Yeah, that Westmalle is something else.


I scored a bottle of Westvletern Abt 12 in the auction. Was cheaper than a trip to Belgium and for a good cause.

Is that Kasteel an 'aged' beer? Bierwinkel currently has their 2004 and 2005 cellar aged at the castle. They're 'Doubles' though, so I wait until the shop owner has tasted it and gave me an indication of how sweet it still is.

For a birthday party we were at the Hertog Jan brewery last week. I hardly drink any lager anymore, so when we got to taste their beer at the end of the tour, it tasted exceptionally bitter. So with all the hops in IPA's, they still taste sweeter than a lager. Weird.

Few weeks ago I had this only managed to scan the wrapping now:

Very delish and.... I got to taste that Nelson Sauvin hop NCR mentioned a few pages back. It's lovely indeed.

Last week in Amsterdam had a tasting of barrel conditioned real ales. Many of the brews were IPA style. De Molen, Ramses, Klein Duimpje and 5 other brewers made 6 different beers (one beer was a co-op of 3 brewers). I only had a few sips from the Klein Duimpje 'Dark Pale Ale', from my mates glass that he was drinking when I arrived. Second KD brew I'm not too fond of. When the first brew from Ramses was finished, they had a second variety. Yum! One of the beers were 'English style'-low alcohol: 4.5% but very tasty. Proof that a tasty beer doesn't have to knock you out after two pints. Another one was 10% though, so at the end of the evening I was pretty thrashed, which made the 3 hour train ride to the Hertog Jan brewery the next day quite an ordeal.

For people who can read Dutch, the 'official' review of the Barrel conditioned real ales weekend: http://www.indewildeman.nl/index.php?doc=nieuws#post1

Shaytan,
IPAs tend to have more malt than your typical lager, thus, more relative sweetness underneath the hops. That's probably why you detect more sweetness in an IPA.

In regards to the lower-alcohol beers:
There's a few breweries around here making session (essentially means low-alcohol) IPAs. Had one from Pizza Port that is very good. Avery makes a great pilsner called Joe's that's in the same vein. They call it a pilsner for lovers of IPAs.
As much as I like the malt monsters, it's nice to have a beer or two and be able to keep working.

feels like I've been sober for 5-6 years.

Is that Kasteel an 'aged' beer? Bierwinkel currently has their 2004 and 2005 cellar aged at the castle. They're 'Doubles' though, so I wait until the shop owner has tasted it and gave me an indication of how sweet it still is.

DOESNT CUVEE MEAN AGED?
IT STILL IS SWEET BUT IT IS NOT THE COCA COLA TASTE OF THE REGULAR DUBBEL
5 EURO AT MITRA

AH CUVEE MEANS BARREL

BUT I KEEP GETTING DIFFERENT KINDS OF INFORMATION ON THE KASTEEL. FROM WHAT I UNDERSTAND IT IS AGED BUT IT IS AGED BOTTLED NOT BARRELED.

STILL GOOD THOUGH.

AND THEN THERE IS THIS, I GUESS THAT EXPLAINS THE CONFUSION, THE BREWER WANTS THE TASTE FROM THE 10 YEAR CELLARED BROWN BEER :

All inspiration came from their underground cellars. Especially the flavours of 10 years old Kasteel Dark were their inspiration.
An aged beer that developed those wonderful madeira and port flavours.
It is exactly those aged flavours that had to be achieved with this new beer, and this was done with just a normal brewing process, without ageing !

IPA's tend to have more of everything. Both the hop and the sugars from the malt (giving a high alcohol content) act as a preservative allowing it to survive a long sea journey from Britain to the Colonies (India) I've noticed that alot of the Australian IPA's and the American IPA's (along with new age stuff like the Brew Dog IPA) are much less malty than a traditional IPA.

I had an interesting conversation with a baker about sugars acting as a preservative this weekend, apparently baked goods with lots of golden syrup or treacle in them have a far longer shelf life than say a sponge cake or similar. He was convinced high malt beers were similar, even though in the case of cakes, the sugars are not converted to alcohol via fermentation. And that it's not just the alcohol content of boiled fruit puddings and christmas cakes that give them the ability to last for months without going stale.

Shaytan, what did you think of the Nelson Sauvin? I'm going to Melbourne in 2 weeks and I'm going to swing by that brewery and pick up a case or 2 of their ESB just to make sure I like it!

I liked that Nelson Sauvin hop. Nice and brittle.

Are you coming to Roadburn, NCR? Bring some stuff, if you do!

Couldn't make it to Falling Rock on Thursday due to a combo of insufficient funds and time. Hope the auction was a success though.

I will be on the lookout for that Westmalle next time I make it out to the liquor store.

Just to clarify, it's not that the American IPAs are less malty, it's that their flavor is more hop-pronounced. There is at least as much malt as in a traditional IPA, meaning the ABV is 5.5% or much higher. The Americans have added a LOT more hops so the IBUs are much, much higher than is traditional. Therefore, you have beers that SEEM less malty, but are not.

Can't say shit about Australian IPAs as I haven't had one, but I'd love to give it a go.

Speaking of hops,
forgot to mention I had several Pliny The Youngers today. I kinda wondered what all the hype was about, but I can say it's definitely a damn good beer. If you like hops, seek it out. It only comes out once a year, but it's worth the wait.

If you happen to be in Denver next Saturday, come by when we open as we'll be putting our remaining kegs on tap. They should last about 30 minutes or more.

I wish I was coming to Roadburn! I can barely afford hitting up Soundwave in Melbourne this year.



I guess it's relative. I haven't tried many American "American" IPA's but most of the local mainstream brews are clones of the Brewdog "American" Punk IPA and generally hit around the 5.5-6 ABV mark. The one exception is Jamieson Beast IPA, which according to their website is meant to be done in the style of North West US IPA and is 8%ABV. I found the version I tried about a year ago to be too malty and not hoppy enough and tasted more like an English IPA, but their website reckons they've changed the recipe so who knows what it's like now. Apparently it's easily available in Melbourne, so I might have to grab a box in the name of research while I'm down there for High on Fire/soundwave.

I've often thougt about setting up an international beer exchange on the old board, but I dunno if it'd work too well given the success of the secret satan. It's also a bit of a lottery sending booze by post into the US, although I've done it before without the recipient having to pay import duties. Just an idea I guess!

Sounds like they might not have enough hops. The IBUs (basically, the amount of bitterness derived from the hops) should be anywhere from 70-100+ for an 8% beer.
Hopefully, I can make it over to Australia and taste them for myself.

In general, the Americans have added more hops to traditional styles. In doing so, they've influenced the Belgians, in particular, to add more hops and hops that haven't been aged. Traditionally, the Belgians used 3 or 4 year-old hops which still have their preservative qualities but don't have a lot of bitterness. I'm guessing it will take a little time for some American brews to really get in the Australian market and, perhaps, influence the brewers there.

trying the Bear Republic Red Rocket Ale tonight..... Looking forward to it. Just started seeing the Bear Republic beers in my hood the past month or so. I really liked the Racer 5 I.P.A. I tried for the first time last week.

I'm a big fan of the Younger.
Just never see it, but when I do, it's mandatory 2 pints.
If its out now, I will keep my lids peeled for it at the local fine beer establishments.

Yeah, Ryno,
go look for it now. It comes out once a year and now is the time to find it.

I really liked this year's batch; beautifully balanced with a nice hop presence.
Russian River makes great beer and I thank 'em for it.

Had a few pints of Black Raven's Wisdom Seeker DIPA. Really good like all the beers from Black Raven, my favorite from them being there Bourbon Barrel Aged Scotch Ale. Going to have to try and track down some of that Plinty the Younger sounds really good.

My main goal for being in San Francisco next month is to track down some Pliny the Elder. The Younger is the limited stuff? Probably won't be available. But I hope I can at least try the Elder, so much hype about it.
Does anyone know if I can carry a case of beer on the airplane as my carry-on? I'd bring a case back to Ohio if I can.

I'd say 99.9999999% sure that you can't bring bottled beer on an airplane as carry-on. You can check it in, but no carry-on.

Last time I flew State-side, I had a sealed bag from the duty free in Schiphol with my whisky, and I had to check it after customs/immigration. Of course they couldn't tell me this before I checked my suitcase.... stupid pencil pushers.

You're only allowed to bring a very small amount of any liquid on a plane. That huge smile that you'd see on the faces of the security staff as you walk up with your case of beer would be them acknowledging that their plans for after work just got a little bit more interesting.

As has been said, you can't bring the beer onboard the plane with you. I'd get a styrofoam carton to store it in. If it's just a plain case, consider it gone.

Fredj,
Pliny The Younger is only available on draft and for a very, very limited time, so search online before you head out.

Drinking this right now. I realize I am not a huge Imperial Stout fan, a little too heavy/rich for me, but of the Imperial Stouts that I've tried I'd say this is my favorite of the bunch.

3 way IPA battle!



Ranked in order of preference

1. Brew Dog Punk IPA. (Scotland)
6% abv. More of an American IPA style this one. Citrus and passionfruit flavours, right up front indicate to me that the hop used is one of the new world hops, maybe Chinook. It's about 70 IBU, so it kills the malt sweetness associated with English style IPAs. I like it, but the resiny after taste is a bit cloying. This one is a 6 percenter, which apparently they don't make any more. Or have recently re-started.

2. James Squire's IPA. (NSW, Australia)
5.6%abv. Not quite as hoppy as the Brew Dog, maybe 60 IBU's and uses the very old world Fuggles (because it says on the bottle) hop which is floral and earthy. It's still very much upfront on the palate though, and is noticably more malty. It's probably the best balanced of these three and a good halfway house between the American Style IPA's and English IPA's.

3. Gage Roads Sleeping Giant IPA. (WA, Australia)
5.4%abv. Not hoppy enough. Don't know what they've used. This is a beer made to sell to the fizzy pisswater lager crowd who fancy something more exotic. The hop bitterness is only evident on the back palate and lots of malt up front. Not really an IPA at all. That Adnam's Broadside Red Ale I wrote about earlier is closer to an IPA than this, although if you settled in for a session on it, it'd be ok. It's an IPA for people who aren't IPA fans.

I'm gonna cook up a bunch of mussels in a minute using the Punk IPA for the sauce. Sacrelige!

Had a wonderful sour tonight from the most unlikely of sources:
Coors.

Yep, you read that correctly. Coors.
I don't know all the details but it was a blend of some 4 month old and some 22 month old beer from different barrels (not sure what kind of barrels) with cherries added. Not overly acidic or tart, but lots of subtle, interesting flavors going on. I would buy it, if it were available, on a regular basis. Great beer.