Thank you to the Dusseldorf, Detroit and Madison baggage handlers

Because they didn't break any of the stuff I was trying to bring home :)


This is the picture of the 7 Westvleteren beers that I smuggled home. There are 3 Westvleteren 12s (yellow caps), 3 Westvleteren Blondes (green caps) and 1 Westvleteren 8 (blue cap). I'm currently planning on bringing 2 of the 12 to the Bloomington Beer Blast (probably as my number 1 seed :)) I find it very amusing that they don't label their beer and they recycle some of their bottles from other brewers (a lot of these are in Westmalle bottles)

Here are the 2 Trappist Westvleteren glasses, a De Dolle Oerbier glass and the glass from the Zythos Beer Festival.

And my new (not beer related) personal assistant.

Bold Statement

I think I like Hop Whore better than Hopslam (yes I did get some in Madison, so no need to save any for me anymore)

I think Hop Whore is 4.5/5 and Hopslam is 4.3/5. The Hopslam was a just little too sweet for me I think for the style.

Comments? Chris and Pete, have you had the Hop Whore before? If not, I put it on the list of beer to save.

Two days worth

Last night: A different kind of happy gnome beer than my last go around. The first one was like Hoegarden, this one was more like a brown Belgian. Very tasty. Probably not up to new Ellington standards, but I liked it. 4/5.

Two nights ago I got a growler from the best neighborhood in southern Indianapolis. Why so good? Within about 2 miles is a Guitar Center, a Skyline Chili and a microbrewery. What more does anyone need? The most disturbing thing about the brew pub when I walked in was that of the 5 tables of people in there at the time, 3 were drinking bottles of Coors light. Who goes to a microbrewery and gets the silver bullet? Weak. I got a growler of Snake Pit Porter from Oaken Barrel despite my poor opinion of my last Oaken Barrel beer (the Epiphany the other day). It turned out to be pretty decent. Definitely not as good as some of the other porters I've reported on lately and not even the best southern indiana porter (Upland Bad Elmers is better). It had the typical sub-par porter downfall of a bit too much of a hint of "dirt" taste if you know what I mean. Not too bad though...I'll probably go back and get another growler of something there sometime. 2.9/5

Tonight Katie and I are going here: Bloomington Brewing Co.
I'll report back on my findings. Odds are we will end up there in June also.

Wedding Bells for Our Little Clarkie

Hey all, Anyone know exactly when Clark is getting married and where he's registered. I smell a trip to Bed, Bath, and Beyond for Duane and I.

To keep this beer related, I'm drinking Bitter End by Two Brothers.

Who said the Great Dane doesn't have any good new beers?

Just had a Great Dane Imperial IPA. This beer is only at the Hilldale Great Dane, not the downtown or Fitchburg locations.

I thought this was pretty good. It reminded me of the Old Glory APA on steroids. The hop taste was much the same as the Old Glory, but just a lot stronger. Good beer. 4/5

Belgium Recap

My top ten favorites:

Struise Black Albert
Westvleteren 12
Struise Pannepot
Gouden Carolus Cuvee van de Keyser
Sint Bernardus Abt 12
Westvleteren 8
Abbaye des Rocs Brune
Ellezelloise Hercule
De Dolle Oerbier
Dupont Aves les Bon Voeux

And the total list, 73 different beers:

Uerige Alt

Het Kapittel Tripel Abt

Westvleteren Blonde

Caracole Nostradamus

De Dolle Stille Nacht

Bofferding

Chimay Red

Wellen Ourdaller

Okult No 1 Blanches

Achel Extra Bruin

Verboten Fruiten

Westmalle Tripel

Westvleteren 8

De Dolle Special Extra Export Stout

Chimay Blue

Abbaye Des Rocs Speciale Noel

Boon Kriek

Oerbier

Struise Black Albert

Struise Rosse

Struise Pannepøt

Gouden Carolus Cuvee van de Keyser

Brugse Zot

t Smisje Dubbel IPA

Ellezelloise Saisis

Maredsous 8

Struise Pannepot

La Trappe Tripel

Girardin Oude Gueuze

Cantillon Kriek

St Feuillien Tripel

Het Kapittel Prior

Grottenbier

Poperings Hommelbier

Mort Subite Gueuze

Watou's Wit

Sint Bernardus Abt 12

Sint Bernardus Prior 8

Sint Bernardus Pater 6

Sint Bernardus Tripel

Watou Tripel

Westvleteren 12

Gouden Carolus Noel

Oude Kriek Oud Beersel

Gouden Carolus Classic

Gouden Carolus Hop Sinjoor

Kriek De Ranke

De Ranke XX-Bitter

Lupiline Primula

Belgoo Magus

Malheur 12

Malheur Cuvee Royale

Bush Ambree (12)

Rochefort 8

Rulles Triple

Sint Bernardus Witbier

De Dolle Arabier

Kriek Girardin

Ellezelloise Hercule

Geants Ducassis

Dupont Avec les Bon Voeux

Saison Dupont

Cantillon Gueuze

Cantillon Lambic

Drie Fonteinen Faro

Drie Fonteinen Lambic

La Chouffe

Cantillon Rose de Gambrinus

St Feuillien Blonde

Westmalle Dubbel

St Feuillen Brune

Orval

Abbaye Des Rocs Bruin

Dusseldorf

On the last day of our trip, we stayed in Dusseldorf before flying home. The beer style in Dusseldorf is the Altbier, which is a good hoppy and malty German style. Which leads to the first beer of the day:

Uerige Alt x 3 - This was a beer that smelled totally malty, but had a decent amount of hops to it as well. 3.5/5

The rest of the beers were leftovers from Belgium:

Het Kapittel Tripel Abt - This was better than I thought it would be, since I didn't like the other Het Kapittel beer. Decent, strongish darker tripel. 3.4/5

Westvleteren Blonde - reviewed before...still good 4.2/5

Caracole Nostradamus - good caramel malts with some good spice. 4/5

De Dolle Stille Nacht - reviewed before...4.1/5

The Time Has Come......

The long awaited bottling of my steam beer has commenced. Enjoy some pics while I drink a Hopslam.

Slam vs. Oak...the Rumble in the Tumbler

Well, my goal tonight was to crown my favorite beer of the recent weeks. These are both great, and it was a difficult decision. I'm concerned that the coin flip result in which Hopslam chose to receive and Oaked Bastard took the wind in the second half may have been a deciding factor. The Hopslam has a lot more flavor, and as a result the Oaked fared worse in comparison despite an attempted pretzel palate clense. In the end, I think the honey was superior to the oak as a flavor enhancer. Bonus points to the gargoyle though which enhances any beverage. Also of note, in looking back at the picture from my first Oaked rating just now, I noticed that the bottle caps were different, which may mean that the earlier beer was in fact different from this batch and may justify my slightly lower opinion of the bastard on the second drinking. If given the option when buying, get the one that just says "arrogant bastard" on the cap, not the one with the stone gargoyle logo.
Final Score: Hopslam 4.9/5
Oaked AB 4.6/5

Still not quite a hop-head

Forgot to post about this one last night: 3 Floyds Dreadnaught Imperial IPA. I have a hard time reviewing this because I can recognize that it is a good beer but it is just too hoppy for my taste. It's like listening to a band that you respect the musicianship of, and see the merit in, but just don't like their songs. So, I'm going to abstain. A good, Barry-tastic amount of hoppy flavor but not my thing.
Tonight's matchup will pit my two recent favorites against each other head to head in a tasting battle. Stay tuned for the results of the one-on-one battle of Hopslam vs. Oaked Bastard

A universal beer truth

All bars should have bar dogs. It should be a requirement for having a pub.

Luxembourg

Luxembourg is not exactly the world's best place for beer. Lots of crappy lagers. Good thing we weren't here that long.

Bofferding - gross Luxembourgois lager. This seems to be the Bud of Luxembourg

Chimay rood - I've always thought that Chimay was just ok and this is no exception

Wellen Ourdaller - an interesting Luxembourgois craft beer. It is brewed with buckwheat and had a very earthy taste. It was actually pretty good.

Okult No 1 Blanches - this was a Luxembourgois witbier. It was decent.

Achel Extra Bruin - This one was excellent, but not the best that I've had. It had a good warming taste, which I like.

Verboten Fruiten - This one was kinda foul. I don't think that I like fruit beers very much if they are sweet.

Westmalle Tripel - This is a passable tripel, but not my favorite. It is kinda bland to me.

Westvleteren 8 - Chewy and dark with some anise flavor. A world class beer

De Dolle Special Extra Export Stout - I was not a huge fan of this one. It tastes similar to the Guinness Export Stout that I also don't like.

Brugge, Day 3

This was a travel day, so a little light on the beer.

Chimay Blue - This was just ok. Not a Chimay fan.
Abbaye des Rocs Speciale Noel - This was a great Christmas beer. It reminded me of gingerbread in the best way possible.
Boon Kriek - This was sweeter than the other krieks. Carey liked it better than I did.
Oerbier - reviewed this one before
Struise Black Albert - reviewed this one in the previous post

A beer so good it gets a post to itself

Struise Black Albert - I think this is the second best beer of the trip (maybe the first best). This is a gigantic 13% abv Stout. It's not really an imperial stout, since it doesn't really tastes the same as the others I've had. But it was so good. Warming with some chocolate and malt flavors. Ridiculously smooth with a hop kick at the end. 5/5, easily. Better than Bell's Expedition Stout.

Probably the darkest beer I've ever seen. It took me a while to find it, since it really is only on draft and there are probably about 3 kegs of it around right now.

Back from Virginia

Just got back from a trip to Virginia to visit my friend Matt and his family. Here I'm teaching Matt's son and brewing apprentice Max a new song. When Sposborth and Sons goes public the brewing operations will be in capable hands. We made a Scottish Ale in a rain storm on Saturday.

This week is Spring Break, so stay tuned for lots of reviews.