La Vie en Gueuze
formerly The Drunken Destrier. Beer and brewing. Not just gueuze.
Monday 22 May 2023
#371: Biére du Jour
Friday 7 April 2023
#370: Happy Landings
Wednesday 22 March 2023
#369: Tripel Take
However, tripel credentials fade soon after pouring. The aroma is fairly mild and sort of sweet, suggesting a bit of honey, but the palate is, well, weird. There's honey here too, but with lemon and thyme streaked throughout, or even herbal lemon balm leaf and mint. It threatens to become medicinal at this point but remains just on the right side of pleasant, easing back into fresh, floral citrus and accomplished Trappist digestibility.
Much more of a tripel is Rochefort Tripel Extra - they even put it right in the name. Golden with a light haze, you get all the caramel, cereal and pepper that your tripely heart desires, but the palate is a pleasant surprise. It's bittersweet, potentially leaning more towards the bitter, with genuine leafy hop greens alongside more gentle spice. If that sounds austere, don't worry; all is washed away leaving practially none of that leafiness or spice in the aftertaste, just a streak of honest to goodness caramel malt sweetness and then nothing.
All this makes for a very pleasant nightcap with perhaps more interest that your usual, sweeter Westmalle or Karmeliet, but both of those beers might be more faithful, contemporary archetypes for the style.
Sunday 19 March 2023
#368: Roundup!
I don't often write about beer from Irish brewers, the reason being my employment in the industry as one of those brewers. Over the past few years its been an easy line to take; if I'm not fully willing to talk openly about bad beer (not out of any sense of industry loyalty or protection, but rather a feeling that such would be unprofessional and, given the nature of what makes some beer 'bad', unhelpful and unfair) then am I disingenuous in only presenting the good?
As a journeyman consumer in the early days of the blog, it was about navigating all that beer had to offer, both good and bad, with the aim of hopefully finding more of the former and avoiding the latter. Although, to the collector, a bad tick might be just as useful and valuable as a good tick.
While still a collector, I'm no longer bothered about the ticks, just the good ticks. And even then, not at the expense of a good beer.
When I worked in Bradley's (still the best off-licence in Cork and possibly the country), the trend I noticed was that a new beer is better than an existing beer for many. A customer might show me a beer they picked up last weekend and tell me how it was one of the best they've ever had, before putting it back down and perusing the new arrivals. And why not? With so much quality flowing through the place, imagine how many world-beaters might be sitting undiscovered on the new arrivals shelf. What's better than trying something new? Such is the thrill and for many (including me) the essence of beer as hobby.Nowadays though, I tend to find myself gravitating towards familiarity. Far from breeding contempt, it breeds contentment. Maybe its a sign of the economic times, that I am far more likely to pick up Saison Dupont, Jever, Augustiner Helles or Geuze Boon for their guaranteed success rate, rather than spend bigger sums on less sure things.
Because I almost always pick up new stuff from Galway Bay, one of my favourite brewers in this or any other country. Whether it be convincing examples of continental styles or, I don't know, an opaque DIPA, they do it all and they do it well.
PDA came out late last year and was a superb example of the latter, brewed with Fuerst Wiacek. All your bright, juicy tropicals in one package with a dusting of sharp lime zest. To taste it's sweeter than expected, with brown sugar and caramel deep in the centre of a ripe, peely marmalade glaze. Syrupy fruit and, at the finish, a flourish of pithy, acid grapefruit make it one of my favourite IPAs of the year.
Beers That Nobody Asked For is a teeny saison from even earlier in the year, brewed in collaboration with Boundary, standing only 3.8% tall and boasting lemongrass as an ingredient. I'm a sucker for lemongrass at the best of times but a herbal brewing skeptic too, so this could go either way. Unsurprisingly there's a faint, light aroma with light spice and, yes, lemongrass, amongst peppery stuff and an almost off-putting soapy note. Despite being a Dupont worshipper, I tend to believe saisons should be weaker than that beer's 6.5%, but surely not this weak?
Actually, yes. The brief soapy wobble above is the only suggestion that this beer might benefit from more fullsome padding or a core of Belgian sweetness, because on the palate it's a huge success. Refreshing, spritzy, and super easy to drink, it makes glorious use of a potentially weird ingredient and, given time to develop, brings menthol, eucalyptus and lime cordial in gentle puffs. Why bother writing about this presumably extinct beer? For one, lingering cans of this in the wild might still be well worth the punt (your mileage my vary with the PDA) and, crucially, this is a beer that I Am Actually Asking For. More of this sort of thing, please.
Whatever a festbier is, this is just a very accomplished lager.
Staying west but heading north, Kinnegar are another whose newbies attract the eye, and Thumper is no exception. At 7.8% it's about the perfect size for a DIPA, especially, as I am about to discover, one so firmly rooted in the west coast. Yeah, the other one.
Crystal! Clear bronze, crystal malt and brown sugar are the immediate impression, holding back wafts of pine, orange zest and McVities Jaffa Cake, chocolate and spongey biscuit and all. The sweeter side tempts fate and edges toward overpowering the whole experience but in general it stays the right side of balanced, and lives on as a nostalgic tribute to Sierra Nevada's Torpedo.
Pretty well in fact. Orange skins, burnt sugar and apple toffee syrup suggest rich depth with citrussy highlights. To taste its more bittersweet chocolate, plummy fruitiness and a touch of boozy heat. It lacks the Cascadian credentials of my boy out west - there's no blaze of pine and the fruit expressed is more of the dark raisiny sort than the candied citrus and pineapple, but I think the tannic, crystal core has shades of the Bigfoot, albeit with a heavier hand toward the malt. In any case and aside from my pointless comparison-making, it's a superb, cosy sipper and cans still existing in the wild will come with my recommendation.
Speaking of things that are superb and cosy, Boundary's Skipper and Orla rounds out the roundup. A Calvados-aged quadrupel of 11.9%, all the ingredients are there for a hot mess.
Skipper and Orla |
An unconventional quadrupel, but a triumph of a beer. Any of this sitting around should be snapped up.
Back to our regular programming next time (probably).
Monday 6 March 2023
#367: On the Neck
Ondineke is no exception. A tripel of 8.5%, it pours only slightly hazy gold and immediately suggests faint clove and prickly herbs on the nose. There's further wafts of lemon and honey, completing a suitably fresh and estery tripel character. This isn't exactly replicated on the palate; here it's sweeter with honey and lemon drop sweets dominating over the hoppy freshness, now all but smothered. It's moreish and well balanced for all that upfront sweetness with bitter florals keeping it refreshing, and preserving a surprisingly dry finish.
Another highly accomplished example from Glazen Toren, even if it doesn't reach the heights of the Saison d'Erpe-Mere.
Tuesday 14 February 2023
#366: Big Sam
This Samichlaus was bottled in December 2017, and five years seemed about enough time to wait before opening. It may not call itself a doppelbock, but that is more or less how it presents. It's a rather concentrated affair at the best of times and its long repose had only enhanced the intense raisiny port character. Port or sweet sherry is also brought to mind by the notes of vinous oxidation that shimmer in the background, while thick treacly tobacco and caramel make up the main event. For all its 14% ABV its not all that boozy, or at least not unpleasantly so, retaining a sense of digestibility you might expect from one of the better abbey or Trappist brewers.
So at last concludes the festive wrap-up, the rest of the glasses being filled with pils and pale ales already described here.