Review: Les Deux Brasseurs Belgian Ale - De Proef Brouwerij

Ahhh funktown. I love me some funky beer. Which is why Eric brought this one home from our awesome neighborhood beer shop to try it.

Appearance: The photo is indicative of what I see; the beer pours like a typical belgian ale. Also just like in the photo, the head is very foamy, but it quickly dissipates. Carbonation is continuously floating up from the bottom.

Aroma: I definitely get the typical funky aroma that comes with a wild beer: it reminds me of slightly rotten apples, but in a really good way (if that's possible). However, compared to other wild ales I've had, the aroma on this beer is much more subtle, and a fresher, sweet and fruity aroma accompanies it.

Taste: It's a smooth tasting experience from start to finish. Just the like the aroma is less intense funkwise, so is the taste of this ale: it's not very sour. I also get flavors of fruits like dried mango and crystallized pineapple.

Mouthfeel: Because I like to be overwhelmed with carbonation, this beer was a bit flat for me, but it might have been because I drank it at a slightly warmer temperature than intended. Otherwise, the beer has a nice, light mouthfeel, not syrupy or cloying at all.

Overall: This beer would be a great starter for someone who is new to funky beers. I definitely enjoyed drinking it, but I think I'd like to try it colder next time. I'd give it a B+.

Beer Advocate gives this beer an A-, so it seems that others have a strong liking for this beer as well. If you find it, give it a try, I think it'd be worth it!

Review: Baird/Ishii/Stone Collaboration - Japanese Green Tea IPA

Eric and I were psyched to spot the Japanese Green Tea beer at Whole Foods the other day, and proceeded to snatch up the last two bottles. Green Tea in a beer is unusual enough that I would be interested in it regardless of it's difficulty to find, but I'm even more gratified to know that this beer is money well-spent: this is Stone's first collaboration beer brewed as a fundraiser, and all proceeds go to the Japanese tsunami relief programs.

But on to the review.

Appearance: This IPA is a nice toasty looking orange, about the hue you would expect from a typical IPA, but what sets this brew apart is the fact that you can actually see the green tea floating in the beer. As a result, the beer looks a bit murky, and while a bit of the green tea sediment has settled to the bottom of the glass, most of it remains suspended throughout the beverage as I drink it. The head on this beer is minimal and quickly dissipates after pouring.

Aroma: The aroma on this beer is fairly subtle, but I get some floral notes, and the intensely citrusy hop scent I expect from an IPA is muted.

Taste: I get a distinct green tea flavor, but it's nicely balanced and it rounds out the hoppy astringent flavor of the IPA, particularly throughout the aftertaste.

Mouthfeel: The carbonation balance on this beer is nice: crisp at the front, doesn't fall flat on the end, and the green tea adds a nice soft undertone to make it go down smoothly.

Overall: The experience of tasting this beer is unique, smooth, crisp, and extremely flavorful: a great drinking experience overall.

Grade: A-

Beer advocate gives this beer a B+, and all the other reviews online look similarly positive. This is definitely a beer worth drinking if you run across it!

Football Beers

Here is my appreciation post celebrating the awesomeness that is fall, football and beer.  On a personal note, Week 1 is always a big transition for me.  As a teacher, I hold summer as a sacred season and never want it to end.  Starting school is always a big downer...the end of freedom and the start of working.  If I am going to accept the start of school, I want everything that goes along with it.  I want cooler temperatures, playoff baseball, football Sunday's and fall beers.  I want an excuse to make homemade chili and a reason to sit at a sports bar for 4 hours. 

Brains, our barleywine, was brewed for this season.  I know, I know.  Real football fans, real men, drink Coors Light or Miller Light while watching football.  That's what the magical box on my wall tells me.  But fall season beers are about high ABV and huge flavor. 

Today my beer fridge is stocked with Bell's Octoberfest, Flying Dog Table for Two, New Belgium Trippel and one lonely Bell's Oracle. 

Hooray football and hooray beer!

What's your Week 1 beer?

Lessons on Failure

The first attempt at a lager did not go as planned.  We were making a Czech-style pilsner for the national Pilsner Urquell homebrew challenge.  We withdrew.

I specifically remember the yeast vial saying that one was enough.  It didn't mention a starter either.  These are huge rookie mistakes.  After a few weeks of agitating the fermenter, we decided to up the temperature a few degrees instead of re-pitching the yeast.  This was a huge mistake.  Increasing the temperature causes the yeast to release all sorts of fun off-flavors.  The biggest being diacetyl acid, which smells like butter.  Gross.

So we bottled it and hoped for the best, but we got the worst.  I tried to convince Dan to pour the whole thing out.  Dan always wants to think the best about our products and insisted that we try it out.  Dan was ready to pour it all out after two sips.

Not only was the final product entirely too dark for a pilsner, it had a terrible aftertaste.  Oh yeah, and I stuck my entire arm in the fermentation vessel.  Nothing went right with this beer.  It's our first disaster in brewing; much worse than the hefeweisen that didn't carbonate properly.  Butter beer = bad.  Really bad.  Now if we could only brew a salty beer, Casey would LOVE it.

We tried brewing another pilsner about three weeks ago.  We used a starter this time around, but apparently didn't pitch enough yeast again.  I re-pitched a week ago and should be done fermenting in the next couple of days.  I'm still hopeful!