TLDR Beer Club

[daveT]

No, the label is the one that I gave you. Who drinks beer out of plastic?

BTW, I know a lot of Europeans are surprised to know that Budweiser taste like crap. There is a version made (Poland?) that is supposed to be the best beer over there.

[RunDownHouse]

Budvar, from Czech, is loosely translated into "Budweiser," and is imported in the US under the name Czechvar. Not sure if its been reviewed here, but its a standard (good) Czech Pils style.

[cwsiggy]

Though I'm not much of a reviewer and have no camera - I have to recommend Heather Ale's Ltd's Ebulum Elderberry Black Ale



-What a great discovery at my Philadelphia center city killer beer store.
Absolutely delicious black ale with a smooth finish and rather strong fruity flavor. This ale is based on a 16th century recipe and uses elderberries in the fermentation process. 6.5 ABV. I will be buying plenty of this as the weather turns colder. My new favorite "dark" beer. I suppose on the scale a solid 3.5 to 4 - Can't wait to try their Heather Ale.

Brewers website....

http://www.fraoch.com/historicales.htm

[MrWookie]

For my review tonight, I decided to try a regular Bock, having not had much success with the doppels. I haven't had many beers of this style before. I picked up a bottle of Einbecker's offering, mostly because they seem to be the guys who invented the style. I was underwhelmed with their Maibock, but it might be that the original bock is better. It ran me $2.29 for an 11.2 oz bottle of this 6.5% ABV beer. No pics. It pours a clear amber color w/o much head. The smell is malty and slightly grassy. The flavor is similar, and pretty good. It's a fairly malty beer with a grassy hop backing, or at least I presume that the flavor is due to hops. It's not like most American hop flavors, but it's likely that German varieties taste different. I like this better than the Maibock. It's not quite as rich as the Weihenstephaner doppelbock (understandably), but to its credit, it doesn't have the syrupy flavor, either. I'll award this [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. It doesn't blow me away, but it's solid. It's a good style for fall drinking, too.

[MrWookie]

OK, continuing to follow up on things in here, BotW finally started stocking Ommegang's Ommegeddon, originally pointed out by RDH. He hadn't tried or reviewed it, but brought it to my attention as a new release. I'm not exactly sure what style this beer fits into. Ratebeer.com calls it a saison, and beeradvocate calls it a wild ale. It packs a respectable 8% ABV, but it cost me a hefty $12.69 for a 750 mL bottle. That's about twice as expensive as their regular offerings.



The beer pours a light hazy yellow. It's not as cloudy as I'd expect from a bottle conditioned beer, even after swirling the yeast into the glass. It also doesn't have as much head as I'd expect.



The smell of this beer is nice and complex. I smell fruit, notably lemon, orange, apple, and maybe peach, along with an herbal character. I actually enjoy the smell a little more than the flavor of this beer. It's on the sour side, somewhat reminiscent of the Jolly Pumpkin wild ale, although not quite as sour. The fruit character doesn't come through the sourness as strongly as I had hoped based on the smell. The herbal character, presumably from the dry hopping advertised on the bottle, hits mostly in the finish. It's not like typical American hopping that I often describe as citrusy (grapefruit, usually), or floral. This is more grassy and, uhh, something. I can definitely see how the confusion arose as to how to classify this beer. It does remind me both of a saison, of which I've had a number, and of the Jolly Pumpkin wild ale, which is the only wild ale I've tried. I think the combination works well and adds depth. I like this better than the Jolly Pumpkin, and just a hair better than the Southampton Saison, my current favorite in that category. Correspondingly, I'm going to give this [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. On the downside, this is a pretty steep price to pay for a beer that doesn't floor me. Looking at just some other beers I've give ratings of 4 or better, I could get a 750 of the La Fin Du Monde or any Unibroue beer, Southampton's Grand Cru or Double White, two half liters of Weihenstephaner's hefeweizen, a four pack of Old Rasputin, or two 22's of Middle Ages' Kilt tilter for less, and Allagash's Curieux, which I gave a perfect score and may be my favorite beer ever, I can get for $1 more, I'm not going to be buying this again. This is a great beer for people who love saisons or who are looking for something different, but it's too expensive for me to want to buy again.

[Skjonne]

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Dave,

What sort of beer is that, and where is it brewed?

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I believe it is German. I Yahoo'ed and Googled this beer, but I can't find any info on it. Just found the image.

It is a lager.

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Over on ratebeer.com, i was able to find two different Bear Beers made in two different countries (Denamrk and Estonia), yet have almost the same label and come in plastic bottles. Here's the Danish one

And here's the Estonian version

Do either of these fit the bill, Dave?

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You're close Maxx. It's This one. The one you linked to is the "Extra Strong" version of 10%.

It's brewed by the Danish discount brewery Harboe. It's not expensive at all and it's videly available in Denmark. I can imagine that it's hard to find abroad bacause it tastes like piss.

[RunDownHouse]

Wookie,

To be fair, aren't you supposed to cellar that one for a while?

[kidcolin]

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For my next iteration of "beers noted in this thread that I haven't tried yet," I picked up a bottle of Bear Republic's Hop Rod Rye, previously reviewed by MilesDyson and given a 4 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] rating. I picked up a 22 oz bottle for $4.45. It's an 8% beer.


The first thing to notice about this beer is its great head. It's nothing absurd like the La Chouffe tripel/IPA blend, but it has a thick, creamy, persistent head that laces my glass nicely -- generally a thicker head than is typical for similar beers. It's on the darker side for an imperial IPA, and it has a nice reddish tinge.



The smell of this beer is delicious with bold malt and hop aromas. The flavor is similar, and very tasty. It has a nice, slightly sweet malt mixed with tasty and not overly bitter hops that taste mostly of citrus with a hint of flowers and grass. The finish is dry and hoppy. I don't so much notice the rye character, but that's a fairly minor criticism. This is just about everything I'd want in an imperial IPA. Balanced, but not at the expense of being too mild. Hoppy, but not at the expense of being nigh-undrinkably bitter. I agree with Miles's [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] rating.

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Did I not review this too? I meant to if I didn't. I agree with your assessment. Bear Republic is up near the top of my list for CA breweries.

[kidcolin]

I'm really regretting not taking pictures of this next one. Last night I headed to BevMo. Even though it's still warm, the fall season has begun hear in Sac, which basically just means clouds and the nights cool down a bit. I have been on such an IPA kick, I decided I wanted something on the darker side, like a porter or stout.

I see some bottles of Stone's XI Anniversary brew, released just a couple weeks ago.

I read the long winded description on the back of the 22oz'er, and it has no real details. Just a mention of IPA. So I figure, 'ahh what the heck', and pick up two bottles of that and a four pack of North Coast's Old Rasputin to go to if I get the stout bug.

So you can understand my surprise that when, later that night, I begin to pour this beer, I'm met not with the signature golden orange of an IPA, but with the dark blackness of a porter! It was maybe just a shade lighter than a good porter. A huge frothy tan head is present and it holds up nicely.

The odd thing is, even before getting in close to smell this thing, the aroma of hops and grapefruit are very present. "WTF?", I'm thinking, "I guess I did pick up an IPA." I inspect the smell closer. Definitely an IPA. Hoppy, with a fruity sweetness to it, and as I mentioned before, the grapefruit was obvious in this.

On to the taste: wow! It's the best of both worlds! It's got that bitter, crisp hops bite that we've come to expect from Stone, but with the roasted malts of a porter. It's balanced exceptionally well. It almost comes in stages. First you think you're drinking a porter, with the smoked malts and coffee flavor present, but it's a little tangier. Then, on the finish you get that signature dry hoppy finish, but the roasted coffee flavor still lingers.

I was really blown away by this. After I finished my first glass, I went to the website, turns out they're calling it a Black IPA. Color me impressed. [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 1/2 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. I'm tempted to give this 5, but my only knock on it is it's not too drinkable. It clocks in at 8.7% ABV, but more importantly, it's a bit on the heavy side. I was full for a while after finishing the 22oz'er, and the the last 6 ounces or so went down reallll slow. Of course, this could have something to do with the gigantic burrito and Boont Amber Ale I had about 30 minutes previous to this. I'm glad I bought two. I'll have a better assessment after the second bottle once as I could be overrating just due to its uniqueness.

[RunDownHouse]

kc,

Wow, that sounds awesome. No beer on Sundays for me but I'll try to find that one around town for sure.