Return of the Christmas Beers (Beth)

We finally drank the beers we got each other for Christmas...we actually planned meals around them.

Last night was Kasteel Rouge, paired with bleu-cheese dried-cherry turkey meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and salad (spring greens, tomatoes, onions, dried cherries, and a white wine vinaigrette).
The first time I tried Kasteel Rouge was at Beer Advocate's Belgian Beer Fest in 2007. I remember how impressed I was to find a dark beer with cherries. Yeah, well, apparently my tastes have matured since then! I've been to Belgium again, another Belgian beer festival, and tried a lot more cherry-based beers...this is not a star, to me, anymore. It tasted...well...like cherry cough syrup. Overly sweet and syrupy in texture. Just not my thing anymore.

The food, actually, wasn't cherry enough to hold up to the hit of cherries. The meatloaf, done in the crockpot, was super dry...my fault as I started it cooking about 12 hours before we ate it. I have a biiiiig crockpot, and apparently there was just not enough food for being in there so long (I usually cook huge beef or pork roasts in my crockpot on days I work, not a pound of ground turkey). Next time I'd do the covered dish within the crockpot trick. Anyway, the meatloaf was dry, and did not have any bleu cheese flavor in it, despite using a particularly pungent one. It was so dry that I had to make emergency gravy. Life is tough.
Kasteel Rouge C+
Meatloaf B-
Overall satisfaction: Eh.


Tonight we drank Mikkeller's Santa's Little Helper (2009). To pair with the Christmas beer we did a holiday meal...roast turkey breast, Ben's famous stuffing, and bacon-onion green beans, and gravy (I couldn't find any frozen cranberries to make sauce!). Oh my. This meal was good. The beer might have been even better. Hints of cola, cocoa, strong hop presence, excellent maltiness. Great beer. Delicate. The Bruery's 2 Turtle Doves, while excellent, is a wee bit...overpowering. It's in-your-face. This is just a much more subtle and nuanced beer. (Full disclosure: since my last post I've had more Two Turtle Doves on New Year's Eve and we bought another bottle as our first cellaring beer...maybe it'll mellow a bit with age).
Dinner was great, I might add. Ben's stuffing never disappoints, and the butter-sage-shallot rub I used gave the meat so much flavor. Can't wait for leftovers!
Santa's Little Helper A-
Turkey A-
Overall satisfaction: nom nom nom with a side of tryptophan

Christmas Beer

It's been a great beer week!

Ben and I went to The Indepedent for a beer and snack on Wednesday...we split a bottle of The Duchesse of Bourgogne. It was amazing and worth all the hype. Nice balance and interplay between sweet and sour, beautiful color, amazing aroma. Just a genuinely enjoyable beer.

Last night, Christmas Eve, we had pork chops for dinner so I wanted to go fruity. We tried the Sam Adams American Kriek. It was okay...a little too astringent for me, and the interplay between the sweet and sour was less organic than with the Duchesse...more jarring, really. Comparing it so closely to the Duchesse probably made me enjoy it less, actually. A really good shot at a hard beer style, though. The body was lighter, the aroma was fine, just a bit of a dud.

Today Ben gave me a bottle of Kasteel Rouge in my stocking...sense a theme? Ben's stocking contained a bottle of Mikkeler's Santa's Little Helper 2009. Neither of them have been opened yet. I also gave Ben The Beer Book (I paid more than that! But I bought it at a local independent book store, so that's okay)...which he's already reading. They list breweries around the world, giving examples of what they offer. He sees it as a "to-do list."

For Christmas dinner we brought a six pack of Anchor's Our Special Ale 2008 and a magnum of The Bruery's Two Turtle Doves. My mom was supposed to have wine for her and my sister, but I never saw it. My sister, who usually drinks Miller Lite and is a calorie counter, was adventurous and tried both of them. I'm pleased to report that my sister ENJOYED the Anchor! An aged Christmas ale! She thought it was great and even drank half of a second. The 2 Turtle Doves was too much for her, but my mom enjoyed it (even if she was surprised by the alcohol content). I must say that I love the 2008 Our Special Ale...I drank it last year and loved it, and I really like it more than the 2009, which is a little too sharp (it would probably react well to the aging, but I doubt it will age well in my fridge!). I can't wait to finish of the six pack! The 2008 was nutmegy, and a great beer to enjoy while thinking Christmas.
I thought the 2 Turtle Doves was an amazing beer as well. Dark, lovely body, rich flavor, intense. The alcohol content fit its flavor profile (I hate when something just tastes boozey!). Went well with dinner but went perfect with cake and ice cream for dessert.
Can't wait to crack open our new beers, finish off our Christmas ales (OSA 2008&2009, some Breckenridge Christmas we smuggled back from Thanksgiving in Kansas in our suitcase). May even be holding on for dear life to my last 4-pack of DFH Punkin Ale.
I love fall and winter beers!

Ben, #20, #21

Beer: #9
Brewery: Magic Hat Brewing Company, Vermont
Category: Fruit/Vegetable Beer
Date Drank: 3/21/09 & 3/27/09
Grade: B-
Location purchased/drank: The Thirsty Scholar & Champions & bottle
Served from a: Tap & bottle

I never thought that I would give one of my gateway beers such a low grade. But really, in the large scheme, it is not all that low. I just know what I like and I tend to only drink that way. But, anyway, Magic Hat, to where Beth and I even went to the brewery on our honeymoon, is a good beer company with good beer. You definitely should try it if you are ever near it. It is the imfamous apricot beer. It is smooth as drinking anything full of citrus can be. Hazy, and medium. Not that heavy in alcohol, so it is a good every day type of drink. Sometimes it is a relief for me to see this on the menu, like at Champions, but with Thirsty Scholar, where I expect more selection, just resolved to drink this because I know what to expect.

Beer: Tremont Ale
Brewery: Shipyard Brewing Co., Maine
Category: English Pale Ale
Date Drank: 3/21/09
Grade: B
Location purchased/drank: The Thirsty Scholar
Served from a: Tap

This beer is a little powerhouse of an English Ale. I am starting to see that I like the English Pale Ales, and never really seem to want to get an American Pale Ale. Typically English ingredients and hard water are what make the flavor. Buttery. Hoppy. Yes, these are ingredients that I can get behind.