Featured Beer, week ending 4/17

Believe it or not, I am actually trying to drink less beer. I don't have to have one every day. Or, if I do, I should be conscious of what else I eat/drink that day. Like, from July to April, I was on a tear of averaging two beers a day. And, while it was a lot of fun, my stomach and my health deserve a little better treatment. The new job actually has a lot to do with this. When you only have about 4 hours a day to be functional, I want to be able to enjoy my beer, and the after effects. I don't want to drink a beer and then have to worry about prepping the coffee maker the next day. A buzzkill, if you will.

Who? Cantillon Bruocsella 1900 Grand Cru, Brussels, Belgium

What? Straight (Unblended) Lambic, 5% abv

When? 4/14/11

Where? Craft Beer Cellar, Belmont, MA

Hype 9 / 10: Beth had to be the one to tell me how good and rare this stuff is. Now, I am not naturally a sour a drinker like she is. But, I have learned to love it over time. So, when she came home from work with this bottle, I thought more of the Brueghel artwork than the beer inside the bottle. But, once I started working a the little beer store, and the following shipment of Cantillon that arrived, I learned how special this stuff could be. And all without even tasting it. So, shame on me, I guess, for not really understand that I had something special for a while.

Taste 14 / 15: So, not knowing what I was tasting, I didn't know what to expect. Now, this beer isn't a punch in the mouth like some beers, but this is a beer that has to be appreciated for the subtleties. It's not carbonated. It's three years old. It is very gentle, like a fine wine. And, it has to drank at room temperature. Any chill to this would kill any flavor. And you have to sip it slow, so the flavor actually lasts. I mean, if you really want to drink this beer to enjoy, you have to go slow. This is not the type of beer that you can drink fast.

Memorability 15 / 15: It was sitting in our "on deck circle" for about four months. So we had a long time to appreciate the aesthetic value of the bottle. But, when I learned more about the brewery, I was actually afraid to drink it. It had to be a special evening. I mean, what better than on my anniversary. But the real lesson was about lambic in general. I knew, somewhere in the back of my head, know that lambics were a blend of both old and young beers. But this is the only readily (and I use that term very loosely) commercially available just aged lambic. The young will usually bring in a more powerful taste, though delicious in it's own right. This is what you have before you blend it. And I think that's pretty cool and I don't know why more people don't actually sell this version.

Environment 4 / 5: Yes, I know it was my anniversary, and it was very special. But I had to work the next day, and I tried my best to drink my glass for as long as possible. I think I had it for about an hour. But, when you have the alarm clock in the back of your head, it takes away from what it could have been. Is this the beer's fault? No, but it does leave a mark on my experience.

X-Factor 5 / 5: This beer brought out a new side of the beer lover in me. Like I never really had to search for so much history and taste subtleties in a beer. And that's really what I want to be doing now that I am not directly in beer any more. I want to challenged in beer. And I want to know as much as my good friends that are still in the business. Now, I may not be able to know first or taste everything, but sure as hell, I will appreciate everything that I do get to have.

Score: 47 / 50, A

Featured Beer, week ending 4/10

I am hoping with a set weekend, and I hope to be set for a while, that I get into a habit of doing the same thing every week at roughly the same time. A little CPR back into the blog.

Who? New Belgium Brewery

Vrienden (Allagash Collaboration)

What? Spice/herb/vegetable beer, 8.5%

When? 4/6/11

Where? On The Rocks Liquor, Lawrence, KS

Hype 7 / 10: This really only registered for me when Beth started talking about it. The first time I heard about it, I was all, "Oh, New Belgium. We won't ever see that." yeah, I know Allagash is in our backyard here, but I never let myself get excited about it. And I walked right past it when Beth shouted out, "Look at this!". So, it took me a while to actually get excited about it, after I already bought it. And then, strangely enough, Allagash releas

ed it the day that we were drinking it in Kansas.

Taste 14 / 15: In retrospect, the hype may make me rate the taste higher that I initially thought. But, I will have to admit that this is my first endive beer. Though I am now getting familiar with hibiscus and it's flavor profile (thanks Goose Island's Fluer!), I feel that there is a "false" sour beer aspect to it. Kinda a quick fix for those that don't have time to make a real lambic. I could be way off. With that said, I really want to try it again, and perhaps one from the Allagash bottle. I becoming very hipster about New Belgium, sorry.

Memorability 15 / 15: I think that I will remember the audacity of the New Belgium bottle verses the simplicity of Allagash. I really don't drink that many fruit beers, but when you throw a bunch of bretts into the mix, then things do get really interesting (which takes away from the "fake" sour taste I was talking about. Anyway, though, I tend to remember brewed-once beers. you're lucky to have them when you can.

Environment 5 / 5: When is having a beer a bad experience? Well, I am sure that maybe I will come across a time or two, but again, this was a beer that was a surprise on vacation.

X-Factor 4 / 5: Looking up this beer while I type this, I can't (quickly) find if the two beers are different. New Belgium promotes bretts and endives, Allagash promoted dandelions and elderberries. And they labeled with different ABVs, 9.3% being from Allagash. So, did I drink a different beer from the one that was available here? I don't know, and I am kinda confused about the whole thing. Also, since I am using Beer Judge classification, they don't have the Wild Ale category that I am looking for. I mean, there is no doubt in my mind that it can be classified as a fruit/veggie beer, but with all those bretts, you would pass it off as a wild beer like BA did. I advocate (sorry for the pun) a standard for beer classification, much like a library. Just sayin'

Score: 45 / 50, A-

Featured Beer, week ending 4/3

Now that I am out of the beer business, I suppose my learning will have to be more active then passive. So, I'm thinking maybe I will talk about a beer I drank recently, and why I like it. Especially since my new job has a set schedule, maybe this will work? But, I am not really into the technically of enjoying beer. I enjoy the more subjective approach. My grading shows as much.

Who? Boulevard Brewery Tank 7

What? Saison, 8% abv

When? 4/3/11

Where? On The Rocks Liquor, Lawrence, KS

Hype 9 / 10: I had had this beer in 2009, and brought it home from Kansas. I had enjoyed it so much that I have been craving and talking about it so much, that I simply had to get it next time I was in town.

Taste 13 / 15: Sometimes, you will find a saison that funky, which is great, or overly yeasty, which is fine, too. This had almost a sweetness masking the other characteristics that I would have expected from any other saison. The body was right, the feel was right. I didn't remember it not being as bitter. Perhaps the batch was different from the one I had in 2009. It's hard to make a good beer that is different from what people expect the style to be. But, it was definitely good.

Memorability 14 / 15: Obviously this beer I now have a little bit of history with, so there is that going for it. And, now that I know that I can expect a little bit different of a saison, I will reach for it again next time I see it.

Environment 5 / 5: I was drinking this at my sister's house, with my brother-in-law who is very much on the verge of being a beer geek. He is already brewing his own beer, so it is exciting to bring drink with him and talk about all the things that makes beer good.

X-Factor 5 / 5: Perhaps it was the long awaitedness of this beer, or that it was really cool to find a great beer store that was new in Lawrence. Or perhaps to find it available in small bottles, which means I could drink it over a few days, unlike last time. Or that I was simply on vacation, drinking beer.

Score: 46 / 50, A-