November 25, 2006
November 21, 2006
Some great little things rating allows me to do. I am just copying my review from Ratebeer.
Saranac Caramel Porter
Got two bottle one from the Febuary, 2006 release and a new one I guess late October 2006 in the 12 pack mixer that was recently released. I thoroughly enjoyed this beer and bought two cases early in the year when it was released by itself. Dont know if they will do it this year. The great thing about this site is I can do a vertical of a beer that most other RBers might find useless.
Major differences off the bat are the labels. The late 05 and early 06 bottles are labeld as pictured. The new bottles are a bit different - different stream pic, instead of "robust porter" it says "the spirit of the adirondacks" plus below it adds a few extra words. Actually, the whole label is a bit lighter. Both beers are split among two people. The old Saranac is poured into a NJ craft brewers guild sampling glass which I got while at the last HW open house. The newer Saranac is poured into a taller Brewtopia’05 sampling glass.
Similarities: Both pour exactly the same, medium head, with a dark amber color. Cant see through the beer but a good amount of clarity into it. Fades into a nice lacing on both, the newer bottle’s lacing stays afloat a bit longer. Aroma is still fairly similar, strong caramel aroma, some from caramel malts but mostly added aroma. But not over the top and very sweet and mellow. Both are easy drinking with a medium to light body.
Differences: the newer one has a bit of stronger hop bite. While the hops are not really central in this beer, one can definitely feel a fading of bitterness and overall sharpness to the older bottle. The big difference is a bit of oxidation is settling into the older bottle. Just a hint where a oxi-sweetness is starting to form. For me a positive actually, I look for this flavor. It is common in an aged Old Ale or sometimes a barleywine (recently I had a wonderful Pocono Black and Tan that was rather old that tasted heavenly). The older bottle is having a hint of chocolate come out at the end of the taste. But only drinking these beers side by side do I notice the slight hop bitterness at the end of the newer bottle.
Overall: I still think this is a fine beer either way I like it. The slight oxidation makes the older one seem a bit more full bodied. But the slight hop biting finish makes the newer one taste, well newer and a bit firey. I am ajusting my scores just a bit.
Saranac Caramel Porter
Got two bottle one from the Febuary, 2006 release and a new one I guess late October 2006 in the 12 pack mixer that was recently released. I thoroughly enjoyed this beer and bought two cases early in the year when it was released by itself. Dont know if they will do it this year. The great thing about this site is I can do a vertical of a beer that most other RBers might find useless.
Major differences off the bat are the labels. The late 05 and early 06 bottles are labeld as pictured. The new bottles are a bit different - different stream pic, instead of "robust porter" it says "the spirit of the adirondacks" plus below it adds a few extra words. Actually, the whole label is a bit lighter. Both beers are split among two people. The old Saranac is poured into a NJ craft brewers guild sampling glass which I got while at the last HW open house. The newer Saranac is poured into a taller Brewtopia’05 sampling glass.
Similarities: Both pour exactly the same, medium head, with a dark amber color. Cant see through the beer but a good amount of clarity into it. Fades into a nice lacing on both, the newer bottle’s lacing stays afloat a bit longer. Aroma is still fairly similar, strong caramel aroma, some from caramel malts but mostly added aroma. But not over the top and very sweet and mellow. Both are easy drinking with a medium to light body.
Differences: the newer one has a bit of stronger hop bite. While the hops are not really central in this beer, one can definitely feel a fading of bitterness and overall sharpness to the older bottle. The big difference is a bit of oxidation is settling into the older bottle. Just a hint where a oxi-sweetness is starting to form. For me a positive actually, I look for this flavor. It is common in an aged Old Ale or sometimes a barleywine (recently I had a wonderful Pocono Black and Tan that was rather old that tasted heavenly). The older bottle is having a hint of chocolate come out at the end of the taste. But only drinking these beers side by side do I notice the slight hop bitterness at the end of the newer bottle.
Overall: I still think this is a fine beer either way I like it. The slight oxidation makes the older one seem a bit more full bodied. But the slight hop biting finish makes the newer one taste, well newer and a bit firey. I am ajusting my scores just a bit.
November 15, 2006
Sour beer, might sound like a turn off to some but a delicacy to most in the beer world. I am drinking a Fantôme Black Ghost (PIC), a Strong Belgian Ale with added spices and brett. Without going into much details Brett is strain of yeast not natural to normal fermentation that turns beer sour. Basically, it is purposefully added by brewers to create sourness. Crazy you might say, even a year ago I might have felt the same but now I crave the brett character. Luckily, a few brewers on the west coast make their bread and butter with brett, but they're on the west coast. So this beer perfectly balances a strong belgian sweetness, a high alcohol (8%), some spice character, and a good strong brett, ummm.
November 13, 2006
Oh my God, I have never had this much freaking Barelywine in my life. For those of you who do not know, a Barleywine is a very strong style of beer that starts at about 9%. Of course, in America we like everything big, so with brewers today there is no limit. I think we topped out at a 17% homebrewed Barleywine. But thanks to our gracious host, John, we did a blind tasting of about 20 different BWs. About half of which were aged in barrels. Blind tastings are great b/c one has no biased opinions of the beer they are drinking. Which pretty much explains why most of the ratings were very similar. After the tasting we broke into a bunch of other BWs. We had different vintages of Old Salty and Full Sail. Surprisingly, the Full Sails were all holding up really well. I wouldnt say so for the Old Saltys. In between we even snuck in some other beers like the tomato and basil beer. Sounded interesting but I wasn't going to be the first one to pass out. I got there at 2:00 in the afternoon, by 1:00 in the morning it was Paul and I just opening random bottles of BW, while everyone else slept.
Sunday morning was a different story. Slept fine and had no problems but in the morning my stomach was not a happy camper. No matter how much water I drank, my belly wasnt having it. I am still not sure if it was the BW, the Buffalo Chicken pizza, or the warm green pickled tomato that I ate around midnight but I had the urge to purge. Driving home was very hard but by around 6pm I was feeling fine. Had my little cousins come over, ate some good food and the Jets beat the Pats, that pretty much just topped everything off. And while 12 hours ago I was thinking that I wont drink for a week, right now I am in the mood for a beer... just not barleywine.
Sunday morning was a different story. Slept fine and had no problems but in the morning my stomach was not a happy camper. No matter how much water I drank, my belly wasnt having it. I am still not sure if it was the BW, the Buffalo Chicken pizza, or the warm green pickled tomato that I ate around midnight but I had the urge to purge. Driving home was very hard but by around 6pm I was feeling fine. Had my little cousins come over, ate some good food and the Jets beat the Pats, that pretty much just topped everything off. And while 12 hours ago I was thinking that I wont drink for a week, right now I am in the mood for a beer... just not barleywine.
November 10, 2006
I think I am enjoying this little part of the evening, just adding a thought about beer. Had the Westmalle Tripel tonight out of my good old Duvel glass. Havent had this in a while, have been drinking a lot of Tripels since and I have to think of this as a standard, meaning anything good at least needs to be at its level. But there are truly much more interesting Tripels out there. I will however keep the bottle for homebrewing.
Though there are bigger things I want to incorporate in here.
Though there are bigger things I want to incorporate in here.
November 9, 2006
Had the Three Floyds Brian Boru (http://ratebeer.com/beerimages/full_size/31696.jpg) tonight. Its a cool label and a cool bottle cap. There is a lot of "ohhh, ahh" appeal surrounding the Three Floyds beers. That quickly starts to fade when one gets a chance to drink them. I mean this is a fine beer, its just that when I buy an Irish Red I want to drink an Irish Red. I know, its a weird habit of mine. This was more like an Irish Red completely covered up by hops. Unfortunately, I often face similar problems .
Check out a better beer that I rated
http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/val-dieu-grand-cru/59715/7542/
Check out a better beer that I rated
http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/val-dieu-grand-cru/59715/7542/
November 7, 2006
Lets start this off with my top 10 ratings. I am leaving the actually numbers out and this is not actually my top 10 but my top 10 rated beers. There is a slight difference. Now one with the show from 1-10.
Rogue old Crustacean Barleywine
RATING OF THE MONTH - 1994 vintage bottle, 6 oz. Drank it about an hour ago. Got it at Jimmy’s, a bar on the Lower East Side in NY. Paid $14. Served in a small pilsner glass. This is by far the best beer I have ever experienced. It is also one of the oldest and it really shows how well barely wines age. It poured with no head. It was a dark bar so it is difficult to be accurate on the color. But it was dark, not black but a really murky, dark ruby color. The smell was magnificent. Definitly a hint of chocolate. Along withe the alcoholic sweetness of a barely wine. The taste was not as strong as a Samiclaus, vey unnoticable alcohol for this type of beer. Must have mellowed with age. Also a hint of chocolate and a slight sourness at the end, very slight. The body was perfect, not light but not heavy like a heavy imperial stout. Finished with a great sweetness. Made me want to fall off the bar stole. This beer is the exact the reason why all beer lovers should cellar barelywines.
RERATE 5/14/06 2002 bottle. Fridged for about 30 minutes. Poured into a St. Bernardus glass. Color is a slight murky brown, slightly translucent. Smell is strong with the barleywine sweetness, raisins and plums. Some hop presence and a bit of chocolate. The taste still has a hop presence, not overwellming but pleasantly present. Some bitterness at the end. Very good but of course nothing as special as the 1994 old crusty so the rating goes down a bit.I love to rerate this beer.
Had a bit of the 1997 7 oz bottle at Jimmy’s. I wanted to bring up that this still had a strong hop presence in the aftertaste, especially bitterness. A bit thinner than the 1994 bottle, may just be a fluke. This is just a freaking great beer.
Rochefort Trappistes 10
This beer lived up to the hype. At 11% I couldn’t taste a hint of alcohol. It is one of those yummy beers thats goes down real nice. Hard to discribe the aroma but definitly original and sweet. Beautiful murky brown color. Not a large head however but this is definitly one of the best belgians I have ever tried.
Ah, the youthful rating. Very malty and sweet aroma and taste. I don’t need to go further, for me this is the best Quad, I was moved to rerate after drinking a Westy 12, which I followed with this beauty. Sure it doesn’t have the same mistique but its superb.
Struise Pannepot
2005 Bottle courtesy of MartinT, thank you very much. Poured into a Chimay glass. Looks beautiful with a strong creamy, off white color that actually sticks to the glass as the middle settles. Color is a dark dark brown with no clarity and just a bit of translucence. Aroma is very present - very nicely sweet bread, strong licoricey fruitness, great malt character. Strong, sweet, tasty and yet balanced and not overwhelming. Taste is nice but not as impressive. Sweet and creamy but heavy. Pretty much if bread was turned into a liquid. I really get a strong presence of taste in my mouth but again nothing that overwhelms. Oatmeal, cereal, milk as well. Mouthfeel is nice as well. Carbonation is slightyl tamed yet present. A malty fruit aftertaste left. Low bitterness.
Girardin Gueuze Black Label
So I have been waiting a while to try this and just on chance I walked into New beer in NYC and this was laying around. Dont think a shipment came in to NY, probably just a misplaced case. Also, lots of crude in the neck makes me think its been sitting around for a while. So I split this into two glasses a Lindeman’s flute and a small tulip glass. Cork pops with lots of power, barely had to force it off. Pours with a vicious head in the flute and a small but strong head in the tulip. Color is a very nice light amber orange, murky, cannot see through it yet full of bouncing light. Visible carbonation but not too much. Aroma is strong, a strong but aged tartiness, I’ll compare it to the tartiness I get in a lot of Cantillon’s but much more subdued. I figure age has done this. There is what I feel is a burnt rubber aroma akin to a 3 Fonteinen Gueze, which I am not a fan of but here it is a background character enhancing the aroma. Also imagine smelling fruit, more particularly strawberrys but without any of the sweetness. I know its weird but its what I get. Some hay and funk all around. Taste is incredibly mellow and funky with a sharp tartiness kicking in just as you swallow and passing fast. Leaving a leathery aftertaste that quickly subsides into dryness. I really am impressed by the mellowness of this lambic. A spiky carbonation to offset the tartiness. But all of it passes and nothing is left but a dry feeling in your mouth begging for more.
New Belgium La Folie
Bottle provided by BeerandBlues2, thanks Brad. Shared this at NYRBG. First of all, FUCKING WOW. This is the best sour beer I have ever had. Aroma is a good Kriek, akin to Drie Fonteinen Kriek. Tarty, sour and cherry. Taste however is amazing. It starts out Sour kriek lambic-esque. But then becomes a strawberry sweet taste. Aftertaste isnt even tart but sweet. Mouthfeel is pillowy and smooth.
North Coast Old Stock Ale
2004 bottle, Poured into Hennessy snifter. No head of course. Color is dark copper. slightly translucent. Aroma is great. not overbearing. Less hops in the aroma than an Old Horizontal. I prefer the less hoppy ones and this is perfect but above the average British BW. The fllavor is sweet with a nice bitterness at the end. For me a great balance of a west coast BW without the overbearing hops. Going to let another bottle sit around for a few years and then rerate 8/4/8/4/17.
Rerate 9/27/06: Well, I am overtaken by how different this 2006 bottle came out. I mean I get all these sherry notes which I never got before. I taste no overbearing hops and this has become the traditional BW. Its extremely mellow, with a very moderate bitterness. Lots of sweetness but the sherry and the mellowness just blow me away now. I’ll keep a few of these bottles as well. 9/4/9/4/17
Southampton Double Ice Bock
7oz bottle at the Publick house. 2006 # 82/100. Poured into a snifer. Color is a translucent copper. Smell is of course strong. Pierces my noise hairs. Here comes the taste, wow, sooooo smooth. Almost no alcohol present. Goes down with no bitterness. Coats the tongue and throat just a bit. As it warms the aroma grows stronger. The flavor is almost rye-like. A great beer!!!
Oggis Witch Doctor
Got to try this puppy thanks to Eyedrinkale last night at Spuyten Duyvil. Poured completely black with a small brown lacing. Aroma is strong and great - all sweetness. Its like a plum/raison alcohol mixed with chocolate. Leaves a coffee and roasty aftertaste. My one complaint, I would like a bit thicker body, otherwise for me so far the best Impy Stout if you are looking for sweetness (sweeter than Meph, IMO).
Westvleteren Abt 12
Bottle thanks to tever. this bottle took a long journey, from Belgium to Cali and from Cali to NY in a trade. Cellared it for 2 weeks and fridged it for about 2 hours. Poured into a small glass Budum coffee cup, split three ways. Pours murky brown with a small head. Cannot see through the beer. Aroma is very present. I get a grape aroma behind the sweetness and malt. Same in taste. Overall, its a good beer but ’divine’ or ’greatest beer in the world’ I don’t think so. This did cause me to break out the Rochefort 10 in comparision, which I enjoy more.
St. Bernardus Abt 12
This is a great beer, the model belgian abt beer. Strong 10% thats hidden well. Beautiful dark brown color not murky but dark. Floral flavors and a sweetness at the end. I love it and I want more of it.I’m on a Belgian Quad rerate binge. This is also some great stuff. I would prefer a bit more malt but good stugg all around.
Yeah, some of these need a better rating and we should all take ratings with a grain of salt.
Now to keep an air of suspense, I just got something on a recent beer hunt that has a really really good chance of entering this top 10.
Rogue old Crustacean Barleywine
RATING OF THE MONTH - 1994 vintage bottle, 6 oz. Drank it about an hour ago. Got it at Jimmy’s, a bar on the Lower East Side in NY. Paid $14. Served in a small pilsner glass. This is by far the best beer I have ever experienced. It is also one of the oldest and it really shows how well barely wines age. It poured with no head. It was a dark bar so it is difficult to be accurate on the color. But it was dark, not black but a really murky, dark ruby color. The smell was magnificent. Definitly a hint of chocolate. Along withe the alcoholic sweetness of a barely wine. The taste was not as strong as a Samiclaus, vey unnoticable alcohol for this type of beer. Must have mellowed with age. Also a hint of chocolate and a slight sourness at the end, very slight. The body was perfect, not light but not heavy like a heavy imperial stout. Finished with a great sweetness. Made me want to fall off the bar stole. This beer is the exact the reason why all beer lovers should cellar barelywines.
RERATE 5/14/06 2002 bottle. Fridged for about 30 minutes. Poured into a St. Bernardus glass. Color is a slight murky brown, slightly translucent. Smell is strong with the barleywine sweetness, raisins and plums. Some hop presence and a bit of chocolate. The taste still has a hop presence, not overwellming but pleasantly present. Some bitterness at the end. Very good but of course nothing as special as the 1994 old crusty so the rating goes down a bit.I love to rerate this beer.
Had a bit of the 1997 7 oz bottle at Jimmy’s. I wanted to bring up that this still had a strong hop presence in the aftertaste, especially bitterness. A bit thinner than the 1994 bottle, may just be a fluke. This is just a freaking great beer.
Rochefort Trappistes 10
This beer lived up to the hype. At 11% I couldn’t taste a hint of alcohol. It is one of those yummy beers thats goes down real nice. Hard to discribe the aroma but definitly original and sweet. Beautiful murky brown color. Not a large head however but this is definitly one of the best belgians I have ever tried.
Ah, the youthful rating. Very malty and sweet aroma and taste. I don’t need to go further, for me this is the best Quad, I was moved to rerate after drinking a Westy 12, which I followed with this beauty. Sure it doesn’t have the same mistique but its superb.
Struise Pannepot
2005 Bottle courtesy of MartinT, thank you very much. Poured into a Chimay glass. Looks beautiful with a strong creamy, off white color that actually sticks to the glass as the middle settles. Color is a dark dark brown with no clarity and just a bit of translucence. Aroma is very present - very nicely sweet bread, strong licoricey fruitness, great malt character. Strong, sweet, tasty and yet balanced and not overwhelming. Taste is nice but not as impressive. Sweet and creamy but heavy. Pretty much if bread was turned into a liquid. I really get a strong presence of taste in my mouth but again nothing that overwhelms. Oatmeal, cereal, milk as well. Mouthfeel is nice as well. Carbonation is slightyl tamed yet present. A malty fruit aftertaste left. Low bitterness.
Girardin Gueuze Black Label
So I have been waiting a while to try this and just on chance I walked into New beer in NYC and this was laying around. Dont think a shipment came in to NY, probably just a misplaced case. Also, lots of crude in the neck makes me think its been sitting around for a while. So I split this into two glasses a Lindeman’s flute and a small tulip glass. Cork pops with lots of power, barely had to force it off. Pours with a vicious head in the flute and a small but strong head in the tulip. Color is a very nice light amber orange, murky, cannot see through it yet full of bouncing light. Visible carbonation but not too much. Aroma is strong, a strong but aged tartiness, I’ll compare it to the tartiness I get in a lot of Cantillon’s but much more subdued. I figure age has done this. There is what I feel is a burnt rubber aroma akin to a 3 Fonteinen Gueze, which I am not a fan of but here it is a background character enhancing the aroma. Also imagine smelling fruit, more particularly strawberrys but without any of the sweetness. I know its weird but its what I get. Some hay and funk all around. Taste is incredibly mellow and funky with a sharp tartiness kicking in just as you swallow and passing fast. Leaving a leathery aftertaste that quickly subsides into dryness. I really am impressed by the mellowness of this lambic. A spiky carbonation to offset the tartiness. But all of it passes and nothing is left but a dry feeling in your mouth begging for more.
New Belgium La Folie
Bottle provided by BeerandBlues2, thanks Brad. Shared this at NYRBG. First of all, FUCKING WOW. This is the best sour beer I have ever had. Aroma is a good Kriek, akin to Drie Fonteinen Kriek. Tarty, sour and cherry. Taste however is amazing. It starts out Sour kriek lambic-esque. But then becomes a strawberry sweet taste. Aftertaste isnt even tart but sweet. Mouthfeel is pillowy and smooth.
North Coast Old Stock Ale
2004 bottle, Poured into Hennessy snifter. No head of course. Color is dark copper. slightly translucent. Aroma is great. not overbearing. Less hops in the aroma than an Old Horizontal. I prefer the less hoppy ones and this is perfect but above the average British BW. The fllavor is sweet with a nice bitterness at the end. For me a great balance of a west coast BW without the overbearing hops. Going to let another bottle sit around for a few years and then rerate 8/4/8/4/17.
Rerate 9/27/06: Well, I am overtaken by how different this 2006 bottle came out. I mean I get all these sherry notes which I never got before. I taste no overbearing hops and this has become the traditional BW. Its extremely mellow, with a very moderate bitterness. Lots of sweetness but the sherry and the mellowness just blow me away now. I’ll keep a few of these bottles as well. 9/4/9/4/17
Southampton Double Ice Bock
7oz bottle at the Publick house. 2006 # 82/100. Poured into a snifer. Color is a translucent copper. Smell is of course strong. Pierces my noise hairs. Here comes the taste, wow, sooooo smooth. Almost no alcohol present. Goes down with no bitterness. Coats the tongue and throat just a bit. As it warms the aroma grows stronger. The flavor is almost rye-like. A great beer!!!
Oggis Witch Doctor
Got to try this puppy thanks to Eyedrinkale last night at Spuyten Duyvil. Poured completely black with a small brown lacing. Aroma is strong and great - all sweetness. Its like a plum/raison alcohol mixed with chocolate. Leaves a coffee and roasty aftertaste. My one complaint, I would like a bit thicker body, otherwise for me so far the best Impy Stout if you are looking for sweetness (sweeter than Meph, IMO).
Westvleteren Abt 12
Bottle thanks to tever. this bottle took a long journey, from Belgium to Cali and from Cali to NY in a trade. Cellared it for 2 weeks and fridged it for about 2 hours. Poured into a small glass Budum coffee cup, split three ways. Pours murky brown with a small head. Cannot see through the beer. Aroma is very present. I get a grape aroma behind the sweetness and malt. Same in taste. Overall, its a good beer but ’divine’ or ’greatest beer in the world’ I don’t think so. This did cause me to break out the Rochefort 10 in comparision, which I enjoy more.
St. Bernardus Abt 12
This is a great beer, the model belgian abt beer. Strong 10% thats hidden well. Beautiful dark brown color not murky but dark. Floral flavors and a sweetness at the end. I love it and I want more of it.I’m on a Belgian Quad rerate binge. This is also some great stuff. I would prefer a bit more malt but good stugg all around.
Yeah, some of these need a better rating and we should all take ratings with a grain of salt.
Now to keep an air of suspense, I just got something on a recent beer hunt that has a really really good chance of entering this top 10.
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