De Sint-Sixtusabdij van Westvleteren

On Monday, Carey and I went to the Sint Sixtus Abbey in search of the most scarce of the Trappist brews. There is a cafe on the premises that pretty much exclusively serves the beer.

While here, I had the following:

Westvleteren Blonde - This is a tasty Belgian ale (5.8%) that had more hop flavor than I would have expected.

Westvleteren 8 - This was a big brown beer, with fruity and bready tones and a slight alcohol burn. Very, very tasty.

Westvleteren 12 (x 2) - This one was so good, I had two. It sorta tastes similar to the Sint Bernardus Abt 12, but a little less fruity and a lot smoother. There were a lot for fruit and sugar and good Belgian yeast tastes.

Overall, a great experience visit to taste this one in kind beer.

Someone please save me a HopSlam

I want to try this and haven't had a chance yet. It'll be a good beer to save to go to Bloomington anyway.

PS. If you have any requests for things for me to bring home, let me know. I'll see what I can do.

Happy Birthday Duane

Happy birthday, from the makers/drinkers of Sposborth.

Could it be?

Unless my taste buds are deceiving me, I believe this might actually be a drinkable beer from the hated BBC (Bluegrass Brewing Co.). The Jefferson's Reserve Bourbon Barrel Stout proves my new theory (or more accurately, fails to DIS-prove the theory) that oaked beers are great. Why did I buy a beer from a company whose products I have universally despised up until today? Excellent question. My answer in two words: Oak Barrel. My critical analysis is that this beer is REALLY smooth, almost to the point of being watery. As dry as yesterday's Trippel was, this is wet like a dip in the pool on a hot humid August Day. I think some people might complain that it tastes a little bland and watery, but I have to say I like it. It's a little reminiscent of a Lake Louie Milk Stout. 4/5.

Sposborth Wheat Bomber Fleet

Also bottled my wheat beer tonight. Again, towels were used. My first batches of homebrew all had a generic malty flavor (called by me the 'homebrew flavor'). I'm convinced that adding the yeast starter step has gotten rid of the unwanted homebrew flavor. The wheat already tastes pretty fine. We'll see how it comes out in a few weeks.

More brewing pictures

First up, racking the Partial mash IPA to the secondary fermenter where it will peacefully sit for about the next 10 days. At this stage it tastes really solid. Especially considering that this is my first attempt at a partial mash. The current alcohol content is about 6.8 %! Chris, I made this beauty with two pounds of pure clover honey (and about 3lbs of malt extract and 7 lbs grains). Seems like a lot for a 5 gallon batch of beer. Honey has the lovely quality that it is fully attenuated during the primary fermentation, and thus the high alcohol content. If you zoom in on the picture you can see a greenish haze; this is because I dry hopped with one ounce of amarillo hops.
Barry this is my bottling bucket and bottling 'wand'. The black end piece is a valve; press the wand to the bottom of a bottle and the valve opens, lift the wand and the valve shuts. Very easy to use.

Tonight I realized that while racking and bottling, it is best to put towels beneath everything. I still think yeast starters are the key to good beer.

Oh My

Anything negative I've ever said or thought about hoppy beers is officially revoked. This is quite possibly the best beer I've ever tasted. I was skeptical when I saw the $14 six pack today, and foolishly opted to just get 2 singles. I'll be going back for more. This is phenomenal. The honey is the perfect balance to the hoppiness. Bell's, you've done it again! Comstock, MI is officially my new favorite city (or at least favorite in Michigan). Pete, we may need to get jobs at Western Michigan U and live in Comstock township. Yes, I just looked up the closest college to the Bell's Brewery. 4.9/5 (I'm holding onto that extra 10th just in case)

Meh

Well, the first of the batch is a bit of a letdown. The picture of the grim reaper holding a mailbox had me intrigued, but this isn't really one of my favorites: Dark Horse Sapient Trip Ale. Kind of run-of-the-mill Belgian Trippel. My complaints are the noticeable alcohol taste and overly spiced flavor. The ratebeer description mentions cloves, and that is a pretty prominent feature to the taste. It is also oddly dry...almost in the way a wine might be. I wouldn't reach for this if I'd just exercised. Overall, a decent beer but not anything to run out and pick up. 2.5/5 overall, and 1.5/5 for Trippels.

Sneak Preview

Just a quick look at the week of blog reviews that awaits you...will the Hopslam continue to dominate H.K.Duff's reviews? Will Ommegang redeem itself after the failed Spaeth/Philosophers pairing? Will I ever find a local beer that I can rate higher than "decent?" Tune in this week for answers to these questions and more.

Over the Line

And now to enrage Barry....A Big Lebowski reference. This is where I'll be kicking off my spring break on friday. Not exactly Belgium, but there will be weird costumes and lots of beer.

Kulminator

After we came back from the bierfestival, we stop by a well-known beer bar called Kulminator. Personally, I think the name is sweet.

Anyway, the place was pretty packed and I was pretty wasted by then. They have a beer list that is a mile long, with cellared beers. Deeming that over my head, I decided to just get regular beers.

We ordered just two beers, but they were both excellent.

Gouden Carolus Noel - This was a solid, strong winter beer
Struise Pannepot - This beer was outstanding. It poured almost black and was damn tasty. Maybe the best beer I've had in Belgium thus far until...

There were some other Americans in the bar who started talking to us after we let them see the beer list book. I guess they were from some bar in San Diego. In any event, the guy insisted that we try the beer he was drinking and we did.

2004 Westvleteren 12 - Supposedly the best beer in the world. And one that had been aged for 4 years. I'll have to wait until Monday to see how it compares to the fresh beer, but this was very, very good. It was remarkably smooth for a 10% abv beer. Best beer I've had so far.

ZBF Day 1

We had 22 beers at the first day of the Zythos Bierfestival. Here they are in no particular order:

Oude Kriek Oud Beersel
Gouden Carolus Classic
Gouden Carolus Hop Sinjoor
Kriek De Ranke
XX-Bitter (De Ranke)
Primula
Belgoo Magus
Malheur 12
Malheur Cuvee Royale
Bush Ambree (12)
Rochefort 8
Rulles Triple
Sint Bernardus Abt 12
Sint Bernardus Witbier
Oerbier (De Dolle)
Arabier (De Dolle)
Gueuze Girardin
Kriek Girardin
Hercule (Ellezelloise)
Ducassis (Geants)
Bon Voeux (Dupont)
Saison Dupont

Brasserie Cantillon

First thing on Saturday, we went to the Cantillon Brewery Open Brewing Day. This has to be best brewery tour I've ever been to.

We got to do so many things that you would not be able to get any with in the States.
For example, when we got to the mash tun, there was actually mash in it and a guy with a sieve let us taste the wort coming straight out of the kettle. The wort actually tastes really good...it is really sweet. Also, we could carry our beers into the production area as well.

Since Cantillon is a lambic brewer, the fermentation is all natural, meaning that they just open the vats at night and let the natural yeast and bacteria in the air infect the wort. I just think that is cool for some reason.

We had 2 beers at the brewery:

Cantillon Gueuze - The Gueuze style really defies explanation. It is a blend of 1 year old lambic, 2 year old lambic and 3 year old lambic. It was very lemony and sour. I think you really have to try it to understand it.

Cantillon Lambic - This kinda tastes similar to the Gueuze, but less fizzy. In fact, completely flat. It was a little funkier that the Gueuze.

A fine Pennsylvania IPA.

Weyerbacher Double Simcoe IPA. To paraphrase Chris, all IPA's are good and this Simcoe IPA is one of the better IPAs I've tried. Some of the other Weyerbacher beers I've had gave me the, how you say, not so fresh feeling.

Simcoe is a particular hop variety, in fact it might be a GM hop, and I believe Weyerbacher only uses simcoe to make this little hand grenade of a beer. The intial aroma is strong and floral, and there is a very nice kick about 10 seconds after your sip. I can best compare it to the zing that comes from wasabi.

Another 4/5. I refuse to use decimals.

Edit: I would add 'sticky' to the list of adjectives to describe the WDSIPA.

Unrelated topic...posterization

I'm getting really sick of watching free agency highlight reals in which almost 90% of the time the team getting posterized is the Bengals. Derek Anderson...touchdown pass in Cincinnati (not the 4 INT's he through in the next game against us). Some offensive lineman...pancake block against our lame D-Line. Cornerback...Carson Palmer INT. Kick Return. D-Lineman...Carson Palmer sack. I'm convinced that the film guys at ESPN and NFL films are from Cleveland or Pittsburgh. We couldn't possibly be this bad.