Please contribute: Your Notes on **Beers New To You**

[kpo]

My recent discovery:

I recently picked up "The Midas Touch" brewed by Dogfishhead Craft Brewery, "America's most extraordinary and adventuresome small brewery," according to Michael Jackson.

Upon excavation of The real King Midas' Tomb ( the man who inspired the legend) in central Turkey, U. of Pennsylvania achaeologists discovered a ram's-head drinking set in the iron-age tomb. Inside was residue from the drink, drunk at his grand funerary feast 2700 years ago, and which was molecularly analysed;... now Dogfishhead makes the brew from barley, honey, white muscat grapes and saffron, as found in the drinking set.

My notes: sweet, very honey-ey; sticks to the glass like a port, tastes delightfully warm and smooth. I'm not a conniseur, so not sure if it's the grapes or the saffron that make it so sweetly, richly rounded, but whichever, it's a beautiful golden Ale.

Check it out!

[toneyc]

Last weekend, I tried "Abbot Ale" in the can with the gas widget. It was very good, very smooth and creamy, almost like a tall glass of milk. When poured from the can, it was about 90% head but settled quickly to a nice thick blanket. It was a little darker and a little more flavorful than the Boddington's that I tried the weekend before, also in the widget can. I also tried "Whitbread Pale Ale" in 12 ounce (I think) bottles. Coming right after the Abbot Ale, it was a sharper, slightly bitter tasting beer. It was good, but I can't say that I liked it enough to try it again.

The weekend before, along with the Boddington's, I had some "McEwan's Scotch Ale" which I liked muchly. It was thick and dark, slightly sweet, with a nice malty head. After a few of those, my wife had to wake me up from my chair where I was snoring.

The weekend before those, I tried "Old Speckled Hen" and "McEwan's IPA", neither of which did I like. Both were thin and watery with almost no head at all, much like weak tea.

The weekend previous to those was an IPA weekend. I had Lagunitas IPA, Flying Dog Brewery's Snake Dog IPA, and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. All were excellent! I was rather annoyed to find when I got home that one of the bottles of Snake Dog IPA had been emptied and recapped.

This coming weekend I will tap my first homebrewed lager, Austin Homebrew's Lawnmower Lager, and a Celis (RIP) Pale Bock clone, and continue enjoying a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone.

:) Toney.

[tavernjef]

Had some Hale's Wee Heavy Winter Ale out of Washington.
It's some pretty good stuff, again I found myself raising my eyebrows and going, "mmmm, that's some good sh*t!"
Almost black in color, with a nice round finish, not to heavy, although the name states that it is which I was expecting and sort of threw me for a loop but was good non the less.
Good malty taste with a caramel feel at the finish.
I'll look for it again next season.

[bsardin]

I finally broke down and spent the money to try Sameul Smith's Imperial Stout (while I feel Sameul Smith makes so damn fine beer I fee it is a tad over priced.) Ir had a nice smooth coffee with cream taste and left me with a warm feeling inside. While delicious I couldn't justify spending that much money all the time when there are more moderate priced Stouts that I like even better i.e. Mackeson Tripple stout, Beamish Irish stout , etc.

[batkins]

Terminal Gravity IPA........yummmmm......This stuff is great!! :D

[Richard English]

Quote "...I feel Sameul Smith makes so damn fine beer I fee it is a tad over priced.) ..."

Believe it or believe it not, in the UK A-B Busweiser costs more than Sam Smiths. In fact, it costs more than most UK beers!

And, of course, there's not even the excuse that it has to come across the Atlantic - it's brewed in Mortlake, London. At least Sam Smith has the transport costs as an excuse.

A-B's only excuse is that they have managed to con a large number of otherswise sensible English drinkers into paying a premium price for an inferior product.

The UK is now A-B's second largest market!

[bsardin]

I am not denying that there is some cost in exporting. I come to expect that when buying beer. But $10 for a 4 pack as compared to Mackeson's $7 for a 6 pack is quite a difference especially since they are being exported from the same country. As for A-B prices being high in the UK I tend to agree with you. It is nothing more then A-B trying to con consumers into believing that they sale a quality product. Which in my opinion they don't.

[Richard English]

Don't forget, though, that Sam Smith's is a 7% abv beer whereas Mackeson is only 3%! That's a pretty big difference in strength (and alcohol tax). (that's not to denigrate the flavour of Mackeson, though. It's a good drink notwithstanding its strength)

I suspect, too, the Mackeson may be brewed in the USA since it is now owned by Interbrew - although that's only a guess. Certainly, though, their export costs will be less since Interbrew is a huge multi-national brewer whereas Sam Smith is a relatively small one from just one town - Tadcaster in Yorkshire.

If you like stout, there's a Young's Oatmeal stout that I hear good reports of but can't try as it is only brewed for export to the USA! Even though I live less than 15 miles from the brewery I'd have to fly the Atlantic to drink it!

Try also Lion Stout from Sri Lanka - an 8% wonder that puts most others well into the shade!

[tavernjef]

A-B has the second largest market in UK. What the....?

How in the hell did that happen?

Sorry to here it, very sorry.
:confused:

[bsardin]

I have had the Young's Oatmeal Stout both on tap and in bottles. On tap it is one of my favorite stouts. In bottles it is also very good but does not have the creamy taste it has on tap.

[Richard English]

Tavernjef.

They managed that in much the same way as they managed in the USA. By aggressive and clever promotion aimed at uninformed drinkers.

Obviously they hope to gain the same kind of monopoly that they had in the States.

One of the really clever things they've done is made sure that "Bud" is available in every bar in the UK by offering massive incentives and huge profit margins. Most hotel, theatre and similar bars have NO UK beers at all - but you can get Budweiser everywhere!

It's a disgrace, but sadly a completely legal disgrace!

[tavernjef]

R.E.

Well, those marketing folks sure know their shit. Thats amazing that in some places you can't even get your own countries beer.
Thats just plain wrong.

Don't want to sound like some patriotic goof, but if the UK or any other country tried doing that in any small bar, hotel, or restaurant here in America, it would propably get blown up.

Hey,I love the UK.
they've given us some greats like Young's Double Chocolate, Thomas Hardy, Hen's Tooth & Tanners Jack,
Greene King's Old Suffolk, Fuller's, Theakson,
John Courage, and a beer that can be found in
nearly every bar now across America, Bass & Co.

Again, sorry to hear it.:confused:

[Richard English]

I suspect it's the same in hotel bars everywhere in the world.

I have rarely found decent beer in hotel, airport, theatre or other bars of this nature since they simply stock what's easy and profitable for them, secure in their conviction that those using their facilities have no choice. They're wrong, of course, and there are many, like myself, who either leave and go elsewhere or just go without.

Thank goodness that the J D Wetherspoon chain now have the franchise at many major UK airports and every J D Wetherspoon serves Real Ale!

Don't get me wrong - we have a better choice of wines and beers in the UK than just about anywhere else in the world. It's just that hotel and similar bars buy beers from the mega-breweries - of which A-B is the most mega. You can therefore get the likes of Bud, Carling, Heineken - just about everwhere - but you will find it difficult to get the beer of the country.

In the US in any hotel bar you will find Bud - but how many of the other 1500 beers will you find? Not many, I'll bet!

[batkins]

I never thought I would find good beer in your generic bars, theaters, etc. Then I moved to the Pacific Northwest USA. Oh my, what a wonderful selection!! Even places like Applebee's or Olive Garden have Alaskan Amber, Black Butte Porter, Full Sail Amber, Widmer Hefeweizen, etc. on tap. Not unusual to find places with 10 or 20 beers on tap. You never find that in Florida, where I am from. The more I think of it, the more I think I live in BEERVANA!

[b3s]

i'm trying lakefront brewery bock for the first time. this is a bit ironic considering that for 15 years i lived within 30 minutes of the brewery and never had the bock, and now i live 2000 miles away and am having it for the first time. actually, i'm not usually a fan of the bock style...but living 2000 miles away and seeing a lakefront brewery in the store, well, had to have it :D

anyway, it's a nice, deep, amberish, brown-ish, black with a nice malty aroma, but very little hops aroma. head retention is poor (ok, non-existent).

while the beer is on the palate the beer has a nice bitter-sweet flavor. it is a little sour going down, but i attribute that to the style (and one of the reasons i tend not to like it).

overall, if i had to drink a bock, the lakefront brewery bock would be among those i'd consider (i still prefer their dark and holiday beers, though).

[b3s]

went to a local brewpub last night and sampled some of that pre-treated water richard discussed in another thread :D i'll write about the brewpub in the places to drink forum, but i thought i'd put my tasting notes here.

the pub is ironworks brewery in lakewood, co. for most of the evening we drank their ipa, but i did have a glass of wheat after dinner to cleanse the palate and i sampled their stout.

the also brew an esb, a red, a porter, a brown, and several more varieties that appear to have been lost in my cmos.

ironworks ipa
bitter, but with a good flavor. a little cloudy. no hops bouquet. flat. decent head on the beer (in fact a nice, thick, yeasty head), but no staying power. not a bad ipa, but nothing to write home about. it appears that the majority of the clientelle were drinking the ipa. this is what we drank all night long.

ironworks wheat
like most wheats, very light. decent flavor, though. cloudy like most wheats. very cleansing after spicy wings. for a wheat it was quite excellent, but i'd probably do better with a blue moon from the bottle.

ironworks stout
i only had a small bar sample of the stout because i asked what kind of stout it was and the barmaid was flustered. it was a coffee stout, a form of the brew that i can't stand (irony...i'll drink many pints of guinness in an evening and several pots of coffee during the day -- you'd think combining the two would be a treat for me). of the coffee stouts, this one is quite interesting: nice hops boquet and a very citrusy flavor...it's just the coffee aftertaste of that stout variety is not my pint of beer.

[b3s]

tried dogfishhead ale last night...bought a six-pack of it. all i can say is blech. i do not like it at all, and i do not know how i will finish the six-pack. my fianceé declared it crap as well.

also tried mcewan ipa. ok, but not great. did not enjoy it as much as some of the other ales i've had recently.

i am tremendously happy that i got that 8-pack of guinness draught cans!

[Tweek]

I had a similar experience with the Hair of the Dog Adam. I didnt care for this at all. It had a peaty tabacoo flavor to it that in my opinion belongs in an Islay Scotch Whiskey, not a beer. I didnt finish my pint.


Unibroue Trois Pistoles on the other hand, wow what a great beer. This beer is the reason that I finally forgave the Canadians for Bryan Adams. This has a great malty profile with chocolate and berry, maybe rasberries? strong ale at 9% - Dark wholesome goodness. Thank you Unibroue!

[kpo]

Originally posted by b3s
tried dogfishhead ale last night...bought a six-pack of it. all i can say is blech. i do not like it at all, and i do not know how i will finish the six-pack. my fianceé declared it crap as well
....
i am tremendously happy that i got that 8-pack of guinness draught cans!

So, which Dogfish Head beer was it? I didn't know any of them came in six packs in the first place... It sounds like you're just not into hops, which will make it tough to enjoy the IPAs, much less Dogfish's intense brews.

I'm a huge fan of Dogfish Head "90-minute-IPA", and I've just learned that they recently made a "120-minute-Shock-and-Awe" ale. Gotta find that!

[b3s]

um, i love hops. not all hops, but i do love hops and hoppy beers.

well, the store i went to here in denver gets dogfishhead in sixers. i recall the bottle saying "dogfishhead ale", but when i get home i'll look and see what else it says. i also recall something about maple and other adjuncts.

the beer itself just didn't sit right with me...perhaps my palate is just off.

[batkins]

I tried the 90Min IPA last week. I loved it!! Now I also tried the Fish Tale Ales Amber, it was BAD.

[b3s]

it is dogfish head immort ale...and i think it tastes terrible and smells worse.

i'll give the ipa a try if i see it. my local carries the india pale brown and the chickory stout, but after trying this first one i'm leery.

[batkins]

I've got 2 World Wide Stouts and 2 Chickory Stouts in the cooler. Probably gonna sample both next week, maybe during the NCAA Finals Monday. I'll be sure to chime in with my thoughts.
Cheers,
Bill

[MmmBeer]

Yeah, the 90 minute rocks. Got a four pack, drank 2, cellared 2. Strong hops bouquet, initial taste is like chewing on hops, then smooths out in the back of the mouth.

Also picked up a sixer of their indian brown ale. good beer, not great. full, round flavor with caramel and mild amount of hops.

Unfortunately I also got a 6 pack of there Raison D'Etre. Not very good. Sweet and plummy, too sweet and plummy. Syrupy, estery, and alcohol-tasting. Finished a little like wet cardboard. 4 of these went to the cellar to see if time can "fix" the flavor. I'm not holding my breath.

[kpo]

Originally posted by MmmBeer
... I also got a 6 pack of there Raison D'Etre. Not very good. Sweet and plummy, too sweet and plummy. Syrupy, estery, and alcohol-tasting. Finished a little like wet cardboard. 4 of these went to the cellar to see if time can "fix" the flavor. I'm not holding my breath.


Hmmm. I just had a pack of the Raison D'Etre and loved it! The nose was huge and dark; great sweet, round initial taste; wonderful mix of flavors - easily balanced until the finish, where a sort of plum-brandy warmth settled back.
I'm going to go get some more!