#40: Westvleteren 12

Aha, here we go. This is one that everybody knows, and that most people love. It's supposedly the best beer in the world, and with a reputation like that, it surely wouldn't disappoint... would it?

Westvleteren XII pours a dark murky brown with red highlights in the light, and pitch black in the shade. It's got a thick and creamy off-white head, and it bubbles menacingly from the bottle. Thankfully, no spillages here. Primary aromas of champagne yeast with deep layers of dark fruit, toffee apple and caramel sweetness. Although there was no spillage, opening the bottle was enough to rouse the yeast from the base and initiate a cola like fizz on the top. After a small while, the yeast element dies down, as does the sparkling fizz, and you can enjoy the chocolate malt and caramel notes much better. It's looking pretty good right now...

...and then you put it in your mouth.* It really is gorgeous stuff. Deep earthy malts to the fore, bringing slight funk with the toffee apple, bubblegum and candy sweetness. The finish then is predominantly dark fruits with the usual stuff - raisins, cherries, berries and figs - and a slight spice touch that livens things up a little bit. As time goes on, the chocolate note at the very finish grows more and more powerful. Delicious. The complexity is great, and it's all carried on a creamy, velvety, thick full body that slightly degrades as time goes on. Takes nothing from the beer though.

The combination of the taste and mouthfeel left my mouth tingling after every sip, and with that gorgeous aroma that kept me busy for the first 5 minutes of the tasting, it's an intensely satisfying beer all-round.

Now then, I suppose I can't neglect to address the question everybody will ask about Westvleteren 12: Is this the best beer in the world?

No. Probably not, at any rate. It's been one of the best beers I've had, yes, and one of my top five favourites, yes, but any one of those other four beers could be better in my eyes. And that's not to mention the staggering amount of great beers I've yet to try. To be honest, I don't think there even can be a 'best beer in the world'. For instance, at the moment Pliny the Elder seems to be edging this as the best in the world, but as I've mentioned before, I generally don't go for hoppier beers. Therefore, it's very likely that Pliny wouldn't even break into my top five. It's all about personal preference.

As such, I feel it's important that I recommend you buy it only if it really means that much to you. I dropped €50 on six bottles of this, and as great as it is, I can't see where the extra €6 per bottle goes when compared to, say, Rochefort 10. In fact, it would be very interesting to see this compared blind to the Rochefort, seeing as it's my favourite of the style at the moment. Ponder no more though; the work has already been comprehensively done right here.

*No, the beer.

#39: Euro 2012 Group Stages and Loosely Linked Beer Talk

Euro 2012 started on Friday, with Poland, Greece, Russia and the Czech Republic fighting it out. Needless to say, the tournament didn't start for me until Spain played Italy yesterday. It was a promising day, with Cork winning the Munster Semi-final and Italy and Spain ending in a draw, an Ireland win would have been perfect. Flags and scarves up, Sam Adams in the fridge, cheap Ireland charity t-shirt on the back... Anyway, we know what happened. In an effort to redeem my national pride and to desperately induce some sense of superiority over the Croatians, I reflected on the fact that we have better beer. Well, probably. I did some research a few weeks before the tournament - as I planned to stage my own Euro 2012 of Beer - and I realised I was going to have trouble buying and trying the beers from some of the participating countries, especially at short notice. For example, I don't know where in Cork I can get my hands on some Croatian, Ukrainian or even Russian beer, and some countries (Spain, Poland, France, Portugal) are only represented in my locale by absolute toss.

So instead, I will do one beer per matchday, with the first four obviously in hindsight (I told you I'd be distracted). 

For matchday one, it was really no contest. I've never had a Greek or Russian beer, and I have to make this clear, I'm not about finding the best beer, just my favourite, and in this case Budějovický Budvar takes it for the Czech Republic. A full-flavoured pilsener that I found ridiculously enjoyable with my curry a while back.

For matchday two, we had more interesting prospects. Netherlands, Denmark and Germany all produce fine beers, with La Trappe, Mikkeller, Wieckse Witte, Paulaner and Weihenstephaner all vying for the considerable honour of being called my favourite. Portugal and beer is a venn diagram that in my mind only has one tiny and insignificant interception - Sagres. Nothing there, then. I would even consider Heineken for the Netherlands, because I have to say having a 250ml glass of the stuff on tap in a sunny Amsterdam really is a much different experience to being served a pint of the fizzy water we get here. That's all redundant, though, because I don't think I was ever not going to choose Paulaner Hefe-Weissbier for Germany.

Matchday three was once again more straightforward. Italy and Spain don't offer much that I've experienced and enjoyed - Peroni was my most recent, with it being unremarkable and, to be honest, not even very refreshing, which I consider the very least a beer like that should be. Croatia was a no-go for me so Ireland have it in the bag. It's a close battle between Porterhouse Brainblásta and Beoir Chorca Dhuibhne's Carraig Dubh, with the latter edging it for it's massive success in making me really enjoy it, despite it's obvious handicap of being a porter.

Finally, matchday four had England and France fighting for the points on the pitch, and they were really the only two contenders in this group. I do know that Sweden have some goods to offer, but I can't say I've tried any, so I can't vouch for that. I also have to admit that I've been slacking on my research - I haven't tried Trois Monts yet. It appears on paper to be the best French beer I can get a hold of, with the only others I can get a hold of being Kronenbourg 1664 and Desperados. It would have been unfair to the good people of France if I put either of these forward only to get destroyed by any number of classy English ales. Don't worry, though, I plan on selecting 4 runners-up beers to make up a quarter finals scenario. How these will be selected is shut up, that's how. Seriously though, rules and regulations for this competition are corrupt on a Turkish football scale. Anyway, my winner for Group D has got to be Fuller's London Pride. It might not be groundbreaking or game-changing, but it's damned delicious drink. Quaff away, but with Trois Monts on the horizon, a beer of a style I am very much attracted to, England may not exactly be running away with it. Money permitting, Sweden may also launch a late challenge for the remaining spot...

So, a recap of the top placed finishers in each group:

Budějovický Budvar - Czech Republic
Paulaner Hefe-Weissbier - Germany
Beoir Chorca Dhuibhne Carraig Dubh - Ireland
Fuller's London Pride - England

Once again, I can't stress enough how the competition is about me finding my favourite and most enjoyable drink, as opposed to judging what is technically the best beer. I simply haven't got the beer knowledge for that sort of thing, to be honest. Also, in an effort to make this as fair as possible, I'm only going to allow one entry per country. This is mainly to prevent me from giving Ireland two beers in the quarter finals, though it doesn't account for me being forced to choose relatively shit beers for countries that I just can't get good beery access to.

Spain, Portugal, Poland, Russia, Italy... I apologize in advance.

#38: Porterhouse No.3

Here we have the penultimate (I think) entry in the Porterhouse bottled range, until, of course, more of their wares become available to me. So far, the best of the lot has surprisingly been the intriguing yet drinkable Wrasslers XXXX, but I fear that beer may have some stiff competion in this next entry, the strong ale Brainblásta. Also tested is the terrifying Oyster Stout. That they actually use oysters in the brewing process should really be enough to put me off, but I'm willing to try any beer once, so I'll give it a chance.

First up then is the Brainblásta I picked up in Bradley's. This pours a dark yet crystal clear red, with a one-and-a-half finger white head, medium carbonation and decent lacing. This is also the strongest Irish ale I've had, at 7%, so I was pretty impressed by the size of the head it produced. The smell is terrific - caramel and bubblegum, candy-like sherbert sweetness with a malty toffee and chocolate background. Hops announce their presence by delivering citrus and fresh cut grass in small doses, while the whole thing forms an interesting balance. On the tongue, it's just as impressive. Bitterness at the front with toffee and caramel follwing in behind, biscuit malt undertones and a really nice candy fruit finish. Again, the balance is great and very interesting. It's all carried beautifully on a creamy smooth full body, and leaves just a touch of alcohol heat. Really good stuff, and dare I say, my favourite Irish ale...

The Oyster Stout, then, had it's work cut out to match the 'Tasty Drop'. It pours very dark but not quite pitch black - you can see the red hues in the light. It's two finger white head dissipates to film in next to no time, leaving behind very little lacing. On the nose, I at first got pretty much everything I'd expect form a stout - roasted malts, coffee and smoke, but with a very distinct and obvious sweetness, and something that reminded me very much of the Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier - yes, it smelled a bit like bacon. This is in the taste too - definitely smoked meat, but with a sweet creamy taste to it too. There's a subtle and strange mint or eucalyptus freshness to the flavour, that really makes for quite an interesting drink. Coffee is in the flavour too, with a decent hops bitterness at the very back. It's light and very easy drinking, but I have to say, this is probably one made for the stout fan. There was nothing inherently wrong with the beer, but it was difficult at first to get through it. After the first few minutes though, I got used to the flavours and could really start to pull things apart in my mind. Once again though, I don't think I enjoyed the actual flavour and aroma of this beer as much as an avid stout drinker would.

So, two beers worthy of exploration from the Porterhouse, with the Brainblásta becoming my official Favourite Beer From Ireland. Next up in this range is the Hersbrucker Pilsener and the Celebration Stout. As far as I know, that's all of the Porterhouse bottles I have ready access to.

#37: The Collection

I don't know exactly why, but I felt the urge to assemble all my current beers on my desk and give them a good look. I discovered that I had less than I thought, and perhaps more worrying, that I had only one Belgian ale. Given that Belgian ales are my addiction at the moment, I think when my stock runs down I'll be pretty much restocking Belgians exclusively - especially when you consider that I've never had any of the Orval, Achel or Westmalle ales. Also, some strong pale ales wouldn't go amiss. For now, this is what I'm working with.

First of all, let's address the elephant in the room. Yes, that's a six-pack of Westvleteren 12 with two branded glasses. I bought this in February for €50 - the same price you'll get anywhere, apparantly - as part of the monastery's efforts to raise money for renovations. If nothing else, the pack pretty much doubles the value of this particular collection, if not for it's monetary value then for it's quality, and I'm not just saying that - I had the first bottle a few days ago, expect a post on that soon. These packs are actually still around, surprisingly, and while it is incredibly tempting to have such a rare and beautiful beer so accessible to me, I can't really say any beer is worth €50 for six 330ml bottles. I think I'll be saving my next Westvleteren purchase for the abbey.

The other six pack you can see is Samuel Adams Boston Lager. This is one of my top three session beers along with Paulaner Hefe-weizen and Fuller's London Pride. I'll be putting this bad boy in the fridge for Ireland's Euro 2012 games - I reckon €8 for a six pack of my favourite lager over three games is better than standing in a crowded pub paying at least €4.80 for a pint of Irish craft beer. Good beer, sensible drinking, order a pizza and where could you go wrong?

As I said, Paulaner Hefe-Weizen is one of my favourite everyday session beers - in fact, this one's probably at the top. Since the middle of December, I've never been without a bottle of this, and now that I finally have a Paulaner branded wheat beer glass I can only expect that I'll be drinking more. I've had about four or five since starting the blog, and that's not including the ones on tap, so I will be writing about it soon. Summer is upon us (or has been for about a month, apparently) so when the weather picks up I plan on doing a week or five days of wheat beers.

One of those will be the Schneider Weisse Tap 7. Honestly, I've no idea why it's taken me so long to try this. When I first got in to beer proper, German wheat beer was my style, much like strong Belgian ale is now. Though my tastes have changed since then I still love a hefe (duh, Paulaner) so I'm really looking forward to this.

Weihenstephaner Vitus is a beer that's related, I guess, being a weizenbock. I've never had one of these so I'm also pretty excited for that one. As a side note, at 7.7% ABV I think this is currently the strongest beer in Tesco, and given that I seem to prefer the stronger ones these days the purchase was inevitable.

Robinson's Old Tom is another one that got me very excited, with it's lovely bottle and 8.5% ABV, I was dying to see could I find a British equivalent of my favourite style. Likewise, I was very excited about Porterhouse's Brainblásta, which did not disappoint.

I have my second bottle of Young's Double Chocolate Stout to finish, and like I said before, when I do feel like a stout (it happens!) I'll be very happy to have this smooth drinker, even if it doesn't pack the punch I was expecting.

Also in the stout category is the Porterhouse Oyster Stout. I have to admit - I've already had this one, so there'll be a post about that up soon.

Another that I've already had is Eight Degrees Brewing's Howling Gale Ale. I had it twice on tap, but a slightly chilled bottled version sounds better to me than the ice-cold, possibly nitrogenated pint (I'm only just starting to learn how to tell - I don't get out much).

For the hot summer sun we'll no doubt be getting, I'm saving my St Bernardus Wit. After going off Hoegaarden recently, I miss having a nice wit to drink, with my best previous experience coming from Wieckse Witte, a beer I can't get a hold of here.

Cooper's Sparkling Ale will be my first Australian beer, and I have to admit there's not a whole lot I'm expecting to get from this, so it may be the case of just ticking Australia off the beer map. We'll see how that one goes before buying the Original Ale.

Macardle's is one I'd never heard of until I spotted it in an off-licence in Kinsale a couple of weeks ago, and although it appears to be made by Diageo, I decided it would be an interesting one to try. Also, it comes in a proper pint bottle.

Finally, I picked up a bottle of Warsteiner Premium Verum, a German Pilsener that I remember as being decidedly average. The reason I bought this one was that I hadn't tried it in very long, and I do often crave a quaffable Czech or Czech-style lager. I think I'll be having this one with a chicken curry - I had my first Budweiser Budvar with a curry recently and I have to say it was one of the most simple yet ridiculously enjoyable pairings I could have imagined.

So there we have it, my plan is for these beers to see me through the next three weeks at least, so there will be a slight let up of new-beer-exploration posts while I enjoy my Sam Adams and watch the Euros. I do, however, have a backlog of notes that I haven't yet turned into posts so it won't be a desert blog.

#36:Pater & Abt

I tried two beers from St Bernardus recently, in an effort to erase from my memory the debacle that was their Tripel. The two I chose were the Pater 6, and the Abt 12. Much has been written about the Abt 12's similarity to the rare and supposedly brick-shittingly good Westvleteren 12, due to the shared history of the breweries, but I'm not going to bang on about it here. Google the breweries and you'll find the information from a much better informed source. The Pater 6, on the other hand, is one that I kind of only bought because it was dirt cheap. Only kind of, though - I still really wanted to try all the St Bernardus beers. Anyway, on with the liquid.

The Pater 6 pours a murky, rusty brown with a three finger foamy head and lots of carbonation. It's dark complexion led me to believe I'd be getting caramel malt by the bucket load, when actually the first thing to reach my nose was the grassy, sweet citrus peel and dark fruit notes of something else entirely. Malt is there though, in the form of sweet bread dough, as well as in the muted toffee background. The taste too is pretty much all malt, with woody caramel biscuit, light smokiness and a sweet fruit in the finish. The flavours are carried well by a great full body, with a nice fizz and a creamy feel. Overall the beer starts well and only improves as it sits in the glass. Probably the best Dubbel I've had, though I'll have to compare it to the Rochefort 8 to test this out.

The second St Bernardus here was also being compared in my mind to a Rochefort. This time it was the 10, and although the splendour of that particular elixir may have grown in my memory, I firmly believed that the St Bernardus Abt 12 would be hard pressed to beat the Rochefort quad. I also made sure to take plenty of notes and, as usual, give the beer a rough rating in each category to ensure that I remember exactly how much I enjoyed it when the time comes to try the Westvleteren 12.

The Abt 12 poured pretty much as I'd expect it to; a dark ruby red with tons of carbonation, a conservative creamy head and a nice silky lacing. Opening the bottle was enough to cue the gushing of foam, thereby raising up all the sediment. As such, the bready Belgian yeast smell was strong at first, with cherries, figs and raisins, bread malt, toffee and caramel malt and hints of over-ripe, slightly sour apple all forming a rich and quite intense complex aroma. It's one of those rare beers where I'm quite happy to sit there sniffing it for five minutes, like some sort of alcoholic pervert. However, my already considerable respect for the beer doubles with the first taste. Toffee malt is at the front, with caramel and chocolate, hot spiced rum, bread yeast, and the sticky fruit sweetness from the berries, cherries and green apple all joining in. You can definitely taste the dark fruit in this, especially with the strong presence of raisins at the very finish. It's beautifully complex and overall malty - just the way I like it. What makes the beer so damn satisfying though, is the fact that all those flavours are carried on the velvety smooth, creamy full body. It's fulfilling and very warming - you feel like you're drinking Christmas.


I definitely feel that this could contend with Rochefort 10 - I've already added it to my three-beer list of Stuff I Would Like to Drown In - but to find out for sure I'll have to compare the two side-by-side. I don't really know why I feel so compelled to actually compare them, but to be honest, it's probably just an excuse to drink two savage beers in a single sitting. Maybe I should throw in the Piraat too, for, erm... balance?

#35: Short and Stout

As I'm pretty sure I've said already, I'm not a big fan of stouts or porters. As such, I'm trying my best to explore the styles in an effort to find something I really like, or at least to give them a decent chance before I write them off. So far, Harviestoun's Old Engine Oil has been my favourite, with a complexity that seriously impressed me when I first tried it. Wrassler's XXXX from the Porterhouse range was a delicious and enjoyable runner-up, but other than that there haven't been many beers in the style that have impressed me enough to inspire second tastings or, more importantly, stocking up just for the sake of enjoyment. This is the latest pair of beers in my exploration of stouts, the nicely priced O'Hara's Traditional Irish Stout and the immensely appealing Young's Double Chocolate Stout.

First up was O'Hara's Traditional Irish Stout. At €1.79 a bottle it was definitely worth a try, especially seeing as the only O'Hara's beer I've tried before was the Curim Celtic wheat beer about a year and a half ago, and to be honest, I can't even remember how I felt about that. It pours pitch black with a thin, short-lived head, and inactive carbonation, and looks bloody lovely in fairness. On the nose it's standard dry stout fare; roast malts, smoke, hints of chocolate - not very complex, but it still smells pretty good. The taste is better, with smokey roast malt flavours and slight medicinal notes taking centre stage, and a light bitterness at the end livening things up. Not bad, but tasty enough to keep you interested. The body is good too, but overall the beer just hasn't got enough to encourage me to buy it again. I have heard good things about the Leann Folláin though, so I will give that a try too.

Next was Young's Double Chocolate Stout, and for someone who doesn't have a particular interest in stouts, I was ridiculously excited about trying this beer. So much so, in fact, that when I finally decided to throw money at the idea, I bought two bottles of the stuff. Now, I'm wondering if that was a good idea or a bad one, and to be honest, it could go either way at this point. It pours a thick pitch black like the O'Hara's, but with a nicer, creamier head that keeps longer too. Also, the lacing is pretty nice, and when you've finished your pint, it sticks to your glass smelling very much like Lyle's maple flavoured Golden Syrup. On the nose, it's actually the roasted malts and charcoal that hit first, followed by a light chocolate sweetness and smokey coffee notes. Aniseed and liquorice are here to lend medicinal qualities to the aroma, and as the beer warms up, that milk chocolate smell develops nicely. Chocolate is unsurprisingly at the front of the taste too, with a malty sweetness, light fruitiness and smokey bitterness getting in on the act later on. Once again, the milk chocolate only gets more satisfying as time goes on the beer warms up. It's not as thick and creamy as one might expect, but it's still got a nice smooth and fulfilling body to it that sets it apart from most of the stouts I've tried, although I can't say it's as thick and smooth as the Old Engine Oil. Anyway, it's not as exciting as I would have hoped, but I do get an inexplicable craving for a stout every now and again, and when that next occurs, I'll be glad of the second bottle in the cupboard.

#34: Double Tripel

After the surprise hops in the Slaapmutske Tripel, I was ready return to my comfort zone with two Belgian tripels I felt I could rely on to provide the kind of malty, yeasty tripel I love the most. Once again, I can't stress enough that I don't have a problem with hoppy beers, it's just that I prefer my dubbels, tripels and other Belgian strong ales without the bitter bite, and I also concede that this is probably just because I got used to those kinds of beers first. This is subject to change as my tastes change - who knows, maybe in a couple of years I won't like Belgian ale at all...

As if. Anyway, the two beers I chose were the Tripel Karmeliet and the St Bernardus Tripel. The latter has been sitting in the cupboard for quite a while, mainly just to get that ridiculous amount of sediment to lie down, while the former I bought to drink asap - I couldn't wait to try it. Both beers surprised me, in a way...

The Tripel Karmeliet pours a pale gold lager colour, with a mad fizz to it and a monster head, though that could be down to my terrorist pour. Head retention is great, as is the lacing. On the nose it's the grapefruit that gets me first, followed by the caramel malt, nut and bread, as well as sweet toffee. Citrus fruit becomes more and more prominent as the beer warms up, which was a nice surprise. See? Sometimes I like the presence of hops! Nice complexity to the smell, so on to the taste. Sticky sweet caramel malts to the fore, with peanut, biscuit, fruit and yeast in the middle and finish. The alcohol heat at the very end gives way to a lovely grainy aftertaste that lingers a little while. Also worth noting that grapefruit makes an appearance in the taste too, to remind us that he's still around. It's mouthwatering, this one. Great full body and velvety smooth carbonation help make this a fantastic beer.

The St. Bernardus Tripel was surprising in a completely different way. To be frank, it was bloody disappointing. The only consolation was that I'm convincing myself it was a dodgy bottle, because I don't want to believe that this is what St. Bernardus have put forward as their tripel. It looked OK - clear golden with a small white head and fair carbonation - but things started to go awry in the smell. It was fruity, yeasty and medicinal, with a really damp or dank quality to it. The complexity that I'd expect just wasn't there in the taste either - hops, medicine and caramel malt with some generally off flavours. The mouthfeel wasn't terrible, with a medium to full body trying to make up for all that was lost on the nose and tongue. I really do hope this is an off bottle, so I may try it again in a little while. That being said, I'd much rather spend my money on the Tripel Karmeliet.