New Beer Purchases - 1/24/2010

Eitan: Last night I wanted to get to Bierkraft to get a sandwich, but sadly I was unable to make it before the close. So to cheer myself up I decided to stop of at the beer room at Whole Foods on Houston. I ended up getting three beers (well I got one, and two were bought for me). I ended up getting two Christmas ales because they still had plenty in stock and one Wild ale. I got a 750ml bottle of St. Bernardus Christmas ale, which can apparently be aged for up to 15 years, I will try to store it for as long as possible. I also got the St. Feuillien Cuvee De Noel, which I hope tasted very well. I would have gotten more Christmas/Holiday ales but it wasn't cheap and I don't have the place to store it all. The third beer was Goose Island Juliet, this is an American wild ale, it is fermented with wild yeast and aged in cabernet barrels with blackberries. I post something about these beers after I have tried them. I already posted something about the St. Bernardus Christmas ale which we had a few weeks ago.

Japanese Beer at the Fatty Crab - 1/21/2010

Eitan: So I am getting to snobbish/bratty about beer. I kind of get annoyed at places that don't have some fun beer choices and that overcharge for cheep beer. I feel like if I go out and have one beer that it should be something I haven't tried yet or haven't had in a long time. Last night I had dinner at the Fatty Crab in the West Village, I'd say this is a Malaysian/euro fusion place. The beer selection was "meh" but they had some Hitachino beers. I've had several, but the one that I haven't had was the Real Ginger Ale. What I really like about having a Hitachino is the little beer glass you pour the beer in.

It's funny how excited I was to try this beer, simply because it come in a different glass. It poured a nice amber color, some fizzy tan colored head. It had slight head retention and a small amount of lacing. Even with "Ginger" in the name the smell and taste were unexpected. It had a tartsmell, not a bad smell, it was more like the smell of a nice sour lambic or champagne with a mix of sour apples. The taste was similar to the smell. At first it was nice and tart, but then it hits with a nice amount of ginger spiciness. After the beer sits in the glass for a bit it opens up very well, the mixture of ginger and tart fruits is perfect. There was also a nice presence of tart fruits like sour apples and white grapes. It has a light body, light  carbonation and nice dry finish.
The Hitachino beers are always very interesting, this beer was no different. I was a bit skeptical to try ginger beer, but I am glad I did. I would definitely be having this one again.

Night cap with a Coffee Porter - 1/19/2010

Eitan: The best part about going out to Bonnie's at around 7 is that afterwards you can still make it to Bierkraft before they close. There is nothing like a mini trip to Bierkraft, too bad only the Meantime came with me and the ice cream sandwich went with someone else.

So I decided to get a small bottle of Meantime Coffee Porter. I've had my eye on it for the past few times at the store and this time I just went for it. I poured it into my Cooperstown Brewery porter pint glass. It pours a dark brown color with about 2 inches of foamy tan colored head (even though I tried to pour it pretty gently), with pretty good head retention. It smells like very rich black coffee and a bit of chocolate. It tasted like strong black coffee, bitter with a little nutty flavor and a hint of hops. Overall it was like having a morning cup of coffee. It has a light to medium body, light to medium carbonation, it was very silky. Overall it is a pretty good English porter. I would have it again, maybe try to pair it with some food. I would like to try this on tap.

Looking back, maybe I should not have had a coffee porter at around 9:30 pm since it does contain coffee.

Anchor Steam Christmas Ale at The Bell House 1/16/2010

Eitan: Saturday night I was out at the Bell House near Park Slope. I was in the mood for trying some beer, however, there wasn't that big of a choice for bottles and on draft that I haven't had before. So I had a Duvel from a bottle and the Anchor Steam Christmas Ale. The Anchor steam was a very nice dark brown color with about an inch of head, ok retention and lots of lacing. It smelled sweet and nutty and a good amount of spices. It tasted pretty good, it had a malty sweetness to it with a mix of holiday spices, mostly some cinnamon and a bit of a bitter finish. This was a smooth medium body beer with low carbonation. I good winter beer to be drinking.

St. Bernardus Prior 8 - 1/17/2010

Eitan: The third beer in the St. Bernardus sampler pack, I had it in my St. Bernardus goblet. The Prior 8 is a dubbel (double). It poured a cloudy dark brown/amber color. It looked very thick and syrupy in the glass. It had about an inch and half of tan head, and some decent retention and good lacing. It had a nice sweet smell, a hint of sweet malt smell, and a good amount of plum and raisin smell. It had a slight raw honey taste that was a nice mix with the malt and dark fruits, and it had a bit of the alcohol taste in the finish. This a medium body beer with good carbonation. It was good after it stood in the goblet for a while. This beer goes down smooth, it is very easy to go overboard if not paying attention. Once again, St. Bernardus has not failed to disappoint. This is definitely a beer to sit and enjoy slowly.

Avery The Kaiser Imperial Oktoberfest (Bottled in 2007) 1/13/2010

Eitan: Last night I opened of the 2007 bottle of The Kaiser. I have to admit that I was a bit nervous about trying it. I can't remember the last time I had an Imperial Oktoberfest, and a vintage bottle at that. So, I got in to my adventurous mode and opened up the bottle and poured it in to my Hoffbrau glass. It was a nice shade for orange/brown with about 2 inches of brown tinted head. Very little head retention but an enormous amount of lacing, very syrupy looking. It smelled sweet with malt and some orange. The taste was very interesting; it was a bit sweet, lots of malt flavor and a tiny hint of hops. Very little taste of alcohol, it was mostly malty. It still had pretty good carbonation, but it felt a bit syrupy. This was a very interesting beer. I'd be curious to do more research on the aging of this beer and to try this one again but different ages after the bottling.

A Vintage Purchase 1/8/2010-1/10/2010

Eitan: This was one good beer getting weekend. I received an awesome limited edition German beer-stein from Stan, got two bottles of 2008 Gouden Carolus Cuvee van de Keizer (one blue, one red), both of which need to be put away for one more year; so February 2011 is when I am popping the cork. I got one bottle of 2007 Avery The Kaiser Imperial Oktoberfest, which I can't wait to drink; Avec Les Bons Voeux Saison Dupont and Lagunitas Imperial Stout.

On Friday, I did have a chance to have some Brooklyn Monster Ale at Bonnie's. I had a 12 oz bottle poured in to a Brooklyn snifter. It had a nice Brown color with about an inch and a half of tan foamy head. It had a sweet malty smell, but there was also a presence of hops; just like a brooklyn. The flavor follows the smell, it had the malt sweetness and a hoppy finish. There was a some presence of the alcohol in the taste, but it was covered well by the hoppy finish. It had a medium body and decent carbonation. It had all the qualities that you'd expect of a barley wine ale, but being a Brooklyn, there was more hops present. It got better after I let it stand in the glass through dinner. It is a decent beer, and when you don't have a big selection of this style of beers to chose from, this one would be good.

Here are the pictures of the other two Avery beers that I got this past week, the Beast grand cru and Mephistopheles' Stout.

First Beer Night of 2010 - 1/6/2010

Eitan: So it was the first beer night of 2010, and it was great. Marina wasn't present so we only got 3 small bottles, very good bottles, of Belgian beers. (We also had one that Stan had in the fridge for a while, but I forgot the name.)

While Browsing at Bierkraft I got two vintage Avery beers, Mephistopheles' Stout and the Beast Grand Cru. I can't wait to try those.

So I am not sure of the order of beers from last night but I think it went something like this:

Brasserie Des Rocs Triple Impériale – I saw this bottle and thought, I’ve never had a beer from that brewery. This was a great choice. It pours a dark brown color, very hazy with a large amount of tan foamy head. It had pretty good head retention. It had a very nice smell of a mixture of sugar and fruits. The taste was very similar, nice fruit mixture, both light and dark fruits, a little bit of malt and caramel flavor and a tiny hint of tartness. Even though it is high in alcohol, it doesn’t really come out in the taste. It had a nice medium body, perfect amount of carbonation. This was a very good triple, I’d go as far as saying that it was one of the best triples that I’ve had recently. It tastes great, very smooth and easy to drink. However, it is about 10% so it is very easy to go overboard.

Gouden Carolus Ambrio – After having a vintage Gouden Carolus a few weeks ago I have started to appreciate these beers more and more on top of how much I’ve already enjoyed them. Brouwerij Het Anker really brews some excellent beers. The Ambrio is a good Belgian strong pale ale. It poured a nice amber color (just like the name Ambrio) with a good amount of light tan head, and with good head retention. This had a big mixture of smells, a combination of apples and some dark fruits, a malty/caramel smell, and heaps of spices. However, it was not overpowering at all. The taste was similar to the smell sweet and fruity, but definitely a bit nutty with spices thrown in. Like the smell, the taste was not overpowering to the senses. It was nice and dry at first but goes down really smooth; it had a medium body and good carbonation. Overall it was a pretty good beer. It wasn’t the best beer ever; nonetheless, it was a really good beer to have. I guess I’d like to have some more Belgian pale ale soon to compare.

Gouden Carolus Noël – So glad we got this beer, by this time of the year Christmas ales are almost gone. In fact, I think this was the last bottle that they had. It pours a nice shade of brown/red with a nice amount of white head. It had good retention, faded slowly and lots of lacing. It smelled like how I would imagine Christmas in Belgium to smell, sweet, fruity, mixture of spices and some bread. I can safely say that if you could taste Christmas then it would taste a lot like this beer. It was slightly sweet/tart from the mixture of fruits, hint of caramel sweetness and topped of this a heap of Christmas spices. It was very crisp and smooth. It had a medium body with light carbonation. This beer was very easy to drink; so be careful, it will catch up to you in a hurry. I hope to try and find one or two more bottles soon. If I can find a 750ml try and keep it for a year before having.