Stoup, Wings and Beer - 1/29/2010

Eitan: On Friday we decided to have a some home made stoup (sausage, peppers, onion, tomato) and we brought some beers to try. While waiting for the stoup I finally opened the 2007 bottle of Avery The Beast. It poured a hazy golden color with decent head and slight retention and lacing. It had a very strong sweet smell of dark fruits and molasses. The taste was similar to the smell, very sweet molasses flavor with hints of figs and raisins. For a 2007 bottle it had pretty good carbonation. However, it was full bodied and did have a slight syrupy feel. This one was really tasty, I should have gotten more than one bottle. It's a good thing that I had some help with drinking it; because of the high alcohol and full body, it is tough to drink one bottle.

The second beer we had was the Duchess De Bourgogne. The name was familiar but I did not recall ever tasting it before. It poured a very nice reddish/brownish color with a small amount of tan head, almost no retention. The smell was fantastic, sour with some sweetness, very similar to a nice Champagne. The taste was even better, it was sour at first, not in an overwhelming way, similar to the Iris. It had a taste of some hops, but overall it was tart with a taste of a good green apple and some grapes. It had pretty good carbonation and was good crisp medium bodied beer. This is definitely one of the tart beers that I would like to have many more times.

The third beer we had was the 750ml bottle of St. Bernardus Christmas ale that I bought last week. (see December 10 post for review)

The fourth beer of the night was the St. Fueillien Cuvee De Noel, the other 750ml bottle that I bought last week. It pours a red/copper color with a good amount of foamy head. There is some good retention and lacing along the glass. It has the kind of smell you would expect from a holiday ale, smells like Christmas. It had a slight bread smell with a generous mix of dark fruits, spices and brown sugar. At first it has a slight bread taste to it, but it quickly subsides and you have a slight sour taste with a nice taste of plum and raisin, cinnamon and some hops. It had good carbonation. It was pretty smooth with a medium/full body. I better run to whole foods and get a few bottles of this and the St. Bernardus to store for a bit.

There was a fifth 750ml bottle that we did not have a chance to drink. Maybe on another night.