The Festival of Wood and Barrel Aged Beer

Writing from the road--Chicago's Wood and Barrel Aged Beer Festival. I've been assured this will be the most amazing tasting I've ever been to--saisons, lambics, and whiskey-barrel beers. More notes later.


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Belgian Beer Review 15: Drie Fontein Oude Kriek

A relatively newbie to the spontaneously fermented Belgian beers, I only recently discovered Armand Debelder. Joe Strange has several notes about the master lambic and geuze blender over at Thirsty Pilgrim. It was the post announcing the brewery's intent to stop brewing, start distilling, and go back to blending that caught my attention. I read the post with great interest, given my current expedition, and figured maybe somehow I'd be able to get my hands on a bottle of Drie Fonteinen if I was lucky. My family and I are traveling to the east coast at the end of this month and I thought I *might* be able to hunt down a bottle in NYC or Boston.

So it was a pretty big surprise when I stumbled upon it at Belmont Party Supply, the craft-beer mecca literally within walking distance of my house. Not only that, but they have both the Oude Kreik and the Oude Geuze. Picked up the Kreik, and on the next trip need to get several bottles of the Geuze--some for now and some to set aside.

A note about the beer, since with the exception of the beer geeks in my audience (although if you've stayed with me this far into this post, its probably time to admit you might be one), aged, blended, sour fruit beers aren't ones most folks have tried. Lambics and Gueuze beers are oddities of the beer world, in that they rely most heavily on the local micro flora to achieve their distinctive sour flavors. In addition, these beers are aged for years in oak barrels and are prized not only for their individual flavors, but for their ability to meld with other vintages. Like meritage wines, the young and aged lambics are blended together to draw out the best of both beers (a gueuze being merely that blend). In addition, to increase the types of flavors available, fruits--notably sour cherries or raspberries--are added. Odd as it sounds, the results are incredible. Intense and at the same time palate cleansing, the straight beers are the Limburger cheeses of the beer worlds and the fruit beers are the sorbets.

Brewery: Brouwerij Drie Fonteinen (via Google Translate, since source page is in Dutch)
Brewery Location: Belgium
Beer: Oude Kriek
BJCP Style: 17F. Fruit Lambic
Serving: Bottle

Appearance: From the time I uncorked the tiny 12 oz bottle, I knew I was in for a treat. Pours a rich cherry red with a rose-colored bubbly head. The picture doesn't do this beer justice--it is a beautiful beer.

Smell: Surprisingly, although present, the cherries don't overpower. Instead, they blend well with the sour barnyard character of the lambic to create a very balanced bouquet.

Taste: Sometimes sour fruit beers can be too over the top. In fact, I've had enough disappointing ones that I approached this one a little apprehensively. I could not have been more wrong. This beer is fantastically refreshing. Sour beers are intensely refreshing, in the way a tart pink lemonade can be in the middle of a sweltering July afternoon. The fruit adds depth to the sour, and mellows out the funkier flavors to make this incredibly thirst-quenching.

Mouthfeel: A very dry beer with a clean finish, which is a bit surprising given the boxes of cherries that I know went into this ale.

Drinkability: These beers won't be around for too much longer and it seems unlikely that you'll be able to get Debelder's blends stateside, so pick up a few bottles now and stick them under the stairwell for later. Although only 6 percent, they'll keep for up to ten years from the bottling date. Just don't get them at Belmont. I've got dibs on those bottles.

Technorati Tags: Drie Fonteinen, lambic, kriek, oude kriek, Armand Debelder, sour ales, beer, craft beer, brewing, homebrew

Belgian Beer Review 14: Rochefort 10

I took a break from scrubbing bottles for my dubbel to try another Trappist ale--this time it was Rochefort 10. I know folks who swear by this beer, some going so far as to rank it the best Belgian they've ever tasted. It's been so long since I've had this beer that it's essentially like tasting it for the first time.

Brewery: Brasserie de Rochefort (Abbaye de Notre-Dame de Saint-Rémy)
Brewery Location: Belgium
Beer: Rochefort 10
BJCP Style: 18E. Belgian Dark Strong Ale
Serving: Bottle

Appearance: Pours charcoal brown, with bright, vivid tan head that dies quickly

Smell: A big complex nose present as soon as the cap is open; chocolate and coffee mingle with dark fruit esters, layered over a spicy alcohol foundation

Taste: Yeasty and dark fruit flavors meld with spicy hops and chocolate malt. There is the slightest hints of sherry oxidation, and as the beer warms, alcohol becomes more present around the edges

Mouthfeel: This beer has a sharp bite, in a way that one might expect from an artisanal Vermont cheddar.

Drinkability: Pleasurable but not as much so as I was expecting. Don't misunderstand--this is a solid beer. However, I had been expecting a melange of exotic flavors, and while this beer was complex, it was complex on the side of darker, richer aged flavors. I'm not sure the age of the bottle, but it hinted of beer that had been cellared for some time. Reading through reviews on sites like BeerAdvocate, my experience seems to differ from those of other drinkers, so perhaps this beer is a good candidate to cycle back to.

Technorati Tags: Belgians, Rochefort, Rochefort 10, Trappist Ale, quadrupel, beer, craft beer, brewing, homebrew

Belgian Beer Review 13: Achel Blond

Achel is one of the smaller, lesser mentioned Trappist breweries. I've seen their beers on the shelf for quite some time, but passed by them not realizing what I was seeing. Decided it was finally time to try one.

Brewery: Brouwerij der St. Benedictusabdij de Achelse
Brewery Location: Belgium
Beer: Trappist Achel 8° Blond
BJCP Style: 18A. Belgian Blond Ale
Serving: Bottle

Appearance: Huge white head; body of beer light copper in color

Smell: Heavy alcohol in nose, with skunky overtones. This bottle was dusty--was it sitting on the top shelf for too long?

Taste: Despite any skunky nose, this beer is delicious. Pale malts, with mellow hops, and a slight grassy note in the finish. Spicy notes throughout.

Mouthfeel: Full bodied, with dry finish

Drinkability: This particular bottle may be slightly skunked, but it's still very drinkable. Much stronger than the taste would imply. I've read that the Bruin is the best of the Achel breed. If this is a taste of what's to come, I'm intrigued.

Technorati Tags: Belgians, Achel, Blond, beer, craft beer, brewing, homebrew

Belgian Beer Review 12: Grimbergen Double Ale

Headed to Belmont Party supply to pick up the next round of Belgians. Picked up some Trappists and some singles of other interesting, but perhaps less hyped Belgians. Are these quieter beers hidden gems?

Brewery: Brouwerij Alken-Maes
Brewery Location: Belgium
Beer: Grimbergen Double Ale
BJCP Style: 18B. Dubbel
Serving: Bottle

Appearance: Dark, nearly opaque with sturdy tan head that recedes faster than one expects

Smell: Not an overwhelming nose; subdued, with some malty and dark fruit notes, metallic overtones with slight alcohol esters, subdued nose

Taste: some vanilla and caramel malt, sweet with little hop bitterness, but not a ton of depth. Sharp metallic notes that fade as beer warms, replaced by malty character

Mouthfeel: Although this is a malt-forward beer, it's a little thinner than some other dubbels I've tried.

Drinkability: A drinkable, but not at all challenging, example of the style. If a Belgian beer can veer toward the pedestrian, this one does. It's not a bad beer compared to the BudMillerCoors paradigm, and I'd be willing to recommend this to someone getting their feet wet on Belgians, but this isn't one I'm likely to return to. This bottle is slightly less expensive than other examples of the style, but I'd rather pay a bit more and get a bit more in return.

Technorati Tags: Belgians, Dubbel, Grimbergen, beer, craft beer, brewing, homebrew

Belgian Reviews 10 and 11: A Pair of Westies

Knowing several beer geeks and knowing how beer geeks salivate over Westvleteren, the Trappist beer only served at the monastery and accompanying the cafe across the street, my boss decided to venture into the grey market for a few bottles. I had stunning shots of the Westvleteren 12 and 8, but thanks to my iPhone bricking out and losing any unsynced photos, a narrative will have to suffice.

Westvleteren 12 tops most of the beer rating website's top beer lists, with the Westie 8 somewhere in the top 10. Is it because these beers are so rare and such a pain in the ass to even get a sample of, or is there something intrinsic about the beer itself that gives it its grail-like fame?

This was the question we sought to answer when, a few Fridays ago, my boss stopped in with a bottle of the 8. His shipment of assorted hard to find Belgians had arrived and he had tried the Blonde the night before and was suitably impressed. Wondering what the rest of the line was like, he shared the 8.

The Westvleteren 8 is a Trappist Dubbel--a brownish ale with tight, tiny carbonation. It gives off a perfumy aroma, with slight caramel and phenolic hints of alcohol. The taste is well-blended, subdued caramel malt accented with complex florals, and a dry, powdery finish. The beer is easily drinkable and hides its alcohol well.

After nearly finishing the 8, curiosity got the best of us and we headed to the fridge to crack the 12. The 8 was a solid beer--perhaps not the best beer I've ever had, but so smooth and complex that I wondered how the 12 could top it.

I was pleasantly surprised. The 12 is a difficult beer to describe--to call it complex and nuanced oversimplifies it. There are so many flavors, all wonderfully blended, but all distinct in their own rights.

Like the 8, the 12, a Quadrupel, is a brown beer, this one with a billowing tan head. An assertive vanilla first dominated the nose, but gave way to floral hops and slight hints of cherry. My notes devolve into a steady scratching of complementary and conflicting flavors in trying to describe the taste, including tea, spice, citrus zest, tobacco, clove, vanilla, caramel malts--a mildly acidic beer with slight grassiness as it warms and a cherry cola effervescent. In reflecting on this beer, I imagine it a lot like a mood ring, in that there is so much at play that whatever you are feeling in the moment may act as a catalyst for certain flavors to dominate. And despite all that, the beer has such remarkable and understated balance that there is no wonder this beer ranks so highly. Unlike many of the over-the-top, in your face extreme beers, despite all of its complexity, this beer is so easy to drink and so unassuming.

One of my beer-loving co-workers is coming into town soon, and when he does, my boss has promised a sampler to include the 12, 8, blonde, and some rare Westmalle and Chimay. I'm interested to try the 12 again in particular to see if there is any truth to my mood ring hypothesis.

Technorati Tags: Belgians, Trappist Ales, Westvleteren 12, Westvleteren 8, beer, craft beer, brewing, homebrew

News: Belgian Golden Ales in the NY Times

Veteran NY Times beer correspondent Eric Asimov teams up again with Florence Fabricant and a guest--this time Resto owner Christian Pappanicholas (Resto is a Belgian focused Manhattan restaurant). Their target--to tackle Belgians and Belgian-style ales. As Asimov notes, Belgians often defy categorization, and despite trying to cast somewhat of a net around the Belgian Golden Strong Ale style, there's still quite a bit of variety in the mix.

Twenty beers, half from Belgium, nine from the US and one Canadian brew complete the spread. Interestingly, the top pick is not from the mother country, but rather from Ron Jeffries' Dexter, MI based Jolly Pumpkin. In fact, of the top four, three are American, and two are Jeffries' brews (Jeffries also brews for Leelanau).

A surprise that isn't a surprise--Duvel, the originator of the style, didn't make the top pick. Historically, I have loved this beer, but as of late, I've noticed the same freshness problem Asimov notes. Brouwerij Duvel Moortgat, what is going on?

Asimov usually accompanies his articles with a post on his blog, The Pour. Check out the post on Belgian ales and be sure to read through the comments for readers' takes.

Technorati Tags: Belgians, Belgian Golden Strong Ale, Eric Asimov, Resto, beer, craft beer, brewing, homebrew