TLDR Beer Club

[Kneel B4 Zod]

nice report. I have a fantastic beer store near me, so I'll snoop around for a blend like this to see if I can post a re-follow up

(MA has no beer delivery services)

[MrWookie]

Alright, I figured I'd do another beer review tonight. Originally, I had intended to review the Chimay blue tonight instead of the Three Philosophers, but I saw that I hadn't put it in my fridge yet. My solution? Put the Chimay in the fridge, drink the 3P, and THEN drink the Chimay! Anyway, here's a picture of the bottle:



This ran me $10.89 for a 750 mL, so it was pretty costly. It is not quite as strong as the 3P, weighing in at 9% ABV. This bottle was under considerably more pressure than the 3P. The cork nearly flew off after merely twisting it gently. Not surprisingly, it had a larger head than the 3P:



The Chimay is similar in color to the 3P, but not in smell. I smell a little wood, plum, apple, a little more sweetness, and a few other things my olfactory isn't sufficiently trained to identify. Taking a sip, this is markedly sweeter than the Ommegang 3P, but not so much as to dominate. I definitely taste the plum and apple with the malt. The plum flavor is not like the reddish purple plums with the orange flesh. It's the Italian plums like I had growing in my backyard as a kid: purple with yellow-green flesh, and that my fat dog loved to eat as they fell off the tree. Now for the important part: how do I rate this relative to other trappists I've had? Well, this is strictly better than the Orval. It has much more flavor in all areas. Relative to the Rochefort 10, though, this tastes like a different sort of beer. The Rochefort was somewhat dry and very earthy, whereas the Chimay blue is somewhat sweet and a little fruity. I might say that the Rochefort is the trappist for people who love good Scotch, and Chimay blue is the trappist for people who love fine brandy/Cognac/Armagnac. Again, this beer wasn't quite in line with what I expected, having tried the Orval and the Rochefort, but it was in line with what I like -- Fairly strong flavor, good sweetness without being too much, and I like the fruit and malt. I'm going to go ahead and 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] and a half [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. The flavor is great, but not quite so rich as to be ideal. This is not quite as good of a beer for people looking to find an in-road for non-beer drinkers as the 3P, but as a veteran beer drinker looking for new pleasures, I like this better. As far as value goes, I'd consdier this beer slightly overpriced. It's not outrageous for an import of this caliber to cost almost $11 from the store I was shopping at, but $11 is still a lot of money for a 750 of beer.

In summary, it's not quite as ideal as something sufficently rich to get the full 5 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]'s, and it's not a particularly great value, but it's still a great beer. I'll keep searching for the ideal, though, and I'll love every sip [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img].

[Jack of Arcades]

this thread is making my mouth water.

[Victorvdb]

This thread is making me feel barbaric for not liking dark beers :/

[RunDownHouse]

Just a quick announcement: for those in the Nashville/middle TN area, Nashville Brewer's Festival is tomorrow from 2-8. See www.musiccitybrewersfest.com for more info. I'll be posting a trip report in all likelihood.

[MrWookie]

Alright. It's Saturday night. Time for some beer reviews. All of these beers were on tap at my favorite local bar. I don't have any pictures, but I do have some words.

First up, I tried a pint of Sam Adams Summer Ale. I didn't have my hopes up for this beer, but I wanted to try it. The beer seemed to be about the color of a hefeweizen. It didn't have too much head, though. The flavor was definitely of a wheat beer, but it didn't get much deeper than that. There were some hints of citrus and some of the other flavors that make the German hefes the outstanding beers they are, but it couldn't really stack up. That said, I think this is better than the Pyramid Hefeweizen, and it's pretty inexpensive. If you're looking for a fairly simple, inexpensive beer to enjoy on a hot afternoon, this is a decent pick. I give it [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].

The second pint I had was the Cascazilla from the Ithaca brewery, presumably named for its Cascade hops. I'd tried this beer before, but I hadn't had it in a while. I guess you'd classify this beer as something like an ESB. It's brown in color, and strongly hopped. The hop flavor is excellent. It has the familiar citrus and flowers I very much enjoy in this style of beer. The thing I found odd about it was that it wasn't all that bitter. It had a lot of the best part of the hop flavor without the bitterness. I hadn't remembered this about the beer, but it was very pleasant to drink. It had good flavor without being as dry as an IPA or as overpowering as something like the DFH 90. This would be a great beer for someone who's curious about all the fuss over IPAs, but who is put off by the bitterness. The only problem with this beer is that it might be hard to find outside of NY. If you can get it, though, pick it up. I 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].

My second and third pints were chosen deliberately to be in the same style of beer. The third was the Victory Hop Devil. It was a little darker red in color compared to the Ithaca, and it had a slightly larger and thicker head. However, it's flavor wasn't quite as good. It lacked the flowers, it didn't have as much citrus, but it did have all the bitterness I was expecting. It just wasn't as good as Ithaca's offering. It had the parts of this style of beer that aren't all that great, and it was a little lacking in the flavors I enjoyed most. It wasn't a bad beer per se, but it looked bad next to the Ithaca. I give it [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].

My final beer was a beer I picked just because I knew I'd love it. I picked the Ommegang Rare Vos, a Belgian-style golden ale from the American-Belgian brewery this thread has come to love. It came in a bottle, and I poured it into a pint glass. Really, this is one of my favorite styles of beer, and this is a fine example of it. It's fairly sweet, it has great flavors of cloves, citrus, and a little extra, and it has a great feel with the carbonation. A somewhat more widely available beer in this style is Leffe, a Belgian import, and this is strictly better. I give it a full [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. I'm somewhat tempted to tack on an extra half a [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] for it, but it seems a little weird giving that high a rating to a beer that's not all that expensive and is not from a premium brew process (anything imperial, a barley wine, etc.). Either way, this is an outstanding beer, and I highly recommend it to any fan of Belgian beers, or perhaps hefeweizen fans looking to change things up a bit.

[nails]

[ QUOTE ]
The second pint I had was the Cascazilla from the Ithaca brewery, presumably named for its Cascade hops. I'd tried this beer before, but I hadn't had it in a while. I guess you'd classify this beer as something like an ESB. It's brown in color, and strongly hopped. The hop flavor is excellent. It has the familiar citrus and flowers I very much enjoy in this style of beer. The thing I found odd about it was that it wasn't all that bitter. It had a lot of the best part of the hop flavor without the bitterness. I hadn't remembered this about the beer, but it was very pleasant to drink. It had good flavor without being as dry as an IPA or as overpowering as something like the DFH 90. This would be a great beer for someone who's curious about all the fuss over IPAs, but who is put off by the bitterness. The only problem with this beer is that it might be hard to find outside of NY. If you can get it, though, pick it up. I 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].


[/ QUOTE ]

I'm not a huge fan of the beers made by the hometown brewery, but Cascazilla is by far their best offering. (Though I think it's also worth tracking down their Double IPA -- very smooth for 9-10% ABV, and they use only NY-grown hops.)

You mention a very important point -- the dominance of hop flavor over bitterness. I used to be a crazy hophead who lived for bitter beers, but in the last few years I've come to appreciate the flavors of the various hops much more, and I find that I want the bitterness to get the hell out of the way and let the flavor shine through. That's pretty much my goal now with the pale ales and IPAs I brew, and I look for it in commercial versions as well. Cascazilla is a great example of this.

[ QUOTE ]
My final beer was a beer I picked just because I knew I'd love it. I picked the Ommegang Rare Vos, a Belgian-style golden ale from the American-Belgian brewery this thread has come to love. It came in a bottle, and I poured it into a pint glass. Really, this is one of my favorite styles of beer, and this is a fine example of it. It's fairly sweet, it has great flavors of cloves, citrus, and a little extra, and it has a great feel with the carbonation.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is my favorite Ommegang brew as well. Most of their beers are very strong (7%+ ABV) and very powerful flavor-wise; Rare Vos is more modest in both alcoholic strength and flavor, yet retains plenty of complexity. I dig it.

[nails]

One other quick follow-up -- Cascazilla is named for both the copious amount of Cascade hops they use and the Cascadilla Gorge that runs through Ithaca.

[acoustix]

Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA
ABV=6%

I tried this solely because it was so highly recommended in other beer threads. I do not normally like IPAs but I decided that in order to be well rounded in my beer culture I would have to take one for the team.

Based on looks alone, the bottle design is kind of bleh. Simple green label with the logo and the beer name in standard typeface across. But what we really want is inside the bottle, right?

Upon first smell, one word comes to mind: Hoppy. This is pretty much par for the course for most IPAs, but in particular the 60 minute IPA has a strong smell. I tasted it, gently swirling it around my mouth. I notice a nice "bite" to it, that seems to linger on the back of your tongue for a while. The downfall to this, to me, is after a while the after taste started to seem almost metallic. Like I was sucking on a nickel. It is a bit bitter, but not overwhelmingly so. It is decidedly more mild than other IPAs I have had. Overall, I found more pleasant than I prepared myself for. I would drink it again if someone offered it to me, but I don't think I would load up my own cooler with it. Again, IPAs aren't my first choice in general.

It seems like this is a good beer to have with a mild tasting dish. Maybe a swordfish steak. Definitely not a beer I would chug while eating wings, though.

My Rating:
[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] out of 5
GOOD
I liked it a lot upon first taste, but as the bottle wore on, the metallic taste kind of brought it down for me. I would like to try the 90 minute, and see if it suffers the same problem. The IPA lover will no doubt dig this.

[snowden719]

Just had La Chouffe, which is a golden belgian ale similar to Duvel, so here are the notes I have for the two.

Duvel:

Pale yellow with a huge white head. Aroma is clove, sugar, pear, yeast. Flavor is sweet, with fruit and clove notes. Finish is a bit bitter but not as bitter as delirium tremens but stonger than leffe. Has enough of a bitter kick to keep it from being too cloying. Nice warmth from the alcohol as you finish the bottle.

my notes for Le Chouffe are,

Pours hazy golden with a huge foamy head. Aroma is sweet, with yeasty and candy sugar notes. Nice coriander hints. Flavor is sweet, spicy, slight hints of citrus, and medium bitterness for a belgian. Finish is nice, but could last a bit longer. not as hyped as Duvel, but just as good if not better in my opinion.

My rating for Le Chouffe
4/5 and just a hair better than Duvel. I reccomend it to those looking for a duvel-type beer, I think le chouffe is a bit cheaper and at least for me is easier to find.