TLDR Beer Club

[kidcolin]

Today I went to BevMo to pick up some Stone brews and a Rogues's Chocolate Stout. But damnit they don't accept out of state licenses. I'll go back tomorrow with my passport and I'll do some reviews this weekend.

[MrWookie]

It appears this thread is kind of dying. I may do a few more reviews if people are interested, but I'd like to see some more people trying some things out. Regardless, here's my next installment:

Belgian Golden Ale Round Up!

First up is Ommegang's Rare Vos. I paid $7.99 for a four pack of this beer. It packs 6.5% ABV. I've enjoyed this beer many times before. Here are the obligatory pictures:





This beer has just the right amount of head. It smells strongly of lemon and spice. Taking a sip, well, it's very good. I taste the malt, the lemon, some pear, and a lot of spice. I think coriander, a little clove, and something else. This beer tastes sweet on sipping it, but it finishes dry with the long-lingering spice flavor. This is a great beer to sip slowly, and it's pretty reasonably priced for the style. I 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].

Next up is Unibroue's La Fin Du Monde. Not swinging into the Canadian section of Beers of the World, I probably would have never found this beer if it wasn't for other afficianados here. I paid a whopping $9.69 for a four pack, and it weighs in at a mighty 9% ABV.





This beer smells much more strongly than the Rare Vos. I picked up peach and apricot right away, along with a little citrus and spice. Taking a sip, this is clearly the superior beer. It's got more fruit flavor to go with the spice. Its spice make up is very similar, however, as is its finish. I really like the apircot and peach flavors in this beer. It's a little sweeter than the Rare Vos, but I wouldn't know from the taste that it has almost 50% more alcohol. I'm always relucatant to award things full points, but if any beer has earned [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] so far, this is it. It took the spice from the Rare Vos and the fruit from the Pranqster and combined them into something special. This is a truly fantastic beer that would be sweet, pleasing and fruity for non-beer drinkers, satisfying and deep to veteran connoisseurs, and it packs a whallop for the alcoholics.

The last beer I'm reviewing here is going to be a dark horse, I suppose. I'm going to review the Unibroue Trois Pistoles, which is a Belgian dark ale. I paid the same price for this as for the LFDM, and it is also 9% ABV.





By smell, I'd guess that the beer most like this that I've tried is the Chimay Blue. It smells sweet, with dark fruit and spice. Sipping, I taste plum, clove, fig, but not as much spice. It's a little sweeter than the LFDM, I think. Its finish is mostly just the lingering sugar rather than as much distinct flavor. This is a little richer, fruitier, and tastier than the Chimay blue, however. I award this beer [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] [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]. It's pretty clearly an outstanding beer from an outstanding brewery, but I thing the LFDM is the superior beer from Unibroue.

[pryor15]

i'm a big fan of the La Fin Du Monde whenever i get it at my local beer store

[RunDownHouse]

DFH 60 and 90! Summary: 60 good, 90 incredible.

I recently met up with an out-of-town friend at The Flying Saucer. For those of you without one in your area, its a place with about a hundred beers on tap and another 200 or so bottled. Besides having a great selection, they'll frequently have pints priced at $2.50 on a rotating basis. Great place.

When I walk in, I always check what the $2.50 beer is and what's new. The $2.50 pints were Yazoo brews, a local brewery that I've had plenty of, so I moved on to what's new. I was delighted to see they'd just gotten Dogfish Head's 60-minute IPA and 90-minute IPA in bottles. I've seen some DFH beers in stores around here over the past year, but the selection has always been the Worldwide stout or the Raison d'etre; I've never seen the IPAs I've heard so many good things about.

I went with the 60 first, and it came out to me in a pint glass. Standard golden, coppery color for an IPA, nice head on it. Definitely smells like hops, and tasting it the first thing I though was, "Yup, American hops all over the place." Nice citrusy character and a good consistency through the finish. My buddy got a Stone IPA, so I had a sip of his for mid-pint comparison, and still like the Stone better. DFH's is a good IPA, though, and I'd be happy if that was all I could get. Weighs in at 6% ABV, btw.

The 90-minute was up next, and it came served in a goblet. It had a darker, more ruby color to it, and not as much of a head (maybe because of the pour, though). Sticking my nose down in there, I wasn't struck by as much of a hop aroma as I was with the 60. Taking the first sip, it seemed like the hop flavor was both more pronounced but also more balanced, if that makes sense. Its a bit hard to describe, but overall I thought it had more flavor. Very good bitterness, but with a great malt presence to stand up against. I love hops, but if I wanted to get blasted with them, I'd just get a Stone Ruination. I feel like I could actually have more than one or two of these (provided I didn't pass out first). I loved it, and had to check the bottle to see that it was 9% ABV. Couldn't even tell.

[MrWookie]

I'm glad you got to try the DFH IPAs. I agree with your assessment of the 90 completely. I actually don't really dig the super mega hop bombs, when it's just straight up hop flavor. However, the 90 has an intense, complex, but more balanced flavor and good malt.

[milesdyson]

i had stone's 10th anniversary india pale ale the other day.

i forget the abv but its between 9-10 iirc.

if you like stone ipa, you will like this. think of it like stone double ipa, because that's pretty much what it is. better all around, but not as good as the alesmith yulesmith which is so good, but pricey! i got the 22oz stone 10th for 4.59 but the yulesmith is 5.99. for the price, i'll take the stone, sir.

also, tried hog heaven barley wine. i think sierra nevada, moylan's, lagunitas, and stone all make better barley wines. the bitterness in this just stood out like a sore thumb for the first few sips.

[kidcolin]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm glad you got to try the DFH IPAs. I agree with your assessment of the 90 completely. I actually don't really dig the super mega hop bombs, when it's just straight up hop flavor. However, the 90 has an intense, complex, but more balanced flavor and good malt.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is also why I prefer Stone's Arrogant Bastard to its Ruination (though I really like Ruination).

I recently sampled Rogue's Chocolate Stout and took pictures Wookie-style. I'm at work, I'll review it later.

[stormy455]

I've been sampling different beers for a little over a year now and I couldn't agree more with this post. If there'd been a camera on me I think my pictures would have been even worse. This is the only beer that I couldn't finish. Actually, I couldn't even get past the first sip. It burned as soon as it touched my lips. I like spicy food but this was way beyond hot, and had no real flavor to make it worth it.

[Jeff_B]

best beer ever hands down natty ice... second is red dog..

no seriously, I prefer yeugling but actually I was wondering how do you guys try these exotic beers... I havent even had the more traditional ones sold in grocery stores such as IPA and red stripe mostly because I dont want to buy a 6 pack and hate it.. any suggestions for someone cheap and broke? Im 22 so most beer I haven't tried but I have a friend who swears bud light is the best beer ever and well this can't be true... any suggestions on where to try new beers in tampa?

[MrWookie]

I'd recommend that, instead of picking cheap beer, pick "safe" beer. If you've been drinking nothing but cheap to mid range pale lagers, really, you're probably already accustomed to drinking most things that beer haters hate about beer. If you don't want to get too exotic, then avoid the exotic things. You can do really well drinking brown, amber, and pale ales that are generally considerably higher quality that Yuengling but are still agreeable to just about any beer drinker. Just go to the grocery store and pick up a sixer of a brown ale and a pale ale from a brewery you haven't tried before. I wouldn't be too afraid to spend a buck or two more on a six pack because these are just such classic varieties of beer that you can't go wrong. Once you've tried those, ask yourself if you liked the darker malt of the brown or the hoppiness of the pale better, or both. That'll guide you into your next purchase, where you may pick up something darker like a porter or a stout, or a hop bomb like an IPA or a red bitter.