alexchafe

Duvel Time to break out the old Delerium Tremens glass because...

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 23:02:54 -0400

Duvel

Time to break out the old Delerium Tremens glass because this is a special one! It’s the legendary, widely available (in beer friendly areas) Duvel. This Belgian Strong Ale roles in at 8.1% ABV. It gets this high alcohol content from triple fermentation, twice in the brewery and once in the bottle. It’s ingredients are different, while it is an ale and uses a “special” ale yeast, they introduce pilsner malts, which are more common to a lager-syle of brewing. The result is just great.

It pours from its heavy, funny shaped bottle with a TON of head. Thick, foamy and pure white, it takes up about half of my glass and it doesn’t go away. The body of the beer is a pure yellow and shows strong carbonation.

With big head comes big aroma. At first this one hits your nose with sweet, sweet malts, backed by heavy spices. After my first sip and I started to notice that the aroma had a whole lot of lemons hiding there in the back.

Then there’s the flavour. Up front slaps you with sweetness. It’s borderline sugary - and not that dirty refined sugar. The good stuff! The taste then evolves with strong yeast resulting in a basement-like taste, that I’m crazy about. The backend shows a bunch of bitter with a surprising amount of hops and is somewhat undefined compared to the rest of the taste profile. After this one warms up the yeasty, “basement” tastes really takeover, which I could see as something that the brewers would want to hide. Although I love it, the average palate might not be as - intrigued as I am. This brew is medium bodied, having its high “champagne-like” carbonation bite at your cheeks and tongue.

Overall, the flavour blends beautifully. The sweetness is balanced by the yeast which is enhanced by the hops. A great accomplishment considering how widely distributed this beer is!

(ratebeer linkup here)

“Our flagship beer. A session India Pale Ale brewed with...

Wed, 13 May 2009 20:57:18 -0400

“Our flagship beer. A session India Pale Ale brewed with Warrior, Amarillo & ‘Mystery Hop X.’ A powerful East Coast I.P.A. with a lot of citrusy hop character. THE session beer for beer geeks like us! 6% abv 60 ibu Tasting Notes: Citrus, cedar, pine & candied-orange flavors, floral. Food Pairing recommendations: Spicy foods, pesto, grilled salmon, soy-based dishes, pizza.”

Here’s a beer i picked up last time I was in Toronto. I really couldn’t help bringing back a couple bottles for my cellar! It’s an absolutely delicious India Pale Ale that, due to its wide availablility and top-notch quality, make it one of the best session beers out there.

From a bottle this one poured up a nice orange-yellow with slow rising low carbonation below a generous white frothy head. It’s a pretty one!

The aroma is very spicey, herby and grassy, about what you’d expect from an IPA. You can tell that there are loads of quality hops in here. It’s flavour continues to deliver with more spices and herbs, within sweet lemon citrus, and a suprising grapefruit backend that mixed extremely well with the bitterness. This back-end package is where I’ve really fallen in love with this beer. There are also touches of caramel and honey in there. It’s complex! On the palate it’s very smooth, with slight fizz almost camouflaged by the bitter hops, biting at your tongue and cheeks. It’s not overly hoppy, but it’s not for the faint of heart at around 60 IBU.

Overall I’m extremely happy with this beer, and am actually sadened that I can’t buy it locally (and that I’ve drank my last bottle). My fridge would be full of this stuff!

(ratebeer linkup here)

Storm Brewing’s Coffee Porter “A seasonal ale,...

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 10:01:10 -0400

Storm Brewing’s Coffee Porter

“A seasonal ale, brewed using imported black malt and dark roasted mountain grown Arabica coffee beans. STORM Coffee Porter is a roasty, dark, top fermented brew with a subtle coffee aroma and a pleasantly mild palate.”

This one’s Storm Brewing’s seasonal brew, available as a Christmas treat in St. John’s, Newfoundland. If you’re looking for this you better watch the liquor stores closely in December When Coffee Porter comes out it’s in limited quantity and sells out very quickly. Storm brewing certainly has a serious following amongst the younger crowd in St. John’s.

I’m sampling this one from a 341 mL tall bottle, unlike the stubbies of the previous years. It’s also available in 650 mL bottles and on tap at a few bars in St. John’s, such as The Duke and The Ship. The bottle is well presented, clean with simple with a high quality sticker, and storm’s typical label. It pours up a dark slightly transparent brown, with a light brown head, that dissipates incompletely and rather quickly, leaving some light lacing. Carbonation is light, with tiny bubbles slowly rising to the top.

The aroma here is of fresh brewed coffee, with a notes of dark chocolate. I also get a note of salted cracker that I don’t feel is very at home in the nose.

This storm brew has a flavour of coffee mixed with a roasted component, mixed with further subtle chocolates, as in the nose. The back-end is slightly sour, lacking any pronounced hops, with only a touch of bitter. The palate is on the light and watery side and is a bit of a disappointment. As with all of Storm’s beers the flavours are organic and real. I could pick out one of their beers from a mile away. No cheap adjuncts here!

I think it’s a great beer to pair with sweets. Candy, chocolate, cake and anything minty will go very nicely with this beer. Makes sense to put it out over the holidays.

Overall, I’ll look forward to this every year, enjoying one with the multitude of cakes and candy I consume, or having a pint on tap with a crowd of friends at The Ship, over the holidays.

Storm Brewing’s website. (…I notice they’re big Rush fans!)

ratebeer linkup here

“This is it, the one that started it all. Crafted to...

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 19:06:03 -0400

“This is it, the one that started it all. Crafted to perfection for over 200 years. Crack it open, and the first sip tastes as fresh as ever. The unmistakeable deep-dark colour. The crisp hint of roasted barley, the fresh breeze of hops. The refreshing bite. The bittersweet reward.”

Here’s one of my favorites and suprisingly its the cheapest 6-pack available at my local liquor store! It’s the original Guinness Stout, aka Guinness Extra Stout, Guinness Draughts much older, and tastier, brother. Of course I didn’t mind having to open up two of these bottles to get enough to fill up my guinness pint glass. The things I do for you guys!

It’s worth noting that this beer is the North American version made from unfermented Guinness wort extract from Dublin mixed with local ingredients. This particular beer is made by Labatt Brewing.

This stout comes from a nostalgic, but rather poorly put together bottle, you can tell it has been recycled a ton of times, and its label is coming off. It pours up a beautiful black-brown, with a tan head, kind of like the foam on top of a fancy iced coffee.

Aroma is a touch on the weak side, but spending a few seconds with your nose on top or inside of the head will be worthwhile. You’ll pickup smells of sweet malts, coffee, dark chocolate, and hazelnuts.

This is a complex one with lots of dark flavours. Dark chocolate, dark coffee, some dark biscuits (they exist). There’s a basementy almost leatherish component that blends in very nicely with an array of nuts, like a really good trail-mix, one that’s also alcoholic. there’s a presistent cocoa sweetness that hits you right in the roof of your mouth, blending with the hops and forming a long lasting mouth feel.

The back-end really enhances this stouts chocolatey notes, which shine through the surprisingly bitter hops.

Enough analyzing. I’m going to relax and enjoy the rest of this glass!

(ratebeer linkup here)

Samuel Adam’s Winter Lager Winter Lager is a weizenbock, a...

Sat, 28 Mar 2009 12:01:59 -0400

Samuel Adam’s Winter Lager

Winter Lager is a weizenbock, a dark bock brewed with generous quantities of malted wheat, a style that is usually enjoyed as a warming drink from late fall through to spring.

Another of the consistently solid brews from the Boston Brewing Company. They label it as their seasonal for the winter, but I’ve noticed that you can get these “out of season” quite easily.

This Wheat Lager pours up into my dimpled mug with a thin head that dissipates, not completely, from its medium brown-amber body. It’s a pretty one.

There are serious spices on the aroma, surrounded by sweet malts and honey.

Taste is initially wheaty and malty. Within these malts are roasted nuts, wood, sweet honey, herbs, spices, and an almost vegetable note, which isn’t a bad thing. Malt lovers will like this beer. The backend features hops, that are slightly unmanaged throughout the long lasting flavour. For such a widely available, and widely consumed, brew this one’s interesting. A good introduction to the complexities of craft beer for the new beerian.

Tasting Notes: aroma of honey, spices and herbs. flavour shows more spices, herbs with some woody, roasted, cinnamon on the finish.

(ratebeer linkup here)

Coming this weekend, a full review of the happenings, good and...

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 22:11:06 -0400

Coming this weekend, a full review of the happenings, good and bad, at Newfoundland Liquor Corporation’s Beerfest 2009. Any of my Newfoundland peeps going?

Blue Moon Brewed with white wheat and oats, Blue Moon features a...

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 22:12:19 -0400

Blue Moon

Brewed with white wheat and oats, Blue Moon features a crisp wheat finish and the perfect combination of orange peel and coriander. Bring out Blue Moon’s natural spices by serving it in a Pilsner glass with an orange-slice garnish.

From what I hear, this stuff is about as popular as water in parts of the US, which makes sense as it’s brewed mostly by Molson in Toronto. As you can see from the picture this one was tasted without the orange-slice. I’m really not a fan of this trend of putting orange slices on, and into Witbiers.

Blue Moon pours up with a white head that quickly dissipates into an attractive cloudy body.

This Witbier gives a pretty weak aroma, highlights after just about sucking some liquid up your nose include bits of orange and a dash of spice. The water analogy used earlier holds through on the taste and the palate. Again spices and orange hints are noticeable. As happens with beers taken over by Molson-Coors, this one shares a lot of the strange biscuity tastes common to Molson brews like (shutter) Coors Light. Seems this one falls into the class of Rickard’s White and Samuel Adam’s Summer Ale.

Overall, this one’s lack luster, something I would grab in the summer faced with the options of other Molson beers.

(ratebeer linkup here)

This is a interesting clip from a movie called Beer Wars. Sums...

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 20:00:18 -0400

This is a interesting clip from a movie called Beer Wars. Sums up a lot of my feelings regarding the state of the beer industry today. Looks like a great movie that I’d like to get my eyes or hands on!

Beer Wars is being released on April 16th for one night only in selected theaters.

Storm Brewing’s Raspberry Wheat Brewed using only water,...

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 21:02:09 -0400

Storm Brewing’s Raspberry Wheat

Brewed using only water, wheat and barely malts, hops and yeast; a touch of pure raspberry extract is added to give this crisp, refreshing wheat ale a big raspberry aroma and a clean, zesty flavour.

You won’t come across this one outside of Newfoundland, and will have a harder time getting it outside of St. John’s. I’ve noticed at liquor stores this, and all of Storm’s beers, sell out quickly when they released, sometimes in less than a week. This leads me to believe that Storm has a dedicated fan base. A fan base that I’m a member of.

I’m sampling this fruit beer from a longneck, 341mL bottle. It’s also available in 650mL bottles and, ending in 2008, stubbies. Raspberry Wheat pours up a yellow-copper, with a white foamy head that’s quick to disappear. There’s also a crazy amount of carbonation present.

The aroma is dominated by raspberries (surprise!), it’s good but not particularly authentic. There’s no freshness to the berries, it’s more like a raspberry granola bar than basket of the raspberries. After spending a few minutes sniffing at this, i picked up some minor hints or cherry, within the background of biscuity malts.

The flavour shares every aspect of the taste, with a fine amount of hops on the finish. It’s an interesting combination, that can be overlooked due to the beers fizzy, watered down palate. It shares the same generally organic, natural taste profile common to all of Storm’s beers, that in itself should be a reason to go out and buy some.

Overall, this is an excellent brew for all the cooler drinkers out there who want something different, something more organic. Also a wonderful introduction to beer in general. The hardcore beerians, who I find generally give fruit beers a hard time, may be further turned off by the watery palate.

Learn more about Storm Brewing’s beers!

Tasting Notes: head disappears quickly, even with a lot of carbonation. aromas of raspberry, cherries, and biscuits. taste of fresh raspberry with bready malts and bitter hops.

(ratebeer linkup here)

Full reviews of many, many beers to come! I’m going to...

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 21:32:10 -0400

Full reviews of many, many beers to come! I’m going to stick to a regular schedule of posting my thoughts and photos here!

New Belgium’s Fat Tire Fat Tire Amber Ale’s appeal...

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 19:31:00 -0400

New Belgium’s Fat Tire

Fat Tire Amber Ale’s appeal is in its feat of balance toasty, biscuit-like malt falvors coasting in equilibrium with hoppy freshness. Named in honour of Jeff’s mountain bike trip from brewery to brewery through Europe.

This bottle of Fat Tire was brought to me from Las Vegas, via my parental units, along with two other american brews: Blue Moon and Rolling Rock. From what I’ve read, Fat Tire is very popular in the states and has somewhat of a cult following. I’m assuming it’s also very widely available (since my parents picked it up on the Vegas strip).

Let’s start from the beginning, it comes in a gorgeous Belgian-style bottle with an attractive, rustic label. Definitely on for the bottle collection. It pours a typical amber ale colour, with a quick, but not fully diminishing head.

If you’ve gotten this far, you’ll have already noticed that the entire room smells like multigrain bread. When you get up the nerve to bring it to your face, your nose is in a bakery. Not the best bakery though. The aroma’s a touch stale. Existing somewhere within there is also light buttery notes.

Its flavour is about as unique as the smell. It has its pleasing aspects, as well as some turn-offs. The bread is repeated in much the same way ias the aromar, but there’s a definate burnt aspect in there. There’s some honey next to the hops, on the backend. Its bitter-ness is adequate, but could be improved.

Overall, I could see how Fat Tire would have a cult following. Consumers of the generic macros could really latch on to its unique flavours and I don’t blame them. I think this would make a perfectly acceptable session beer, but there’s plenty of room for improvement. I can imagine this one pairing well with cheeses.

Tasting Notes: pours the typical amber, with mild carbonation forming white head. aroma of whole wheat bread and grains with a touch of butter. Taste is very similar to the aroma, with a bit of burnt and a touch of honey in front of the bitter hops. palate is fizzy, borderline watery.

(ratebeer linkup here)

Quidi Vidi’s 1892 Traditional Ale. “Reviving the...

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 22:07:00 -0400

Quidi Vidi’s 1892 Traditional Ale.

“Reviving the brewing tradition of pre-confederation newfoundland.”

This beer was once my favorite. It was my introduction to craft brewing and beers that aren’t macro-lagers. After buying dozens and dozens of this amber ale, I began to take 1892 for granted. While dipping my toe into the beer world I saw brews that had more caramel, more spice and more fruit. I was very pleasantly surprised when I came back to 1892 after months of different beers. It’s a completely solid amber ale, one of the best I’ve tasted. The balance of flavours is truly impressive, everything just meshes, every taste is complimented by the other.

1892 sparked my interest in beer, and after expanding my palate it remains among my top picks!

Tasting notes: aromas of caramel and apple. nice orange-brown colour, with short-lived off-white head. Tastes of caramel, with some grassy notes, light spices and some nice bitter on the back-end. you’ll notice the quality of this one really deteriorates as the temperature falls. Overall, a great session beer that’s easy to come by in newfoundland!

(ratebeer linkup here)

Innis & Gunn Oak Aged Beer aged for 77 days, 30 of which...

Sat, 14 Mar 2009 20:50:00 -0400

Innis & Gunn Oak Aged Beer

aged for 77 days, 30 of which were spent in barrels formily used to age whiskey.

aroma has some serious pears, with a touch of vanilla. flavour is caramel, spices, surrounded by apples and pears. Its whiskey notes come through on the bitter sweet and, I think, gorgeous backend. it’s medium bodied and ultra smooth. this stuff is underrated, perphaps because its so easy to find a skunked bottle. i really wish innis and gunn would sell this in their singles boxes, most stores don’t know how to store this stuff!

(sorry about the picture quality, my good cameras battery died as i was taking this one)

A Serious Coincidence. Great Lake Brewery’s Devil’s...

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 22:23:05 -0400

A Serious Coincidence.

Great Lake Brewery’s Devil’s Pale Ale is brewed with 666kg of malt, 6.66kg of hops with 66.6 minutes of boiling giving 6% ABV and was conceived on 6.6.06.

On top of all that it has a 6.66 weighted score on the facebook ratebeer application!

Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Märzen aroma is a smokey punch in...

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 19:23:44 -0400

Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Märzen

aroma is a smokey punch in the nose with some subtle herby notes, like a campfire. flavour is bbq smoke, and bacon (to sound like a broken record) with some serious malt and spices (peppers?) lingering in the background. pretty light and smooth on the palate. the perfect touch of bitter on the finish to compliments its spices. The flavour really evolves as you drink this one, your mouth really gets used to the blatant smoke and begins to see the subtleties about halfway through.

Overall: 9/10

IMG_0399: Glass of Delirium Tremens at Sin and Redemption.

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 18:04:42 -0400

IMG_0399: Glass of Delirium Tremens at Sin and Redemption.

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