and maybe that's a virtue. Pranqster is a Belgian-style golden ale, and that's exactly what it tastes like. Classic Belgian yeasty+spicy aroma but subdued. Rich yet light on the tongue, slightly sweet and fruity, dry with a mellow bitter finish. The head retention is rather low which affects the overall mouthfeel a bit, but that's forgivable.
Overall, this is a great beer, especially considering the $6 price tag on the bomber. The 7.5%ABV is certainly manageable over a night. It's flavorful so it stands well on its own. BA marks it as an aperitif/digestif or with game or salmon. Given the dryness, I'm on board with the fish, but I don't agree with the salmon.
A blend of 7 Jewbelation recipes and aged in Sazerac Rye barrels. Thick, creamy head, dark, opaque pour. Super malty, grape, wine, prune, raisin, oak, a touch of spiciness from the rye. Finishes with a touch of bitter and heat. Gets heady pretty quickly. Full, smooth body.
A rich, malty, hop vehicle. The rep at the store called it a red ale but with more hops. It's a rich red, fine head, malty body loaded with hops. Heavy lacing all the way down. I like it. Not nearly as sessionable as an IPA, but a nice, heavier brew for a slower drinking, cold winter night.
Also, there's no good definition of a stock ale. BA redirects to old ales, and other stock ales get reclassified as American IPAs. Nosterfatu is classed as an American strong ale, also a super-ambiguous style. Someone said the brewer marks it as an imperial red. In any case, it's pretty good.
Limited release, on sale, tagged as a "strong ale", tee hee. Fermented with champagne yeast and French grape juice, aged in French oak, it's pretty ostentatious. It's also 12%ABV, which is also pretty ostentatious.
Rich copper, almost red, with a pretty luscious head that dies down to a tight cover, also curtains. Pretty malty but not real in-your-face about it, very mild. The 38IBU also helps. Leaves some warmth in the back of the throat. Rather sweet tasting, kind of reminds me of barley wine, but finishes a little sour (maybe that's the grape).
At $5 for the ABV, it's a good deal but a little heavy for boozing. I'd pick up a few more if it's still around just to have around for emergencies or to split and maybe for some aging. Yes, it's like that emergency bottle of cheap-but-not-so-cheap-that-I-can-see-through-it-but-is-kind-of-ok-especially-if-you-are-already-drunk-or-eating-food-with-it wine.
Billed on BA as an American strong ale, I was under the impression that this was going to be a pale, though having seen the pour, I feel like I've seen "black IPA" associated with it as well. I've had black IPAs before, which is blasphemy, but this is not a black IPA. Strong ale is kind of a cop out really, since anything that's not distinctly in a style and weighs in at +8%ABV gets called a strong ale. This one is 8.7%ABV.
Mostly malty, kind of hard to find the hops. Nice, but generic dark taste. It's a good session beer in that "I'm going to get drunk"-session-beer kind of way.
I picked up a bottle from their brew pub a while ago to give it another taste at home. I remember not really liking it much at the pub. Still true. Oak aged, it had kind of a buttery flavor which I didn't really care for. The mouthfeel was weird, creamy but not really dense or viscous. Meh.
Ommegang's winter ale. Belgian dark ale spiced with coriander, mace, grains of paradise, cardamom, and orange peel. Tastes like a traditional Belgian dark ale but with witbier spicing. The sweet orange peel really comes through in the nose. I'm told it tastes like Christmas.
It's good but rather pricey. I'm on the fence about buying more. I can't imagine myself drinking this outside of the season and there are other beers that I'd probably prefer for cheaper.
Now that Goose Island is distributing here, I've found some of their Reserve line here. And Matilda got a new dress. A case will run about $130. I'll pick one up and squat on it over 5 years or more.
The bottle I have here is 2009 vintage. Sadly, it tastes nothing like the Matilda I had last summer. But I expect some better flavors to develop over the years. Currently, it does taste obviously young, little malt, almost sour, and fruity. Light carbonation and exquisitely clear red amber.
I'll be honest. I didn't care for it very much. It was just too bitter, but not in a hoppy way, more like a burnt, malty, caramel kind of way. The carbonation and mouthfeel were both good, but it was just the potency on the tongue.
I've had this before, but I didn't get around to writing it down before for some reason. I'm not really sure what breed of ale this is, but it's hoppy, creamy, slightly sweet, and finishes bitter. I'm a fan of it. We'll see how the Double Bastard Ale goes over.
I'm debating whether my tagging scheme was rich enough. I tried to not have an explosion of redundant tags based on what certain breweries wanted to call their brews. This is Belgian-styled, but I wouldn't really call it an abbey.
Again, some leftovers. It won Beer of the Year some year. Pretty good, interesting malty taste, sweet, raisins are the dominant flavor. It is damn pricey though. I think we billed it about $10/6-pack? I might pick it up for myself in the future sometime. But not anytime soon.
With a name like Nocturnum, I shouldn't have been surprised with how dark amber this is. I don't pick up on the medicinal smell that others seemed to note until after swallowing, but the mouthfeel is thin and would be clean except for the ridiculous amount of yeast sediment in the glass which invariable ends up in my mouth. You can even see it in the picture. It's not that I'm bad at pouring beer. I just didn't want to throw out half a bottle. There was that much sediment. I do like the carbonation and the malty caramel taste, but I want to have a go at it from the tap sometime, preferably with less sediment.
I don't remember anything about this actually other than the fact that it was not as great as everyone seems to think.
Another offering from Unibroue. Not bad, per se. But it feels like a flimsier version of Maredsous Double.
I'll admit. I don't know much about these Belgian Trappist ales with their dubbels, tripels, and such. All I know is that they keep getting toastier and toastier. And I'll admit, this one was toastier than I'd like, but it had the sweetness and heaviness I've been looking for.
