Christmas beer update

I've had a few of the Advent beers without blogging them. Here's a quick update:

Peche Mortel imperial coffee stout. This gets a "meh" from me. It's a decent strong stout, but the coffee adds a harsh bitterness that isn't great. Not bad, just meh.

Guinness Foreign Extra Stout: what's to say, it's Guinness. I like it.

Weltenburger Barock Hell: another "meh" for me. It's a fine German beer, very light with a pleasant mild hop aroma and very light crisp and dry flavor. Ok, just not really my style.

The rest of the leftover Advent beers are pretty strong and will age well, so I'll be hanging on to them for a while. I'll blog them when I get to them.

Beer Advent Day 28 -- Merry Christmas!

The final beer in the calendar is the "standard" Christmas beer:

Samichlaus Classic, 2009 bottling
Malt Liquor
11.2oz bottle, 14%abv

This one definitely needs some aging before it will be drinkable, so it goes straight to the aging stash. I've got lots of the earlier beers to catch up on though.

It's been another great calendar this year, and it's fun to have the holiday last all month and then some. Thanks Tracie!

Merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, jolly Festivus, etc. Most importantly, thanks to the Pagans for starting the whole thing off with the various solstice and Mithras celebrations that the Christians could later steal and claim for their own. Cheers to the season and the especially the gradual return of longer days!

Beer Advent Day 27 -- Christmas Eve Edition

The penultimate beer in the calendar for this year is a special one.

Figgy Pudding
Ale brewed with molasses and matured in brandy barrels with figs and spice.
11%abv, 25.4oz bottle.

This is the first ever bottling from Block 15 brewing here in Corvallis. The bottles sold out in a couple of days, and I had missed out until now. I did have a taste of this while it was briefly available on tap, and it's tasty. It will age well though, so I'll probably put it in my special aging stash.

Beer Advent Day 26

Today's beer is a German beer I've never heard of, Marke Weltenburger Barock Hell.

Beer Advent Day 25

Today's beer is a classic -- Guinness Foreign Extra stout.

11.2oz bottle, 7.5%abv.

Beer Advent Day 24

Today's beer is Dogfish Head World Wide Stout. According to the label, it's "a very dark beer brewed with a ridiculous amount of barley.". We'll see...

Ommegang Biere de Mars

Ale refermented with brettanomyces bruzellensis.
Ommegang brewing, Cooperstown, NY
6.5%abv, 25.4oz bottle
Batch #2, October 2008

This a very nice drinkable Belgian-syle ale.

Pours amber in color with a thick fluffy white head.

Aroma is lightly sweet with a hint of hops.

Flavor is similarly light with a bit less sweetness and a bit more prominent hops.

Finish is crisp and clean, with solid bitterness.

Overall a very nice light and refreshing beer. The brettanomyces flavor and aroma are very subtle, which is pleasant.

Beer Advent Day 23

Today's beer is an imperial coffee stout from Canada, eh. Peche Mortal ("mortal sin") from Brasserie du Ciel, Montreal, Canada.

Southern Tier Oat

Imperial Oatmeal Stout
Southern Tier brewing, Lakewood New York
11%abv, 22oz bottle

Pours black with a moderate head.

Aroma is caramel, hints of coffee, chocolate, and alcohol.

Flavor is balanced toward the sweet, but not too sweet. Coffee and roast malt dominate.

Mouthfeel is thick and rich, but it finishes with some bitterness to balance it out nicely.

Another good big beer from Southern Tier.

Beer Advent Day 22

Last week of the calendar :(

Today's beer is Ommegang brewing Bier de Mars, a Belgian amber I haven't had before.

Beer Advent Day 21

Today's beer is another one I haven't had before: Red Hook brewing's 8-4-1 Expedition, Limited Release Oak-aged Ale Brewed with honey. This one is less than a year old, so I'll probably try to hang onto it for a while.

Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine

2007 Expedition
12oz bottle, 9.6%abv
Sierra Nevada Brewing, Chico, CA

This pours dark amber with little to no head, even with a hard pour into the bottom of the glass.

Aroma is lots of alcohol, hops, and malt.

Flavor is surprisingly not all malt, with big hop flavor and a wallop of alcohol.

Finish is strongly bitter, with some lingering alcohol warmth.

It's a big, tasty beer, that's actually not too badly balanced. I don't think it's quite as drinkable as the Stone Old Guardian reviewed earlier, but that's a minor preference. It's very nice to drink these properly aged barleywines regardless.

Beer Advent Day 20

Today's beer is another offering from Southern Tier, this time an imperial oatmeal stout. I haven't had this one, but their other beers are great.

Beer Advent Day 19

Today's beer is Limited Edition Rodenbach 2007 Vintage Oak Aged Ale. It's a reddish-brown Flemish sour ale.

Beer Advent Day 18

Today's beer is Mirror Mirror, Barleywine aged in bourbon barrels. Deschutes Brewing, Bend, Oregon.

I've had this one before and it's a good one. I'll probably try to hang on to this one a while, even though it's already past its "best after" date on the label.

Mikkeller I Hardcore You Imperial IPA

11.2oz bottle, 9.5%abv

I don't think I've had a Mikkeller beer I didn't like, and this continues the trend.

Pours dark copper with a substantial white head.

Big bold hoppy aroma, with some malty undertones.

Flavor is solidly hoppy, but with a big malt presence too.

Mouthfeel and body is fairly thick, and a hint sweet, but with a big bitter hop finish that helps balance it overall.

Very tasty beer.

Beer Advent Day 17

Today's beer is "I Hardcore You," Imperial IPA, from Mikkeller. Brewed at Brew Dog brewing, Aberdeen, Scotland.

This should be interesting...

Beer Advent Day 16

Today's beer is Cascade Brewing's "The Vine" Northwest style sour ale. Ale brewed with grapes and aged in oak barrels.

I've had a couple grape/beer hybrids, and haven't been pleased. I have liked the Cascade sour ales I've had though, so we'll see how this one goes.

Glorious Doughnuts

We're up in Portland to pick up Tracie's sister at the airport, so we of course had to stop at Voodoo Doughnut on the way. I got two of the legendary bacon maple bars, one for now, one for breakfast. Delightful!

Pickled Santa

English Christmas Ale brewed with spices.
Beer Counter Ltd., Oxfordshire, England
25oz bottle, 6%abv

This is a pretty mellow holiday ale from England. Pours copper colored and clear, with a nice white head. Aroma is mild malt with subtle spice character. Flavor is quite spicy, with hints of cinnamon and nutmeg, and a bit of spruce. Finish is dry and crisp. A nice refreshingly crisp holiday ale from the folks in Yurp.

Beer Advent Day 15

Today's beer is Pickled Santa -- English Christmas Ale brewed with spices.

Never had this one before, should be interesting.

Beer Advent Day 14

Today we get Oude Kriek Lambic
Hannssens Artisanaal, Dworp Belgium
375ml bottle, alcohol not specified.

The bottle says it's already been aged more than 3 years, so it should be ready to drink.

Beer Advent Day 13

Today's beer is the 2007 bottling of Sierra Nevada's Bigfoot barleywine.

Looking forward to this one!

Pierre Celis Grotten

Signature Selection Grotten Brown
Unique Belgian Ale
6.7%abv , 22oz bottle

Third Advent beer of the night.

This is vastly superior to the nastiness of the last beer.

Pours dark amber to light brown, with a substantial head.

Aroma is malt and cola.

Flavor is nicely balanced with good roasty malt, subtle hops, and a hint of sourness.

Finish is nicely balanced.

A very tasty Belgian brown.

J.W.Lees Harvest ale

I didn't like last year's version of this, and I don't like this one either. It's simply all sweetness with no balance whatsoever. If you like beer that smells and tastes like "Applets and Cottlets" candy, you'll like this. The rest of us normal folk, notsomuch.

Southern Tier Un*earthly Imperial IPA

This is awesome and you should really try it. I think I've done a more detailed review before, so search for it if you want more info.

Update: So I did a quick check, and I can't find a review I've done of this. That's surprising, since I know I've had this before. Anyway, it's a great double/imperial IPA. Big aroma and flavor of hops, but a properly balanced flavor and finish. If you don't like hops, you won't like this, but it's also not absurd, it's very drinkable. It's actually ridiculously drinkable for being 11% alcohol. Highly recommended -- in fact, from what I can tell, if you see a Southern Tier beer, try it, they're good.

Beer Advent Day 12

Today's beer is one of my favorites from Southern Tier Brewing -- Un-earthly IPA.

22oz bottle, 11%abv

Beer Advent Day 11

Grotten Brown
Pierre Celis signature selection unique Belgian ale.

25.4oz bottle, 6.7%abv

I've never seen or tasted this, so I'm looking forward to it.

Beer Advent Day 10

Today's beer isn't beer, it's sake.

Beer Advent Day 9

Top secret barleywine...

I didn't really intend for the label to be illegible, but it works. This is a "non-commercial" beer in the calendar, that isn't technically legal under Oregon's stupid OLCC regulations. So we'll just leave this one anonymous...

Stone Old Guardian Barleywine, 2008 release

This was yesterday's advent beer, and since my brother-in-law and I both have these calendars, we decided to drink one and save one. It's probably a good thing we're sharing, 22 ounces of 11+% barleywine makes for a short evening.

This pours copper in color, a bit cloudy, with little head.

Aroma is big malt, alcohol, and hops, with solid caramel too.

Flavor is initially all malty sweetness, followed immediately by a big bitter finish that cleanses your palate and readies you for the next sip. There's noticeable alcohol warmth too, but it's not overpowering at all.

This is really tasty, and surprisingly drinkable. Lots of barleywines are way too sweet, but this one is perfectly balanced. Huge, but balanced. Good job Stone.

Beer Advent Day 8

Today's beer is Harvest
Ale matured in port casks, limited edition, 2007
J.W.Lees & Co Brewers,
Middleton, Manchester, England
11.7%abv, 275ml bottle

I had the 2006 edition Harvest ale which was aged in a different kind of cask, and didn't really like it. Hopefully this one will be better.

Beer Advent Day 7

Today's beer is Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine, Limited Early 2008 release

22oz bottle, 11.26% abv

This is a Stone beer I haven't had, so I'm really looking forward to trying it. It's already almost 3 years old -- I could age it more, but we'll see if I have the patience...

He'brew Bittersweet Lenny's R.I.P.A

Double IPA with rye malt
A tribute to Lenny Bruce
Shmaltz Brewing, Saratoga Springs, NY
10%abv, 12oz bottle

This was yesterday's Advent beer, but I think it's also Hannukah right now too, so it's appropriate. I don't really know how any of this religious stuff (other than the holy FSM) works...

Anyway, this is a damn tasty beer.
It pours a fairly dark amber, with a thick lingering head.

Aroma is malt, caramel, hops and a hint of rye. I like that the rye is present but not dominant -- beers like this are best when the "special" ingredient isn't overpowering. The underlying beer still shines here.

Flavor is similar -- solid malt, hops and present but not too much rye. There's a bit of a subtle mellow spice, vanilla perhaps, apparent before the dry finish.

Finishes crisp and solidly bitter, with little indication of the alcoholic strength, although it is definitely strong...

A very enjoyable beer from the great folks at Shmaltz.

Oh, and just to add my $0.02 to the tribute to Lenny:

There would be way more censorship and less freedom in this prudish land of ours if not for folks like him that were willing to risk -- and lose -- everything by challenging the fucking stupid crap that seems almost quaint today. Thanks Mr. Bruce.

Beer Advent Day 6

Aventinus Weizen Eisbock
Wheat ice dopplebock, 2009 bottling.
11.2oz bottle, 12%abv

I've had their regular bock, but not this one. Should be interesting.

Beer Advent Day 5

What could be better for Advent than a Jewish beer?

He'brew R.I.P.A is today's beer. I've had it before but it's been a while. Looking forward to it.

Beer Advent Day 4

Matilda
Belgian style ale
Goose Island Beer co., Chicago, IL
12oz bottle, 7%abv

It looks good, has a nice light lingering head, with good color and clarity.

Aroma is of pears, perhaps as freshly picked in an orchard on a foggy damp day. Not sure whether I like that or not.

Flavor is also fruity and pear-like, with subtle sweetness and a mild finish.

Not really to my liking, but not really "bad" either. Perhaps most concisely, if given the chance, I wouldn't buy this again.

Beer Advent Day 3

Duchesse de Bourgogne
Reddish-brown Flemish ale
Brouwerij Verhaeghe, Vichte, Belgium
0.33liter bottle, 6%abv

This is quite nice.

Pours dark amber to light brown, with a thick light-colored head that lingers well.

Aroma is of subtle cola notes, with a slight hint of spice and wild yeast notes.

Flavor is delightful -- there's a great sweet malt base balanced by a subtle sourness and some light bitterness in the finish.

This is a damn tasty beer -- I've never seen it before, so if you do, grab it, you won't be disappointed.

Fearless Scottish Ale

As noted below, this is the second advent beer. Although I haven't had the first one yet, I tried it at the big Belgian tasting last night, and it will age nicely.

Anyway, this is a nice mellow malty ale, very appropriate for the style. Nice and clear with a good amber color. Flavor is all about the malt, although it's balanced and not overly sweet.

A nice change from all the over-the-top beers from last night.

Beer Advent Day 2

Fearless Scottish Ale
16oz can, 5.3%abv
Fearless Brewing Company, Estacada, Oregon

Being Belgian Beer #11

Quelque Chose
50% dark ale and 50% brown ale brewed with cherries.
8%abv
Unibroue, Quebec, Canada

Served over ice, very interesting spicy holiday ale.

Being Belgian Beer #10

Experimental Raspberry Lambic, Hanssens Artisanaal, Dworp, Belgium.

Ridiculously sour -- too much so without a food pairing, luckily we had dessert to go with it.

Final food course

Belgian chocolate chestnut truffle mousse.

Being Belgian Beer #9

Wadesda #1
Sour Belgian ale. Very tasty, extremely sour, but super yummeh. Technically it's a blend of a lambic and a Trippel, but the Trippel is not terribly apparent.

Being Belgian Beer #8

2008 Pannepot Reserva
Old fisherman's ale aged on oak
10%abv

Tasty.

3rd food course

Ardennes style stewed Venison with poached apples and potatoes.

Yummeh.

Being Belgian Beer #7

Malheur Brut Reserve, champagne style beer. Tasty -- a good alternative to sparkling wines for special occasions.

Being Belgian Beer #6

Melange a Trois, Belgian Blond aged in chardonnay barrels, from... NEBRASKA!?!

Wow, a good beer from Nebraska, a pleasant surprise.

Food course #2

Cream of squash soup with mussels.

Being Belgian Beer #5

De Prouf Pinhead Flemish Primitive wild ale.

Extremely yummeh. Lots of funky wild ale notes.