Bell's has a lot of stouts, but their best is easily Expedition stout. So thick, strong and flavorful. Worth every penny regardless of how much it costs.

I've only tried their Two Hearted Ale but it seemed pretty crap, and that's one of their standbys, right?

Bell's is one of those breweries whose standard year-round six pack beers are noticeably shittier than their higher-end stuff. Personally I thought Two-Hearted was pretty damn tasty, but I'd agree that stuff like their amber was really pretty shit - strong macro lagery vibes in that beer. But stuff like Hopslam, Expedition stout and especially Third Coast Old Ale? Really delicious stuff, all.

Since next week is my birthday and I've been pretty frugal in my spending lately, in a short while I'm gonna head to the big grocery store on the southern end of town that has a quasi-respectable selection of imports and go on a shopping spree.

Oh man, that is good stuff. I'll never know how much it costs because the only time I've had it was when a friend gave me a three-year-old bottle of it, but it was excellent.

Tonight's beers are Troegenator, which seems to have dulled a bit in the six weeks or so since the first shipment to this state, and Yeungling, because it is good and cheap.

Alright, today's haul. Sadly they were out of the Brooklyn IPA and all of the Anderson Valley stuff that they had the last time I was there. This ran me about $100 total, which is pretty sad considering, but I'll take what I can get at this point.

2x Cooper's Best Extra Stout - pretty good price on these at about $4/pop
1x Chimay Trippel
1x Chimay Dubbel
1x Daas Blonde Ale - weird Belgian blonde that I've never heard of, possibly brewed entirely for the Asian export market?
1x Monteith's Original Ale (might be my first NZ brew? Doesn't look too fancy but whatever)
1x Rogue Dead Guy Ale - would've bought a couple more of these, but there's some sediment in the bottom of the bottle that I never saw in a Dead Guy back in the US, so it could be well off. We'll see.
1x Grimbergen Blonde
1x Grimbergen Blanche
1x Genesee Cream Ale - why the hell did they have this? Man Korea's beer selection is weird as shit.
1x Bavaria 8.6 Original Special Blonde Beer - looks like a really crendy Dutch malt liquor that was dirt cheap for a big can. Will aid in drunken IRC sessions later.
1x Lost Coast Indica IPA
1x Val-Dieu Blonde
1x Val-Dieu Brun
1x Val-Dieu Trippel

Definitely not the most exciting hundred bucks I've ever spent but I'm glad to have some decent beers on hand finally. Looking forward to those Val-Dieu beers especially, since they sound like the most appealing things in the haul that I haven't already had.

Also, anyone ever drink any of those Tesco "Simply" store brand beers? There was a stout, a dark ale, a bitter I think, a golden ale, an alcoholic ginger beer and one more. 500ml bottles but I was put off by the ingredient lists (wheat in the stout? carbonated water? ugh). If they had been cheaper I would've given them a crack as well but they're around $7.50 a piece so I better check to see if they're garbage first I reckon.

Yeah the stout was good (the cold one, not so much for the roomish temperature one) and the guy was telling me they had quite a few other stouts so I'll be on the lookout for those. He mentioned a double cream stout they only brew in fall and early winter and said some might still be on shelves if I get lucky so I'm gonna go hunting for that this weekend cause it sounds delicious. He also told me that for the kegs they add nitrous to it . I may have to find a bar that has that next year.

It isn't. But Monteith's (and Macs) hold a special place in NZ beer history for expanding the market past simple lagers and draughts.

Bell's Double Cream? That stuff is delicious and Binny's (at least the one near me) definitely has it.

Been in Athens, Greece, for a few days now and while beer as a drink is on the rise (surprising amount of quads - mostly La Trappe - on tap), the Greek craft beers are a bit underwhelming and while you can find them at even regular supermarkets, there are really only two, three breweries making interesting stuff:

Septem make a line of about five beers, all pretty standard fare, but well executed: Pils, red ale, pale ale, IPA, honey golden ale, porter. They've done some more interesting stuff like a wet hop-ale and a DIPA, but those aren't available it seems. Voreia are an up and coming brewery with an excellent, piney IPA, a decent pils and a wit that's so strong it's more of a regular Belgian ale. Santorini Donkey are supposed to be good, but haven't found any, except an IPA in a large bottle costing in excess of 20€ and that's just too much for my money for such a beer with no guarantees of superior quality. Volkan Santorini make a line of fairly light, wheat-based ales that are... interesting. Refreshing, not too complex, go fairly well with the local mezes-style of food. There are a bunch of others with mostly a pils or something like that in their line-up, but none that have really stood out.

Batman, regarding the Tesco Simply-line. They're not that bad, the dark ale, especially, but unless really flush or really craving for something, they're definitely not worth that kind of money.

Hmm, good to know. I might give that one a go some day. Though, even knowing that it's decent stuff doesn't leave me too optimistic, as the clear glass and around-the-world shipping makes me wonder at how fresh they might be.

Last night I had a Cooper's, which as good as always, along with the Daas and that cheapo 8.6 stuff. The Daas was pleasant in an unexpected way - it was far too light, fizzy and fruity for a 6.something% Belgian pale ale, but it was definitely a more interesting and tasty sort of disappointment/failure than the usual "this tastes kinda like cheap lager" effect you usually get out of disappointing beers. I won't buy it again at $5.50/bottle, but I'm glad to have tried it. That Bavaria 8.6 stuff was also surprisingly good. The reading I had done suggested that it was basically a cheapo Dutch malt liquor type stuff, so I was expecting adjuncts, barely-there malt and overwhelming booze, but the alcohol was actually pretty well masked behind a straightforward breadiness that offered a lot more flavor than I thought I'd get. Too bad this stuff's only available at that one faraway store, as $2.50 for a 500ml can of very drinkable 8.6% beer is quite a bargain if you're looking to get silly.

Was that after drinking a few before it? I found it about as crap as expected, there are better options at that price/alcohol content range, like Haagen or Kingfisher Strong for example. And it's actually 7.9%, I dont know what the 8.6 in the name refers to.

Well, it does say "8.6% alcohol" right on the can, though it says 7.9% on the Beer Advocate page. Of course it was after having a few! No way I was going to open up my evening's drinking with that thing, hah.

I'm know there are better options at that price point generally, but alas I am in a country that has the most abysmal beer selection you could imagine, really. If I were back in the US trying to get drunk for cheap on decent-tasting beer, I'd be sucking back Heavy Seas Peg Leg Stout or Flying Dog Raging Bitch or something.

Yeah? Do me a favor and get me some. You'll be at Incantation next weekend right, I'll pay you back then.

That's interesting. The one you get here is only 7.9%, its in the fine print on the can. Maybe its a regional importing thing? I don't mind the original Bavaria Holland lager for a cheap drink(since when was Holland in Bavaria, or vice versa?!).

Tonight I treated myself to a Moa Five Hop English Ale. It was smooth and hoppy. Then straight back to my skanky homebrew!

Yesterday I made a Golden IPA. Recipe. I Decided to make something on the hoppy side since my recent beers have been more sessionable type beers and I wanted something with a bit more oomph in it. I started with a standard golden ale recipe, boosted the gravity, and then took out the amarillo, since it turns out that I'm not too keen on amarillo any more. I then put in mosaic because I've never used it before, and I threw citra with it because I've heard they make an interesting pairing. I then decided to throw more in as dry hops because hey, why not have more hop flavour. I kept the IBUs on the lower end of the spectrum by putting them in rather late because I wanted more hop flavour and aroma rather than hop bitterness. Should be interesting.

Here's some of the beers I had while on holiday



Renaissance Stonecutter
Green Man IPA
Scott's Tar Pot Mary imperial barrel aged stout
Garage Project Venusian Pale Ale
Garage Project Tournesol (saison)
Townshend's Keystone milk stout
Parrotdog Sleuthhound
Parrotdog Otis oatmeal stout

Also had a Parrotdog Flaxen Feather, Bitter Bitch and Bloodhound which were awesome.



Mission IPA
Tuatara Act of God abbey sour ale (sooooo good!)
Garage Project Louisiana Voodoo Queen
Tuatara APA
Tuatara Porter
Renaissance Imperial IPA

Apart from the Green Man, Tuatara APA and porter (which were fine, but unremarkable), everything here is gold. The Garage Project beers are phenomenal, with the VPA being my favourite - it's an exceptional pale, with hints of coriander, or celantro if you prefer. Great flavour profile, and I still have a bottle left. The Voodood Queen is also superb, with rich hints of coffee and chocolate that never overpower the beer, but rather add subtle undercurrents to this wonderful dark beer. Excellent stuff. Also had the single batch Day Of The Dead by Garage Project, which had chilli infused in the dark, malty roasted dark beer.

Another outstanding beer was the Stonecutter by Renaissance. Goddamn this scotch ale is good. Nice smokey undertones from the scotch and just a superb flavour, which hides the highish alcohol content very well. Unbelievably good stuff. Tuatara, another kiwi brewer surprised the hell out of me with their Act of God sour. This was awesome with a excellent sour finish after every draught. Will have to hunt this one down. The same goes for another kiwi brewer by the name of Panhead. Tried a few of their beers and wasn't let down by any, especially their Vandal IPA. Now I need to try and find their Black Sabbath barleywine...

Also while in Nelson we had dinner (that is a smoked salmon pizza), and some more excellent beer in The Free House, an old church turned craft beer pub, with a hops vine growing in the beer garden. While there I had a damn good coconut milk stout, by a brewery whose name has escaped me now, but it was enough for me to grab three pints worth. Wellington also put on a good show with a few pubs that know their beer, and with great food too.

New Zealand really has some outstanding breweries going right now, and are well worth hunting down if you are into some fine tasting, and interesting beers

Next time I'm back over there, I will be looking for the ones that I missed.

MetalPeas, you seem to know what you're talking about. Could you recommend me a recipe for a belgian trappist style dubbel beer, please?


Nice holidays you took, CrushedRevelation!

More beer!



-Leffe Brown:
http://www.leffe.com/en/beers/leffe-brown



-Abbaye D'Aulne Super Noël: I can't see the beer in their website:
http://abbayedaulne.com/#beers
Here it's:
http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbaye_d%27Aulne#De_bieren
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/3314/8182/

Found some Backwoods Bastard in Chicago today, yeaaaaaaah.

It was stupidly marked up ($24) but I had spent about $100 less than I was planning on some other things, so it evens out.

OK so the first thing I need to stress is that making Belgian beer is all about process, with what ingredients you use being a distant second to all that. As long as you hit your numbers in regard to gravity, colour and IBUs. Most of the flavour you associate with Belgian beer comes from the yeast throwing off all sorts of wonderful esters. trying to hit your yeast cell counts as accurately as possible is a must, as well as making sure your ferment temperature ramps up at the appropriate rate. It's a bit more complex than making an IPA.

Usually the malt bills are really simple- mostly pilsener malt, with one or two other malts to add colour- biscuit and caramel malts are the best to go for. Belgian candi syrup is then added to bring up gravity without increasing body (hence why a 9% Belgian isn't as thick as a 9% stout). If you can get Belgian candi syrup please make sure you do- invert sugars are not the same as the beet sugar they use to make the candi syrups (don't use the rock candy).

So a recipe like

75% pilsener malt
7% caramunich 3
4% Special B
14% clear candi syrup

16 IBUs worth of Tettnanger

Wyeast belgian strong abbey yeast

I checked my ratios on BeerSmith, so here's the recipe in a different form.

Pitch at around 20C and allow to rise to around 25C during the course of the fermentation- this will allow more esters to be expressed. You can read the discussion here if you want a bit more on the fermentation. This is the most important part, so I recommend you check it out.

Thanks! Let's see if I can get all the material and start working!

Currently enjoying a bottle of Sanctuaire Grande Réserve from the microbrewery Le Castor (The Beaver, for you English speaking peasants)

Abbey Tripel aged in red wine barrels (Pinot Noir, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon).

Pours a nice golden honey with the most timid of head. Nose is of ripe apples, oak, wine, some slight pepper notes and honey. Tastes is apples first, then spices, honey. Some raspberry notes pass by at the speed of light before a a dry finale where oak and wine take the spotlight. Very solid offering from a very solid brewery. Apparently, they are working on a brett version

This brewery just opened in Seattle and they're already making the best beer in the city. Finally we get some local brews that are better than just average. They do lots of interesting saisons, oaked beers and fairly atypical styles. Such a refreshing change from every other brewery that has opened in the past two years that does nothing but the standard: Pale, IPA, DIPA, Amber, Stout.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profil ... view=beers

Been enjoying Rogue Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout the last few days - really dark, chocolate-y, rich flavor that just fills up your mouth and the rest of your senses too, and it actually tastes better to drink for longer - which I don't typically find with some lighter beers. Enjoyed the Dead Guy Ale and the other one I tried from this brewery and this might be my favorite yet.

Trappistes rochefort 8 - Belgium Strong Ale, (Belgium) 9.2%
Last time I drunk all of this 6, 8. 10 was hmmm 5 years ago
I found this in our booze stores, only 8
outstanding beer, easy drainable, (for high alcohol level ) , you can take one bottle after other, don't lose its taste
what I like about Rochefort and Westmalle you put it in the glass and it has interesting sound, when bobbles made head, just like sparkling wine
wonderful beer



Oppigårds / Amager Bridge IPA. Swedem/Denmark , Double IPA 7%
Amager has some good beers, I only bought this one because there was one trappistes Rochefort left , well for double IPA its week, ordinary IPA good, but easy lose its taste, still enjoyable IPA 0.3 l bottle is perfect, if its be more taste be lost




O’Hara’s Irish Red , Ireland, Ale 4.3%
Think I don't like about Britan is week ales, and so on, British origin but Americans will make it better
I like pubs, draft beers from kegs, casks , but I hate this british thing 5h in a pub take 7 pints 3% ale and watch football, I can buy stronger , watch it at home. 5% - 13% beer and watch on tely at home
I don't need that pub shit ... that idea make week ale to ppk can have more always will be downfall of british pubs and ales
Anyway I enjoyed that one, but sorry 0.3 bottle I need 2 pints of it
tasty week ale, , but like I said American can make it 5.4% I choose American , but this ale is good, I don't mean say negative, but ... btw in Ireland are pint bottles, it would make all better, I personally think make 0.3 litres beer bottle are stupid, we need Germanize and britanize all beer standarts when it comes to literes



Brasserie Distillerie Du Mont Blanc - Triple Epices , ale, France 7.2%
I am skeptic when it comes France and beer , tried 3 beers from close to Bel border regions all were week and piss beers
This changed my mind, French ppl needs drop out wine from their heads and drink beer, great, easy drinkable, taste, (feels litte sweet in begging, sweetness goes away , but not beer taste)
I like 0.7 l bottle and that special corce, open it close ut , it can stand in the bottle some time, I remember my grandmother use to have such cources, damn old school things are cool
Great beer ..

BTW label are cool it was spoken whit me, I saw Odin something, heathen speaks whit ppl

Trying out a new barleywine tonight, Ticklefight by Solemn Oath. It's alright, not as sweet and smooth as I'd like it to be and with a $9.99 price tag for the bomber I doubt I'll be picking it up again.

I've been looking for a barleywine pretty similar to the one I got from Dogfish Head a while ago. It set the bar way to freaking high unfortunately and now I'm left with everything failing in its wake. Any suggestions?

Just receive my ingredients for my first brew, next weekend's gonna be glorious

Gonna start with an India Pale Ale, using Nelson Sauvin and Wakatu hops.

What was it like?

Sweet! I'll have to try it haha!

I went to Dieu du Ciel for my birthday last week, I tried the Wallonade, the Chemin de Croix, the Charbonnière and of course the Moralité. I was sad that the Disco Soleil wasn't available but oh well, it was a great evening.

I dunno, it was like 4 months ago. It was super smooth with an almost liqoury kick to it at the end, kinda burnt the throat in a good way y'know. It reminded me more of liquor than beer actually and it was kinda sweeter. That's the best I can do off of memory, hope it helps.

[img][/i/Users/coldpost78/Desktop/IMG_0119.JPG[img]

Sorry if these guys have been put up before. I thought this photo might be appreciated here.

Man.... Upload that picture on http://imgur.com/ or something... We can't see the pictures that are on your computer.

It's!


I'm jealous!

So I headed to the Gilbert Street Hotel to try the latest Adelaide microbrewery's beer- that is the range of beers made by Pirate Life.

Pale Ale- Personally it verges more into the IPA category (though AIBA would probably call it an International Pale Ale), but other than that it's a solid brew. It's dry hopped to a point where the hops are highly present (they used Riwaka and Cascade, presumably NZ Cascade) to provide that tropical note New Zealand hops are well known for. Biterness is highly present but it's balanced out with good malt body and flavour. I recommend it

IIPA- It was... good? 8.8% and with heaps of hops, it fits the description well. My only issue is that with four hops (Centennial, Columbus, Simcoe and Mosaic) the beer tastes far too busy and the hops step on each other too much. Personally I would prefer it if they left out the Simcoe since of the four they used it's Simccoe I like the least. It isn't a bad beer, but it falls into the pitfall many IIPAs have- heaps of hops making a confused flavour profile.

Session IPA- my friend bought it but he let me have a taste and it was underwhelming. They really tried to get it to work but it tastes metallic and just insipid compared to their other brews. It's really hared to make a 3.5% beer taste really well, but it is still possible.

Personally I would like them to make a porter. It's really difficult to find a good porter (my favourite being Lobethal Brewery's porter) so I think that they would do really well to fill what I see as a glaring gap in the market.

That was a mistake. Here it is.


http://imgur.com/hv8flp0

So I just opened a bottle of AleSmith's Speedway Stout. This is an outstanding imperial stout. Amazing explosion of coffee, dark chocolate and caramel. Very nice smooth mouthfeel and the 12% abv is quite well hidden.

More beers for the saturday night:





The Leffe Blonde was for a friend of mine:
http://www.leffe.com/en/beers/leffe-blond

I've discovered recently that the Trader Joe's beers are surprisingly good. I'm a huge fan of Euro lagers and they're one of the few places where you can reliably find them (for $7 for a six-pack). They're made by Gordon Biersch who I know a lot of craft beer fans hate simply because they are a chain/corporation, but there are very few breweries in the states that do lagers so well. Right now TJs has two sytles of bocks, an Vienna lager, and a Bohemian pils, and all of them are good to very good.

Some of the fun beers I had on my trip to the Southwest, these are really the only thing special since I mostly drank wine because my in-laws had a seemingly endless supply of it.




They were both pretty tasty stouts and strong to boot, the Clown Shoes was 14% I think and the other was 13%, I didn't really taste the alcohol but they did sit like rocks in my stomach. Very heavy and thick stouts but if you can find them I'd strongly recommend trying them. The guy at the liquor store told me that version of Unidragon is only available in Oklahoma and Texas so maybe? I'm not sure if that is a fact. The BOMB! had a really, really strong coffee flavor to it, basically like drinking a beer coffee. Sounds odd but it was delicious if you like that sort of thing.


And this is what I have for the next few nights to help me forget my weekend and the fact that I have to go back to work tomorrow:

I haven't had Bomb!, but Prairie Ales in general make some really tasty ones, their Prairie Ale and Prairie Hop being the best off of the top of my head. Both mix a lot of fruity hoppiness with some Belgian flavors and while that can sometimes be just a mess, Prairie make it work very well.