TLDR Beer Club - Page 54

MrWookie · #**531** 04-10-2007, 11:44 PM

I have one more quick review. I picked up North Coast's Blue Star Hefeweizen on a whim. I wouldn't have bothered w/ an American hefeweizen usually, but I saw this one was bottle conditioned like the good Bavarian Hefes, and it's North Coast. so I thought there was hope. I paid $1.99. I was dead wrong about it being anything special. It was pretty dull and bland w/o much going for it. As American hefeweizens go, it's actually pretty good, but it has no real relation to the German ones. I'll give it a generous [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. Definitely pass on this one.

MrWookie · #**532** 04-11-2007, 07:35 PM

I guess I didn't do quite as well this time picking beer. I got another canned beer to compare w/ Oskar Blues. This was the Snapperhead Farmhouse Ale IPA from Butternuts Beer & Ale. I'm glad I didn't try this first, or I would have lost all faith in canned beer. This IPA poured with virtually no head, and it hardly smelled or tasted of hops. The malt was mild, bordering on insipid. This was a step up from traditional canned beer, I suppose, but it wasn't much better. I'm giving it [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] and a half [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. I paid $1.59 for a can, so at least I'm not out too much.

RunDownHouse · #**533** 04-11-2007, 10:43 PM

Wookie,

No date stamps on those cans? Whenever I get a beer that I'd categorize as bland or washed-out, I always try to check how old it is.

MrWookie · #**534** 04-11-2007, 11:01 PM

MrWookie · #**535** 04-12-2007, 01:36 AM

I decided to do another review tonight. I picked up a bottle of the Allagash Odyssey, the last of their barrel-aged brews. So far, they've been great, with the Curieux being a real stand out. They're very expensive, though. I paid $13.95 for a 750 mL bottle of this beer. It packs a hefty 10.3% ABV, though, so this is practically a bottle of wine. By wine standards, assuming this beer is good, that's not really all that bad. Checking out their website, this apparently began its life as a dark wheat beer. Weizenbock? I'm not sure. It doesn't have a cousin in their line of regular beers the way the Cuireux and the Tripel are related.

The beer pours a nice dark brown. The head is pretty light on this beer.

It smells very malty and sweet. There's a little fruit in there, cherries, I think. The flavor is a little different. The wood from the barrel aging comes through without being overly dominant, and there's a little bit of smokiness I really enjoy. The sweetness of this beer is not overbearing. It's perhaps even on the drier side for beer this strong. The cherries come through a little bit, and the base malt is great. My complaints are that it doesn't linger longer and it could stand to be a little bolder. I'm going to award it [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. This is a great beer, but for this price, I'm not really sold. The Curieux is worth it, but the Musette and Odyssey didn't strike me as being quite as outstanding so as to command their high price.

MrWookie · #**536** 04-12-2007, 07:38 PM

Tonight, it's time fore a beer I've been meaning to try for a while now. Not only has it been mentioned in here a few times, but it's also the official beer of David Sklansky.* That's right, it's the Rouge Haxelnut Brown Nectar:

I paid $5.69 for a 22 of this beer. It has 33 IBUs, but Rogue doesn't always declare their ABV. Oh well. It pours a nice medium brown. The head, though, bubbles quickly and soon dissipates. I think Coke has more head than this beer. It doesn't taste flat, at least.

The beer smells strongly of malt and nuts, and the flavor is similar. The nut flavor in this beer is quite rich and very tasty. There's not all that much to this beer, though, and I wish the flavor lingered a little better. I'm going to give this beer [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] and a half [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].

blutarski · #**537** 04-12-2007, 10:29 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Checking out their website, this apparently began its life as a dark wheat beer. Weizenbock? I'm not sure.

[/ QUOTE ]

dunkleweizen. My first dunkleweizen was a shock- the dark color didn't match the coriander and banana. (it was a good shock tho- I wish I could find another one, but I'm in beer wasteland [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

A question: how do you get fresh european beer? Everytime I pick up something exotic, it's old or skunky.

RunDownHouse · #**538** 04-12-2007, 11:19 PM

blutarski,

Try to stick with Paulaner and Weihenstephaner (my pick) for German beers aand avoid breweries like St. Pauli Girl, Spaten, Lowenbrau, and (I think) Franziskaner. The former use brown bottles, the latter green, and the green bottles let in the UV that skunks beer.

I don't think I've ever gotten a bad Belgian beer.

It also helps if you know your local store and can gauge their turnover.

MrWookie · #**539** 04-13-2007, 12:50 AM

I did a Franziskaner review in here. It came in a brown bottle. It wasn't skunked, but it wasn't my favorite. Weihenstephaner is the cream of the crop for weizens, I've found.

RunDownHouse · #**540** 04-13-2007, 01:34 PM

Imagine my delight yesterday, when I stopped in Bud's liquors and saw a "new" brew from Flying Dog: their "Double Dog" pale ale. My digital camera is from the mid-late 90's and finally broke down, so no actual pics.

Its billed as a doubling of their regular pale, and from the website, its close but not exact, with some small differences in the malt bill and hops. Its listed at 10.5% ABV and 85 IBUs. Out of the bottle it pours just a shade darker than the regular pale. I was surprised because I honestly expected this big of a beer to be darker, particularly because I know Flying Dog likes to add a bit of chocolate malt in their regular pale for color, and they've supposedly doubled that here. The first aroma is also a pleasant surprise: the hop profile smells the same on first whiff, but there's an added maltiness that isn't there with the Classic. Taking a taste, the hops really go front to back in this beer. Upfront, they're a bit more subdued than when they hit the back of the throat after a swallow; at the end of the drink, the bitterness swirls with the alcohol to create a strong finish. I wouldn't call it clean or crisp, though, its a bit much. In the middle you get the malt sweetness from the aroma following up to the taste. If I had to characterize the overall balance, I'd put this beer smack between Stone's IPA and their Ruination IPA. Its just as big - bigger? - than the Ruination, but the hops aren't as aggressive, while the malt, from what I remember, seems more present. I've only made it a few sips in, so it'll be interesting to see if this beer gets more or less drinkable as the glass empties.