subrew

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Christmas beer on New Year's, take 2

Another Advent beer. This time an Oregon IPA in a can. Nothing all that special, just a nice normal IPA. Caldera Brewing, Ashland, Oregon. 12oz can, 6.1%abv.

Happy New Year!

Christmas ale on New Year's Eve

I'm still working on the many Advent beers I have left. This beer is Gose Bier, Gasthaus & Gosebrauerei, Bayerischer Bahnhof, Leipzig, Germany. Beer brewed with spice, specifically coriander and salt. 11.2oz bottle, 4.6% abv.

Appearance is light and clear with a white head that dissipated fairly quickly.

Aroma is mild. Very slight notes of hops and malt and little else.

Flavor is crisp with very mild sweetness and a hint of sourness. Quite pleasant. Well balanced and tasty. Body is also light. Very refreshing beer. Quite different from many of the big beers in the calendar.

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Boxing Day Advent beer catch up

Christmas is over, but the Advent beer still lingers. I'm drinking the 12 oz bottle of Goose Island brewing's Bourbon County imperial stout, 13% abv aged in bourbon barrels.

Slightly sweet aroma with some roast and solid notes of bourbon and alcohol.

No head at all, and very light carbonation -- it would be better with more of both.

Strong alcohol flavor and warmth, malty sweet and quite sticky. Not much in the way of hops.

Mouthfeel is thick and rich, with a sticky finish and a bit of lingering alcohol warmth.

A decent beer, and as much as I like over-the-top beers, I'd prefer it if this one was a bit more refined and balanced. Even just a bit more carbonation would help lighten it up and improve it quite a bit.

Drinkable, but not a favorite.

Happy Boxing Day to all the Canadians out there...

Friday, December 25, 2009

I got a lump of coal!

A 25 ounce "Lump of Coal" dark holiday stout, 8% abv, by Ridgeway Brewing in England. I'm bummed that the Advent calendar is over, but now we get to dive into the gifts under the tree.

Happy Holidays!

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Christmas Eve Advent beer

Today's beer is the 2007 Samichlaus Helles. 330ml bottle, 14% abv. Castle Brewery Eggenberg, Austria.

Samichlaus is kind of the definitive holiday beer. This Helles version is brewed slightly paler in color then the original. I've had it before, and will probably hang onto this one for a while. They age well for years.

Only one more to go for this year...

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Christmas Nightcap

Only three Advent beers left :(

Today's beer is "Kerstmutske Christmas Nightcap" 750ml bottle, 7.4%abv.

Brewed and bottled by DeProef Brouuerij, Lockristi, Belgium, for Brouuerij Slaapmutske, Melle, Belgium.

Take your Pils

This is ok. Not a huge fan of pilsners in general, although at least this one leans more toward the European version and not the dumbed-down American style. Extremely subtle aroma. Fairly bitter with a hint of fruitiness. Like the stout-in-a-can from the same brewery, this one is OK, but not great. If you need a canned beer, you could do way worse, but that's not much of an endorsement.

Note: I didn't just drink this for breakfast. This was sent from my phone last night, but evidently there was some sort of major Blackberry outage for all their data services yesterday, and it wouldn't go through until now.

Black Oil

This is a great beer. It's definitely black, but not oily. It's also not particularly thick or "gloopy". Lots of roast malt in the nose, with nicely subtle hints of oak and some scotch whisky and alcohol. Flavor is strong roast malt, with some noticeable alcohol warmth, and some licorice with just a hint of whisky.

This is a surprisingly drinkable beer, malty, but pretty dry. Quite enjoyable and I'm actually wishing the bottle was bigger. I may have to catch up on my backlog a bit and crack open another Advent beer...

Note: I didn't just drink this for breakfast. This was sent from my phone last night, but evidently there was some sort of major Blackberry outage for all their data services yesterday, and it wouldn't go through until now.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Bad-Assed Belgian Extravaganza

I figured I should provide a few more details about the Belgian beer dinner I went to and documented a bit of a few posts down.

On Sunday night, Corvallis Brewing Supply (the local homebrew supply and bottle shop) put on a Belgian beer tasting and dinner. I've been to all of these that have been put on so far, this being the fourth one. I really enjoyed the holiday theme of this one, and the local brewpub that these are held at (Block 15 Brewery, Corvallis, Oregon) did a great job with the food. I still think the Pommes Frittes that were done at the first one were the best food so far, but this one was quite good too. What follows is the notes about the food and beer that were provided to the attendees:

"The Most Bad-Assed Being Belgian Christmas Beer Dinner Extravaganza!
Exclusively to you by Nick of Block 15 and Joel of Corvallis Brewing Supply
20 December, 2009, Block 15 Brewery and Restaurant."

First Course:

Carbonnade a la Flamande
Santa's Little Helper, Mikkeller, De Proef Brouwerij, Lochristi

Dark winter warmer brewed with restrained spices of sweet orange, coriander, cinnamon and cocoa. Finishes dry with a lingering cocoa dryness, toastiness and a fresh hop bite.

Food notes: "Carbonnade a la Flamande" is just the Yurp'n way of saying "beef stew" -- and it was damn yummy. The only liquid added to the stew was beer. Lots of nice chunks of beef, good flavor. The only thing that would have made it better was a nice chunk of crusty bread to dip in it. Really nice.

Beer notes: Just damn awesome. If you see a bottle of this beer, buy it. Yeah, it's expensive, but it's worth it.

Second Course:

Belgian Potato and Shrimp Kroketjes with white Peppercorn Cream Sauce
Christmas Gouden Carollus, Het Anker Brouwerij, Mechelen

Dark ruby red beer slightly sweet and malt forward, brewed with 6 different herbs and spices. At 10.5% abv this is a beer to settle back and watch the snow fly

Food notes: "Kroketjes" are "croquettes" which is just French for some sort of a dumpling. Really tasty though, could've eaten about six of them. The white peppercorn sauce was quite nice too.

Beer notes: Yum. Definitely strong, as noted. Lots of great malt with a bunch of spice and fruitiness in the flavor and aroma -- licorice, figs, apricot...

Third Course:

Belgian endive au gratin wrapped in prosciutto with melted Gruyere cheese
Geant Noel des Geants, The Brasserie des Geants, Irchonwelz

This wonderful holiday gruit is brewed with a special aromatic herb found near the town of Irchonwelz, a French-speaking section of Belgium. Long-lasting finish with all sorts of contorted flavors and aromas.

Food Notes: If vegetables were always like this, I would eat more vegetables. I'm fairly sure this dish was invented simply to make me feel better about eating prosciutto and cheese. Yeah, there's endive in it, but it's really there simply as a medium for the meat and cheese. Yummy.

Beer Notes: A "Gruit" is a kind of beer brewed with something other than hops to add bitterness. This one also had hops in it, so it's not a "pure" gruit. Anyway, it was nice. Kind of mellow compared to the first two.

Fourth Course:

Palate Cleanser - no food
Grand Cru, Rodenbach, Roeselare

This is a classic, world-class beer that kindles the hearts of beer connoisseurs around the globe! You are drinking a beer 24 months in the making with top-cropping yeasts and bacteria to produce a crisp, refreshingly tart fruity profile. While this is an amazing food beer, none is served with this fine beer so that you may continue to savor the endive salad and to prepare for Duck a l'Orange! (Go Beavs!)

Beer Notes: This was indeed a good palate cleanser. Nicely sour, light and refreshing. This is an amazingly good beer, and at about $10 for a 750ml bottle, is a really good value. This would be as equally good on a hot summer day as it was on this cold winter's night.

Fifth Course:

Duck a l"orange, Compote Aux Fruits
Delirium Noel, Huyghe Brewery, Ghent

Delirium Noel is a dark brown with ruby highlights ale, at 10%abv, with a strong character of caramelized sugars, alcohol, citrus fruitiness, and dark dried fruits like raisins. Aromas of roasted toffee and darker sugars. May your winter nights be full of beer and delirious delights!

Food notes: The duck was super yummy. Served medium rare, so it was nice and tender. The compote served along side was a great accompaniment.

Beer notes: As described above, and as described in my Advent beer post about it below.

Sixth Course:

Ninoofse Vlaai
Oaked Saint Nick, Block 15 Brewery, Corvallis, Oregon

Ol' St. Nick has arrived! Our big & Bold winter warmer brewed with British Pal, honey and caramel amlts. 9% abv. A whole lotta warmth to this fine ale with warming alcohol, hints of dark dried fruit, candi sugar and rounded wood notes.

Food Notes: This was a tasty bread pudding. I ate around the dried fruit, 'cause I'm just not a fan. Otherwise good.

Beer Notes: I really liked this beer, but I felt it was a bit out of place in the tasting. On it's own it's a great oaked beer, with quite assertive hop flavor and bitterness. I really didn't get a big "Belgian" beer feeling from this -- it strikes me as a much more traditional Northwest ale -- lots of assertive hop character and some great maltiness. Again, it's a great beer, I just don't think it fit in all that well with the rest of the beers here. Maybe that was the intent?

Overall: This was a great event. Well worth the cost, and a great way to spend a few hours on a Sunday evening. The next event of this type will be sometime in the summer of 2010 and will probably be limited to 25 folks again, so start planning ahead...

If it's not Scottish it's crrrap

Today we have a Scottish beer. A 330ml bottle of Harviestoun Ola Dubh Special Reserve 12. Ale aged in Highland Park Scotch Whisky barrels. 8% abv. Bottled September 2007.

According to the tag, "Ola Dubh" means "Black Oil" and the beer is named thus because it's "gloopy and viscous".

I'm intrigued and looking forward to this.