Unibroue
La Fin du Monde
Colour: Cloudy Yellow
Aroma: Hoppy
Head: White, very small bubbles
Initial Taste: Hoppy
Mouth-feel: Medium bodied beer, sweetness comes out with a honey-ey roasted flavour, but doesn't become over powering
Aftertaste: Slightly sweet
Verdict: Surprisingly enough, I really liked this beer.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Fully Updated And Moving Forward
I know I posted last week that I had fully back posted and brought everything up to scratch with my beer blog for 2011. Unfortunately that was not entire true, as I had a few reviews on my netbook that was not in possession at the time. Additionally, I had a few beers to double check the names of, etcetera, etcetera. Anyway, those are all now fully completed and the final tally of 2011 is 74-76 beers (74 are listed either in reviews or here).
That said, the main reason I wanted to write this post is to mention some exciting new things going forward. First of all, this blog will be changing it's focus specifically from beer reviews to beer-related things in general. I started this blog a little over a year ago to teach myself how to think about beer and I've had a blast, but that has also become a bit dry (no pun intended) for me. In the last few days of 2011, I wrote one post about buying/drinking beer and I had a blast writing that, and so I think that is a direction I will be trying to explore more in the coming months.
Additionally, I am well aware of how boring straight text is and I was planning on having photographs to accompany my beer reviews for the past few months. The worst part is that I even took that photographs, just due to technical difficulties (okay, I'll come clean, laziness) I never posted them. Then, when I finally got together enough gumption to do it, my pro flickr account (where I host my photos) was suspended because I forgot to pay my bill. Anyway, henceforth, there will be photos to accompany all my posts, which will hopefully add some spice to my otherwise, kind of staid blog.
Finally, I will be trying to get my site more out there on the intarwebs. As such, I will now be posting new entries to my tumblr and maybe rolling out some other stuff soon too. I won't be, however, doing "Adsense" or any monetization at the moment, so don't worry about that.
p.s.
thanks for reading,
Danley
That said, the main reason I wanted to write this post is to mention some exciting new things going forward. First of all, this blog will be changing it's focus specifically from beer reviews to beer-related things in general. I started this blog a little over a year ago to teach myself how to think about beer and I've had a blast, but that has also become a bit dry (no pun intended) for me. In the last few days of 2011, I wrote one post about buying/drinking beer and I had a blast writing that, and so I think that is a direction I will be trying to explore more in the coming months.
Additionally, I am well aware of how boring straight text is and I was planning on having photographs to accompany my beer reviews for the past few months. The worst part is that I even took that photographs, just due to technical difficulties (okay, I'll come clean, laziness) I never posted them. Then, when I finally got together enough gumption to do it, my pro flickr account (where I host my photos) was suspended because I forgot to pay my bill. Anyway, henceforth, there will be photos to accompany all my posts, which will hopefully add some spice to my otherwise, kind of staid blog.
Finally, I will be trying to get my site more out there on the intarwebs. As such, I will now be posting new entries to my tumblr and maybe rolling out some other stuff soon too. I won't be, however, doing "Adsense" or any monetization at the moment, so don't worry about that.
p.s.
thanks for reading,
Danley
La Trappe Quadrupel
This was the second beer that I picked up on my trip to Bier Markt, a quadruple, or a beer that has been fermented four times. Another interesting thing about this beer is that is bears the official designation of being a trappist beer, the specifics of which can be found here, but mostly stem from being made in a trappist monastery in the Benelux area (in this case Holland).
Name: La Trappe Quadrupel
Year: 2011
ABV: 10.0%
poured from a 11.2oz bottle into a pilsner glass
(site)
Colour: A reddish gold, cloudy (due to yeast, presumably)
Aroma: Medium distinctly hoppy smell
Head: Small head with creamy, offwhite bubbles
Initial Taste: Slightly sweet fermented hop taste
Mouth-feel: Medium bodied beer, sweetness of hops grows, but is not spicy or saccharine
Aftertaste: Slightly sour fermented taste, slightly taste the alcohol*
*initially this was very overpowering but I let the beer air for a few seconds and it decreased noticeably.
Verdict: It is definitely an interesting beer and the the history is pretty cool, so if someone is buying and it's on the menu, check it out, I probably
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Kasteel Rouge
Yesterday, while at Bier Markt, (see my description of in my last post here), I picked up this beer kind of because of a friend. While we were perusing the menu, I was called upon to give advice on what beers my compatriots should buy, and since I'd known that one of them had liked Lindemans Kriek, I suggested that she go for a lambic, if they had them.
Fortunately for us, we were in luck and they had six different bottles available for purchase. She settled on the Kasteel Rouge because not only did it sound good, but neither of us had seen it anywhere in our area, so we thought it was worth the splurge. After spending so much time talking about the brew, I just had to pick up a bottle because I was so curious about how it would be.
Name: Kasteel Rouge
Year: 2011
ABV: 8.0%
poured from a 33cl bottle into a glass stein
Colour: A deep brown red, with a red tint in the light
Aroma: Sweet smell of cherries, with slight earthy undertones (initially also smells faintly of cough syrup, but that dissipates over time)
Head: Small head with medium-sized bubbles, slightly pink
Initial Taste: Sweet, yet sour cherry taste (presumably sweet from the juice, and sour from the pits) with a slight earthiness of hops
Mouth-feel: Medium bodied beer, all of the flavours are balanced very well
Aftertaste: Slightly bitter, but diminishes almost immediately
NOTES:
Kasteel Rouge is a lambic (or fruity wheat beer) by the Belgian Brouwerij Van Honsebrouck (no direct link because the site is in flash, but if you click on the bell and chain you should get an English version which is more navigable). Though I initially disliked it because I thought it initially had an artificial, almost cough-syrupy taste, that went completely away after two or three sips and it turned out to be a pretty great beverage. You could definitely taste the sweet/sour of the bing cherries (added late in the brewing process) and their wasn't any competing beer flavour as often befalls cheaper flavoured beers.
Final Verdict: If you don't like beer that much or like lambics, give this beer a try. Even if you don't think much of it the first few sips, I would implore you to give the beer some time, and you may discover you like it after all.
Fortunately for us, we were in luck and they had six different bottles available for purchase. She settled on the Kasteel Rouge because not only did it sound good, but neither of us had seen it anywhere in our area, so we thought it was worth the splurge. After spending so much time talking about the brew, I just had to pick up a bottle because I was so curious about how it would be.
Year: 2011
ABV: 8.0%
poured from a 33cl bottle into a glass stein
Colour: A deep brown red, with a red tint in the light
Aroma: Sweet smell of cherries, with slight earthy undertones (initially also smells faintly of cough syrup, but that dissipates over time)
Head: Small head with medium-sized bubbles, slightly pink
Initial Taste: Sweet, yet sour cherry taste (presumably sweet from the juice, and sour from the pits) with a slight earthiness of hops
Mouth-feel: Medium bodied beer, all of the flavours are balanced very well
Aftertaste: Slightly bitter, but diminishes almost immediately
NOTES:
Kasteel Rouge is a lambic (or fruity wheat beer) by the Belgian Brouwerij Van Honsebrouck (no direct link because the site is in flash, but if you click on the bell and chain you should get an English version which is more navigable). Though I initially disliked it because I thought it initially had an artificial, almost cough-syrupy taste, that went completely away after two or three sips and it turned out to be a pretty great beverage. You could definitely taste the sweet/sour of the bing cherries (added late in the brewing process) and their wasn't any competing beer flavour as often befalls cheaper flavoured beers.
Final Verdict: If you don't like beer that much or like lambics, give this beer a try. Even if you don't think much of it the first few sips, I would implore you to give the beer some time, and you may discover you like it after all.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Bier Markt
For the past few months I have been hearing about this "Beer Store" in Cleveland, across the street from West Side Market (a foodie paradise nestled incongruously Ohio City), and yesterday, when I was in the area with some friends I finally decided to go check it out. And it was a good thing that I did.
Embarrassingly, the first time I walked into Bier Markt, I left and wasn't planning on coming back. The reason was that as soon as you walked in, you are not greeted with shelves of beer, or even a store at all; the foyer instead opens into a cute little restaurant/cafe with little curtained off booths (presumedly for a more intimate dining experience). Needless to say, having thought that I was going to a beer grocery store, I took the concierges' blank and awkward stares as a sign that I was in the wrong place. Fortunately, one of my friends was determined to figure out where we had gone wrong in our directions and so, ignoring our protests, went back in to inquire about the actual whereabouts of this purported beer selling establishment.
It turns out that our directions were correct after all, the place we had stumbled into was a cafe/restaurant, but it also had a make your own six pack deal of the beers available for to-go purchase. So armed with this new information, we walked through the curtain booths, and awkwardly gawking employees, to a what looked like a small bar at the back. It quickly appeared that this assumption, like our first one, was also flat out wrong.
The bar at the back was easily as big, if not bigger than the opening room, it also demonstrated succinctly why the place deserved the moniker "Bier Markt." As you walked into the back room, you were greeted by a massively long bar counter and a veritable army of taps (23 beers at any given time). There were small refrigerators behind the bar stocking and incredible amount of bottled beer, and what looked like a high-end champagne cooler meets gun-case storing especially rare brews. The walls were lined with empty bottles, and the decorated with vintage beer paraphernalia. Even though it was barely one on a Saturday, almost all of the bar stools were already taken. However even more impressive than all that was the wall behind the bar. Normally reserved for your liquors, especially top shelf brands, it was instead full of empty glassware
My suspicions were confirmed when inquired one of the bartenders about this particularity; "We like to serve each beer in their specific glasses," she informed me. Now, for those who don't know, often times beer companies have branded glass were, ranging from your boring pint glass to the elaborate glasses for drinking Kwak. Many of glasses are pricey and hard find, for starters, and so to any place, even a bar catering to beer drinkers to make that kind of investment, is something truly awesome indeed.
Unfortunately, we were on a schedule and so didn't have time sit down for a pint, but we did pick up menu to check out what we could buy for our do-it-yourself six pack. To our delight, In their bottled beers, they didn't skimp out either. Though they did have shitty beers (my opinion) like coors light, bud light, and pabst blue ribbon, their entire selection was mostly imported and currently rounded out at 76 bottles! Also, if you bought them to go, you got $1.50 off the retail price of each bottle. I was flat out speechless. I just now looked up the restaurant to double check by beer count and it was apparently rated in the Top Bars in America by Draft Magazine in 2009 AND 2011. Seriously, I have no idea how I never been to this place until now, if I lived closer to Cleveland I would basically live out of this place!!
Anyway, after much deliberation and talking we eventually decided to just pick up a single six pack, because though the beers were awesome, their imported and uncommon nature made them a bit more on the expensive side. The beers we choose were:
It turns out that our directions were correct after all, the place we had stumbled into was a cafe/restaurant, but it also had a make your own six pack deal of the beers available for to-go purchase. So armed with this new information, we walked through the curtain booths, and awkwardly gawking employees, to a what looked like a small bar at the back. It quickly appeared that this assumption, like our first one, was also flat out wrong.
The bar at the back was easily as big, if not bigger than the opening room, it also demonstrated succinctly why the place deserved the moniker "Bier Markt." As you walked into the back room, you were greeted by a massively long bar counter and a veritable army of taps (23 beers at any given time). There were small refrigerators behind the bar stocking and incredible amount of bottled beer, and what looked like a high-end champagne cooler meets gun-case storing especially rare brews. The walls were lined with empty bottles, and the decorated with vintage beer paraphernalia. Even though it was barely one on a Saturday, almost all of the bar stools were already taken. However even more impressive than all that was the wall behind the bar. Normally reserved for your liquors, especially top shelf brands, it was instead full of empty glassware
My suspicions were confirmed when inquired one of the bartenders about this particularity; "We like to serve each beer in their specific glasses," she informed me. Now, for those who don't know, often times beer companies have branded glass were, ranging from your boring pint glass to the elaborate glasses for drinking Kwak. Many of glasses are pricey and hard find, for starters, and so to any place, even a bar catering to beer drinkers to make that kind of investment, is something truly awesome indeed.
Unfortunately, we were on a schedule and so didn't have time sit down for a pint, but we did pick up menu to check out what we could buy for our do-it-yourself six pack. To our delight, In their bottled beers, they didn't skimp out either. Though they did have shitty beers (my opinion) like coors light, bud light, and pabst blue ribbon, their entire selection was mostly imported and currently rounded out at 76 bottles! Also, if you bought them to go, you got $1.50 off the retail price of each bottle. I was flat out speechless. I just now looked up the restaurant to double check by beer count and it was apparently rated in the Top Bars in America by Draft Magazine in 2009 AND 2011. Seriously, I have no idea how I never been to this place until now, if I lived closer to Cleveland I would basically live out of this place!!
Anyway, after much deliberation and talking we eventually decided to just pick up a single six pack, because though the beers were awesome, their imported and uncommon nature made them a bit more on the expensive side. The beers we choose were:
- La Trappe Quadruple
- Unibroue la fin du monde
- Unibroue don de deu
- Ommegang Three Philosophers
- Kasteel Rouge (x2)
I am really excited about all of these beers and they will definitely be showing up on this blog soon But that is for the future. In the mean time, if you find yourself in Cleveland (or the great lakes area in general) and are looking for a great place to have a pint or get some beer to go, you have to check out the Bier Markt!
(for directions click here)
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale
As I have mentioned before (Double Bastard) I am a big fan of Stone Brewing Co. Arrogant Bastard line of ales. Their packing and marketing is fantastic, and I had never been disappointed with the witticisms on their bottles. I also really liked the original Arrogant Bastard Ale and so I feel obliged to try all of it's various iterations.
This is why I ended up in the position I am right now, drinking the Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale, even though I am congested and have a flight that leaves in like 4 hours. I picked this up a few days ago at the awesome DnQ Mini Markt (check out my post here) but unfortunately have not had occasion to drink it yet and since I will be leaving this location for at least 6 months, I felt I would do a disservice to myself, if I didn't try it before I went.
Anyway, as it is, I am not sure how helpful this review will be—I don't particularly like it (a bit too aromatic for me) but I also have a sleep-deprivation head ache, and am super congested, so I dunno, but here is my best shot.
ABV: 7.2%
SERVE: 330ml bottle poured into a Nonic Pint Glass
COLOUR: Medium Brown, red-amber tint
AROMA: slight oak, hoppy
HEAD: Small rise, light beige
TASTE:
(initial) hoppy
(mouthfeel) spicy, bitter, nice body
(after) intense wood finish
VERDICT: get back to later, when I am in a better state to taste and think clearly.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Beers of 2012
After starting to keep track of the various beers that I drank over the course of 2011, I found that it was a bug that I couldn't shake off. I just had too much fun looking back through the list, comparing it to what was available in whatever bar I was hanging out in, plus, it really helped me just remember more about beer.
So this is definitely not as well laid out and organised as last years list as I decided to try a different tact this year, listing them in the chronological order in which I consumed them. I am not sure the real value of having this, but if you're interested,m you can check out some of my reviews and some beers I definitely recommend checking out.
Enjoy my 2012.
- Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale*
- Kasteel Rouge
- Sarnac Chocolate Lager
- Sarnac Bohemian Pilsner
- La Trappe Quadrupel*
- Miller Highlife
- Sarnac Lake Effect Lager
- Sarnac Vanilla Stout
- Unibroue La Fin Du Monde*
- Poppy Jasper Amber Ale
- Anchor Steam Beer
- Firestone Walker Double Barrel Ale
- Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
- Kasteel Donker**
- Anchor Christmas Ale 2011
- Anchor Breckle's Brown
- Anchor Porter
- Anchor Old Foghorn Ale
- Full Boar Scotch Ale
- Goose Island Matilda
- Tröegs HopBack Amber Ale
- Stone Self Righteous Ale
- Harpoon Black IPA
- Boulder Obovoid Oak-Aged Oatmeal Stout
- Stone Vertical Stout 11.11.11^
- Sixpoint John Dory Oyster Stout (Cask ale)
- Brookyln Brewery Blast
- Ithaca Cascazilla
- Great Lakes Elliot Ness Amber Lager
- Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout^
- Hel & Verdoemenis (Brouwerij de Molen)*
- Thirsty Dog Old Leghumper^
- 21st Amendment Back in Black^
- Bell's Third Coast Ale
- Great Lakes Commodore Perry IPA
- 21st Amendment Allies win the War
- 21st Amendment Brew Free IPA
- Yuengling traditional lager
- Great Lakes Edmond Fitzgerald Porter^
- Great Lakes Burning River Pale Ale
- Great Lakes The Doppelrock
- Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold Lager*
- Hebrew Messiah Nut Brown
- Bell's Amber Ale
- Peace Tree Rye Porter
- Peace Tree Red Amber
- Shiner Bock
- Lone Star Beer
- Live Oak Pilz
- Live Oak Big Bark Amber Lager
- Pabst Blue Ribbon
- Smithwick's Irish Ale
- Great Lakes Conway's Irish Ale^
- Yuengling Black and Tan
- Founder's Porter
- Flying Dog Old Scratch
- Flying Dog In-Heat Wheat
- Flying Dog Doggy Style
- Flying Dog Snake Dog
- Sierra Nevada 2012 Bigfoot Ale
- Leinenkugels Fireside Nut Brown
- Brewery Ommengang Three Philosphers
- Magic Hat Number 9
- Left Hand Brewing Co. Milk Stout
- Bell's Oberon Ale
- Bell's Amber Ale
- Bell's Porter
- Rouge Chocolate Stout*
- Rocky River Brewing Flapjack Porter*
- Rocky River Brewing Punching the nuts amber ale*
- Rocky River Brewing Blueberry Ale**
- Rocky River Brewing Cooper's gold kolsch
- Rocky River Brewing Boondock Walker Saison
- Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy
- Holy Moses White Ale
- Delirium Noel^
- Thirsty Dog Stud Service Stout
- Black Sun Stout
- Saint Arnold's Lawnmower
- Saint Arnold's Porter
- Brewdow Paradox Smokehouse (Cask Ale)*/**
- Real Ale Brewhouse Brown
- Ridgeway Brewing Lump of Coal
- Bad Elf Winter Ale
- Real Ale Pheonixx Double ESB
- Southern Star Bombshell Blonde
- Squatter's Outer Darkness^
- 2 Brothers Red eye Coffee porter
- 2 Brothers Domaine Dupage
- Half acre ale gossamer golden ale*
- New Belgium fat tire ale
- Fuller's porter
- Stone Self Righteous Ale
- Six point sweet action
- Iron mike's (ditka's) amber ale
- Stanley kitchen and tap, Stan's homebrew
- Revolution Brewing Red Scare (on cask)
- Revolution Brewing Eugene
- Miller lite
- Dundee Porte
- Dundee IPA
- Dundee Pale Ale
- Dundee Nut Brown Ale
- Brekenridge vanilla porter
- Black beer stout*^
- Buckeye hippie IPA
- Buckeye Nighty Night*
- Bear republic heritage ale
- Mt. Carmel amber ale
- Stone Arrogant bastard
- Rogue voodoo doughnuts maple bacon ale*
- Boulder Flashback
- Avery Karma
- Bass
- Harp
- Left hand brewing nitro milk stout
- Arcadia ales B-craft black double IPA
- Willoughby Oatmeal stout
- Dogfish head burton baton
- Brooklyn Lager
- Mt. Carmel Blonde Ale
- Mt. Carmel India pale ale
- Mt. Carmel Nut Brown ale
- Buckeye Cleveland Porter
- West Sixth Brewing W 6 IPA
- Mendocino black hawk select stout
- Three Floyds Robert the Bruce
- BBC (Bluegrass Brewing Company) Amber Ale
- Nut Brown Ale
- Goose Island Summertime
- Samuel Adams octoberfest
- Magic hat hex ourtoberfest
- Southern tier pumking^
- Great Lakes Nosferatu
- Thirsty Dog BarktoberFest lager
- Nano Brew Particle Accelerator
- Goose Island Matilda (draft)
- Milwaukee's Best Ice
- Tröegs Dead reckoning porter*
- Tröegs pale ale
- Tröegs Dreamweaver Wheat
- Tröegs Hopback
- Dogfish Head Punking
- Rogue brew 15,000
- Woodchuck hard cider fall (limited edition 2012)
- Third shift amber lager
- Great Lakes Christmas ale
- Budweiser Batch number 23185
- Budweiser Batch number 91406
- Budweiser Batch number 63118
- Woodchuck hard cider Amber
- Woodchuck hard cider 802
- Woodchuck hard cider Granny Smith
- Stockyard Oatmeal stout
- Boatswain Chocolate stout *
- Boatswain Double IPA
- Great Lakes Christmas Ale (Served with spiced rim)^
- Bells Special Double Cream Stout*^
- Southern tier old man winter
- KBC Porter
- Wolaver's Oatmeal Stout
- Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout (draft)
- 21st Amendment Fireside Chat
- 21st Amendment Marooned on Hog Island^
- Valley Anderson Boone Amber Ale
Homebrew's
- Amber Ale (Cleveland Maker's Alliance)
- Dortunder (Cleveland Maker's Alliance)
- Stout (Cleveland Maker's Alliance)
- Porter (Cleveland Maker's Alliance)
- Super Inebriated Bro's Pale Ale (My cousin via Brew Kettle)
**didn't finish
^really enjoyed
see also beermination (determination)
How did I do?
Well, It is January 1st again, one year on since I started this blog. My big resolution for this year was to blog more and I majorly whimped out on the entire thing. I was going to start and maintain an art blog, resume my food blog, and review a beer every week for this entire year on this blog.
Unfortunately none of this really materialised. The art blog stagnated, the food blog hasn't been touched since Dec. 2009, and while I did review some beers this year, I did them all long hand and so they were mostly back-posted and so this blog, for all intensive purposes, also kind sucked.
That said, before I get any more self-depreciating, let's see how I matched up with my goals:
Over the course of 2011: 25 beer reviews were posted (but some still need to be transcribed)
in addition: I drank at least 37 other beers
total: I drank 62 different varieties of beer (give or take 5, I think)
So yeah, I didn't make it, but I think as someone who has never tried one of these do "X" number of things in one year things, I did pretty decently. I got about halfway to my goal, something that, given my blogging track record is not something to scoff at.
But what does this mean for next year, you say?
Well, I guess I am just going to have to try harder. A beer a week is pretty ambitious I think, so maybe one every other week, (for a total of 26 over the year) is more realistic, so that is what I will aim for in 2012. Especially given the fact that I will probably be moving in the next few months 2012 will be a big year for me, but if there is one thing I've learned from this past year is that if shit gets rough, you can always crack a beer and relax.
Anyway, looks like I get another 365 more days ahead of and 26 reviews to crank out. Here's looking at you, 2012, or as the Dutch say:
"Proost"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)