Whats In The Glass (commercial)

[Spork]

I'm really glad I got the White Rabbit dark ale, because if I'd have tried their White Ale first I wouldn't have bought the dark. The White ale is really not to my taste at all. In a word - insipid.
Luckily I still have the Holgate "Temptress" chocolate porter to cleanse the palate, and a James Squire IPA in the 'fridge, just in case...

 

[Muggus]

It's been a while, so I thought i'd make it worthwhile
Battle of the Tripels!

Westmalle Trappist Trippel vs Tripel Karmaliet
Both amazing beers.
Both of which i've tried many times before
Both are serious contenders to being the best Tripels in the world.

So a side by side comparison certainly would be nice...

But i'm not content with that...

The twist?

Both are 5 years past their Best Before!




Results?

The Karmaliet had obvious signs of oxidation from the word go; browned "apple juice" sort of colour, no head retention, low carbonation. Yet the flavour was still deeply complex with lots of phenolic spice and rich bready malt, with the sherry-like undertones of an old beer.

The Westmalle...words can't explain how well this beer aged! It had hardly changed...more than 5 years down the track! Stunning golden beer that holds a big dense white head that still retains the unbelievably complex spicy, floral, somewhat cheesy aroma, with a rich velvety and beautifully balanced palated packed full of seemingly untainted benchmark Tripel characters with an amazingly clean finish for such an old beer.

No contest really!


Having said that, my thoughts lead me to believe the Karmaliet may have seen some harsher days than the Westmalle, storagewise, because fresh they are very comparable beer.

 

[Tony]

how did they stack up against a fresher bottle mate?

I have had the Westmalle Trappist Trippel before and when it arived from Slow Beer it was 6 months over its used by.

It was awsome from memory but i always wondered........

But belgian beers never go bad do they....... they just change

 

[Muggus]

I would rate the Westmalle just as good as a fresh bottle...I was blown away by how aromatic it still was. Every beer i've ever tried after 3 years in the bottle tends to lose mosts of its hop aroma and develops alot of secondary bottle character.
This way still quite a delicate yet rich beer if anything, i'd gained complexity.

The Karmaliet on the otherhand, like I mentioned, obvious oxidation. Had similiar phenolic/yeast derived character of the orginal beer, which is fantastic, but you get those competing oxidised dried fruit/sherry/acetaldehyde characters in there, and the texture was just not the same as the Westmalle...which, once again, was amazing.


Belgian strong ales, of all sorts, are amazing for aging. Next year I finally get to crack open a 2002 Chimay Bleu!
I've also got a 2007...combined with the 2012 that should be an amazing experience!

 

[Spork]

Did someone say Chimay?

2009.
Sipping it as I post this.
$22.95 a bottle - but hey, you only live once right? People think nothing of spending that on a bottle of fermented grape juice, so why should a fine beer be any different? That said I don't plan on making this my daily swill - unless of course I can replicate it for $20 a dozen...
"mellower" than a Stubby of Chimay Bleu, not sure if thats just because it's been bottle conditioned for longer or what. Wonderfully complex flavour. My wife hates all beers, but she tasted this one and warned me she could get to like it...

 

[Pennywise]

Took a drive out to SlowBeer yesterday and grabbed a few beers, a growler of fancy pants for starters

Then Angry Boys Brown Ale

Then this beast, boy was it smokey and rich

 

[bum]

Haven't had the Fancy Pants yet but the other two are among my faves. Nice choices, Pennywise!

 

[outbreak]

Does anyone know where they order their growlers from?

*edit: Slow Beer that is....

 

[Pennywise]

Pretty sure the Fancy Pants ran out yesterday, spewin' cause it's an awesome beer. I've never had an Amber with that much zesty orange/citrus before, it was quite a nice surprise.
The Brown Ale I could have had a session on, a big session, what an easy drinker. I've read some of the reviews on RateBeer for this and quite frankly I don't agree with half/most of them. I didn't get any hot alcohol, or strong molasis, but it was quite nutty & sweet with a slightly bitter finish, not much though.
Seeing Double I was after drinking that puppy, massive peaty/smokey flavor with a big sweet toffee aroma. I couldn't much more than caramel, peat smoke & wood from it & I doubt I could go more than one bottle in a sitting, it's just a massive smack in the mouth. Very nice, but definatly a sipper.

 

[Spork]

Nice enough IPA, but I've had better for cheaper.

 

[Pennywise]

Last night dug into another couple with dinner, the first was a Hopfix, nice beer but very dissapointrd about it's claim, ffs my standard house beers have more hop character. If it was called malty pale ale I would have nothing to complain about, but it is not a "Hopfix". Still, once I got over that I did enjoy the beer

Then an 8 Wired Stout, mmm, this hit the spot. On the tamer end of an RIS, loads of coffee and bitter roast, poured without head really, just a little lacing around the rim, as it warmed it got sweeter. I'm guessing they've used some sort of essence in there as well

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Not much of a head, but gotta love the colour of that ring/lacing. That is one sexy looking gold ring.

Goomba

 

[Pennywise]

I'm glad you didn't call it a brown ring :lol:

 

[Spork]

Interesting brew this one.
Innis and Gunn "Rum Cask Beer". A Wee heavy? 7.4% abv.
Strong aroma, like walking into a brewery housing a distillery. Or is that a distillery with a brewery inside? Unusual tasting brew. Smokey oak, fruity rum and malty biscuity beery flavours all rolled into one. Very little hop taste, but not overly sweet.

Ah, so many beer, so little time...

 

[eamonnfoley]

Nice enough IPA, but I've had better for cheaper.

Might have something to do with the dirty glass !

 

[Tony]

Went into good old uncle Dan's today to get some plonk for the wife and wandered over to the beer wall as always.

I usually look at the imports and think... mmmmm tried them or are not interested but with the growing range of local brews on the wall i thought i would try some i hadnt had before.

First up i saw a Montheiths beer i hadnt seen before........ sounded like nothing special but got one to try.

Its called Single Source and its made with just pilsner malt and Sothern Cross hops and while being nothing to dance about, it was a tops lager and would go in my glass before any of the Aussie copies of euro lagers would. Very clean, with that classic smooth floral lemony sothern cross bitterness. Malt stood up well and i really enjoyed the beer.

Im currently sipping a White Rabbit Dark Ale, believe it or not i havnt tried them before. Its a nice beer that has me burping up yank hops but as with most american styled beers i try...... i find its just missing something....... it needs a oily creamyness from the hops that seems to have been removed in the filters at the brewery. I get that oily creaminess in punk IPA and find LCPA so devoid of any body or physical character its undrinkable.

all in all a nice beer!

 

[beers]

Russian River Blind Pig IPA.
I was skeptical about forking out the $'s for this one as I find most imported IPA's seem to be past their best, but this is in pretty good shape. Nice typical aroma you'd expect from an American IPA, not a whole lot of malt character, dry finish with a firm resiny bitternes. Yum.

 

[Pennywise]

Nowhere near as sour as some of the others I've had but still very enjoyable

 

[argon]

Picked a few beers friday night for something different;
1: St Rogue Dry Hopped Red Ale - Something consistently familiar about a few Rogue Beers. Whether it's the Pacman yeast or the malt they use, but a few of their beers have a familiar aroma/flavour to them. Decent hop aroma, but got more malt aroma than anything. Would have expected a beer that advertises that it has been dry hopped woould have a bigger aroma. A little thin in body (not dry - thin) i expect from travelling in less than ideal conditions. Not bad but won't try again.

2: Murrays Icon2IPA. - (pictured in the glass) Overcarbed and poured way too spritzy into the schooner glass just about gushing up over the edge. Hence had to pour twice to get more than half a glass full and hence stirred up the conditioning yeast. Fairly forgettable beer. Hop aroma and flavour not nearly aggressive enough for a double IPA (assumed?). 7.5% was well hidden though. Not one of the better IPAs i've had. Would come back for another if it wasn't a gusher and not have the yeast.

3: Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Mrzen - Poured a beautiful dark brown/ruby. Aroma was matched with the environment as one of the neighbours had their pot belly stove on and the smoke was barely perceptible outside. Just a subtle smokey/bacony aroma and flavour that didn't linger too long on the palate, that was kind of washed away by some other roasty/toasty caramel malt and supported by just a touch of bitterness. Excellent Rauchbier.


(disclaimer - shitty iphone quality photos. Promise next time i'll bring out the better camera)

 

[Bribie G]

:icon_offtopic: Are pot belly stoves still legal in suburban Brisbane? I'm quite amazed - is Julia going to tax them?