well here I am again. Before I went to work tonight I picked up a couple more Fuller's. I spent the night at work in anticipation of my second experience with the porter. What a difference! I opted to leave the bottles at room temperature, having them in a cooler part of my kitchen as they waited for me. There's that richness! There's the toffee and nuttiness and chocolate and coffee! I don't know if I've got the right hardware.... a traditional pint glass... but it sure does the trick. And well deserved, too, I might add. 700 meals served tonight at the restaurant! It was a long haul, but the treat I knew I had waiting for me at home kept me going. What is it about beer that it always tastes so much better after a hard day at work? All in all, after my second experience with Fuller's, I'd have to say I'm a convert. Time to stock up!
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You're only as good as your last meal.
Want to chat live? look me up on Yahoo! messenger as thekitchenninja and we can go through a pint or two.
love the Westy 8, moreso than the 10. now if I can just find a 12
Did you know there are actually 4 Westy beers? I tried them all at the Kulminator in Antwerp and can honestly say that they all rated in my top ten beers ever (with the 12 battling for first place). I loved the blond (green cap, 5.8%) more than I had expected.
Are you sure there actually is an 8? I have three caps here: blond, 6 and 12. If there are both 10 and 8 as well, that makes 5 (and I know there are only 4).
About the London Porter: the message on the site was for last year, but they've decided to keep 1845 on tap year-round in some pubs, so maybe the same pubs will have London Porter. I'll have a look sometime.
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Some useful sites I think deserve promotion:
For craft-roasted coffee: www.hasbean.co.uk
For European beer: www.beersofeurope.co.uk
For rare beer: www.pitfieldbeershop.co.uk
For quality reviews: www.bottledbeer.co.uk
You don't know if it's still around, do you, Richard?
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Some useful sites I think deserve promotion:
For craft-roasted coffee: www.hasbean.co.uk
For European beer: www.beersofeurope.co.uk
For rare beer: www.pitfieldbeershop.co.uk
For quality reviews: www.bottledbeer.co.uk
I only drank them last winter during their special brew season. I haven't seen it since but the brewer did tell me that they would consider brewing it again if there's the demand.
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Richard English
How many drinkers have you converted to good beer today? ;)
Originally posted by stronk Are you sure there actually is an 8? I have three caps here: blond, 6 and 12. If there are both 10 and 8 as well, that makes 5 (and I know there are only 4).
Both BA and RateBeer have the same 4 listed. Though, the St. Sixtus site makes no mention of the 6 for sale. Gotta love those prices though - a case of Westy 12 for 25.5 euros!
Quote "...All in all, after my second experience with Fuller's, I'd have to say I'm a convert. Time to stock up!..."
The Fuller's Porter is a fine drink - but do try the 1845. To my mind it's the better drink but that's only a matter of taste, of course. But do try it.
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Richard English
How many drinkers have you converted to good beer today? ;)
Originally posted by stronk Did you know there are actually 4 Westy beers? I tried them all at the Kulminator in Antwerp and can honestly say that they all rated in my top ten beers ever (with the 12 battling for first place). I loved the blond (green cap, 5.8%) more than I had expected.
Are you sure there actually is an 8? I have three caps here: blond, 6 and 12. If there are both 10 and 8 as well, that makes 5 (and I know there are only 4).
Stronk, you made me go look, and I was off a bit... (and it says they only have three beers...) I've had the 6 (the blond) and the 8. and in my research I found their website, interesting info here... http://www.sintsixtus.be/eng/index2.html
The Westvleteren "Trappist" is exclusively sold in the abbey from 10 am to 12 am and from 2 pm tot 5 pm.
WARNING: There is no trade on Fridays, Sundays, official holidays, from January 1st to 14th and the week after the third Sunday of September.
Due to the limited production we cannot always sell all kinds of Trappist beer. Just get informed by our beer phone.
Westvleteren Trappist is only sold to individual customers. Every customer promises not to sell the beer to others.
One can drink the beer in the meeting centre 'De Vrede', in front of the abbey. In this room visitors are informed about the brewery and the brewing process.
All accept the lager beer, Trappist beer can be conserved for years. If given time, the beer continues ripening.
Bottles should be kept in vertical position in a dark place, in a temperature between 12°C and 16 °C.
Well, I categorically have (in front of me as I type [in fact, on my keyboard, making it fairly difficult to type]) a green 5.8% 'blond' cap, a red 6.2% '6' cap and a yellow 10.2% '12' cap.
I have been reading up at bottledbeer.co.uk (my favourite rating site) and have found this explanation, a comment on the 'Westvleteren 6 green cap':
I am surprised that nobody has yet found time to praise this beer. Responding to the growth in popularity of blonde beers, WV has elected to drop their earlier dark (Dubbel?) offering at approx. 6% and replace it with this BCA blonde. It is a lovely beer and very highly recommended. Unlike their dark beers, the WV folks recommend consumption within 12 months, although it will probably keep well for several years. Very rare, WV beers can nevertheless be found (sometimes) at the monastery itself and purchased in 24bt case quantities. When the monastery sales outlet is closed or out-of-stock, 6-packs can be purchased at the cafe across the road (In de Vrede) at higher prices.
This suggests to me that I was lucky enough to try the older version of Westvleteren 6 (the dubbel, red cap) and the newer version (blond, green cap). The former may have been discontinued, bringing the total down to 3.
This is a fairly plausible explanation, as the Kulminator has a staggering collection of rare vintage beers.
about London porter:
How do we get the message across that there is the demand? I could try e-mailing them, but I didn't get an answer the last time I tried that.
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Some useful sites I think deserve promotion:
For craft-roasted coffee: www.hasbean.co.uk
For European beer: www.beersofeurope.co.uk
For rare beer: www.pitfieldbeershop.co.uk
For quality reviews: www.bottledbeer.co.uk
Quote "...about London porter:
How do we get the message across that there is the demand? I could try e-mailing them, but I didn't get an answer the last time I tried that..."
I should try again. I have found them to be good correspondents. Let me know by PM or email if you get no joy and I'll try to track down the head brewer's email.
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Richard English
How many drinkers have you converted to good beer today? ;)
An update on the availability of London Porter in the UK (for the few UK residents browsing these boards): it is now (11/11/04) available in Sainsbury's as part of an assorted 4-pack.
__________________
Some useful sites I think deserve promotion:
For craft-roasted coffee: www.hasbean.co.uk
For European beer: www.beersofeurope.co.uk
For rare beer: www.pitfieldbeershop.co.uk
For quality reviews: www.bottledbeer.co.uk
Kitchen Ninja--I f you can get it in Ontario, I recommend the Deschutes Black Butte Porter as a very different Porter to try. It's a little more accessible somehow than the Fullers London Porter--less imposing coffee and bitter chocolate flavors, not that there's anything wrong with that.
Funny about the Westy Blonde--i've never had one but I have a semi knock-off in primary fermentation right now--I sort of reverse engineered the recipe Dann Paquette posted for 7 barrels on Beer Advocate, we'll see how it comes out--Belgian Pils, Belgian Pale, a little Biscuit, a little carapils, and a pound of corn sugar in a 5 gallon batch....
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