What I'm talking about is starting a monthly group of beer connoisseurs like myself (admittedly I'm the biggest beer snob/geek...). With plenty of help from my wonderful wife, Brynn, we hosted a fairly successful first event. There were seven of us in attendance (at one point we were supposed to have 12! but a few had to back out) and everyone was instructed to bring at least two 12 oz. bottles of the same beer to share. We provided a couple of mild to the palate snacks like pretzels, popcorn with just a touch of salt and butter for cleansing our palates between beers. And we also had pigs in a blanket for soaking up the beer as the night went on.
Here's all the beer we tasted! Actually, the Night Frost was a little pre-game action on the part of my wife and I. Made by Custom Brewcrafters in Honeyoye Falls, NY, it is an exclusive brew for Beers of the World, the best beer store in Rochester. I made up some score sheets too that people could write down information about each beer on and keep for their records. This is a good practice that I want to continue, because, for example, I've had the Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald before, but I did not remember anything about it. Now that I have record, I can always go back and see what I think of it, try it again and compare and see what new things I might notice.
Some notes and thoughts:
The order we tasted these was: (1) Newcastle Cabbie Dark Ale, (2) Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter, (3) Koźlak Bock Beer, (4) Guinness Extra Stout, (5) New Planet Rasberry Ale, (6) Źywiec Porter, (7) Źywiec Pale Lager, (8) Sam Adams West Coast Rebel IPA
A couple notes about the order. The New Planet was brought later by someone who couldn't be there right when we started or it probably would have gone first since it is a gluten free beer. Also, the Źywiec Pale Lager is obviously a lighter beer and would have gone earlier as well, but it was not planned and we just decided to throw it in there midway through because we were on a Polish kick.
Thoughts on these beers:
(1) Newcastle Cabbie, 4.2% ABV, a little too light for my taste, very balanced though.
(2) Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter, 5.8% ABV, a sort of complexity to this that did not give away many secrets in terms of aroma and taste, wish I liked it more than I did. Really nice details here.
(3) Koźlak Bock Beer, 6.5% ABV, this was interesting and I don't know if it was truly fresh because it is imported, but it was sweet like a beer wort and almost to me had a medicinal taste. See more here.
(4) Guinness Extra Stout, 5-6% ABV, a really interesting sweet/sour, smokey, burnt, nutty flavor. This beer is not imported from Ireland, but brewed and bottled in Canada by Labat hence the unknown ABV, also compared to Guinness Draft it is bottled with CO2 instead of nitrogen so it is not as flat.
(5) New Planet Rasberry Ale, 5% ABV, lighter, very drinkable, cider/wine aroma with grapes, apples/pear flavors. See more here.
(6) Źywiec Porter, (probably an imperial, 9.5-9.8%) my favorite on the night and one I've had once previous, caramel, toasty, toffee and brown sugar notes, not super carbonated so I wonder if it is bottled with nitrogen.
(7) Źywiec Pale Lager, 5.6% ABV, honey and dough, yeast perhaps, also a bit skunky because I think the bottle isn't quite as dark as the Porter.
(8) Sam Adams Rebel IPA, 6.5% ABV, a west coast IPA with pineapple aroma and rasberry or strawberry notes, very long hops that bitters as it lingers. A blend of five kinds of hops, see more here.
Let me know your thoughts on these brews in the comments!
No comments:
Post a Comment