The Bar Towel

I'm in a sour mood!

Duchesse de Bourgogne
Kriek des Jacobins
Rodenbach Vintage 2013 (Foeder 149 "The Sire")

All very good, the Roddy stands out for some extra funk and 'development'. The caramel is very smooth and the sour apple orchard notes very refined.
I will be buying more (whichever vintage is current.)

I found the Duchesse to be a real challenge the first couple of times.

Yes it is a bit much on the caramel and acetic but I could see developing a taste for it. In general I would prefer more musty stone cellar or more earthy forest-floor funk, or something.

Belgian wrote:I'm in a sour mood!

Duchesse de Bourgogne
Kriek des Jacobins
Rodenbach Vintage 2013

All very good, the Roddy stands out for some extra funk and 'development'. The caramel is very smooth and the sour apple orchard notes very refined.

I found the Duchesse to be a real challenge the first couple of times.

Ya, those aren't "starter" sours. They'll scare people away.....haha.

Bell City Brewing Brewed Awakening Black Coffee IPA. One from Mikkeller is the only other coffee IPA I can immediately recall drinking. So far, I like them.

Over the last 10 days on vacation:

At Kush Wynwood in Miami, FL (Rounds 1 & 2):
Lincoln's Beard Kaptain Kush (draft)
Knee Deep Breaking Bud IPA (draft)
The Tank India Black Ale (draft)
Civil Society Fresh (draft)
J. Wakefield Hop For Teacher IPA (draft)

At BOXELDER:
Sixpoint Lo-Res (draft)
Proof Evil Kiss - Blood Orange Hibiscus (draft)
Civil Society Fade Away (draft)

At J. Wakefield Brewing:
J. Wakefield Stush Berliner (sample)
J. Wakefield Bye Bye Bye (sample)
J. Wakefield 24th Street Brown Ale (can)
J. Wakefield The Magic Man & El Diablo (sample)

At Concrete Beach Brewery:
Concrete Beach Stiltsville Pilsner (flight sample)
Concrete Beach TangeRica Wheat IPA (flight sample)
Concrete Beach Tropic Of Passion (flight sample)
Concrete Beach Mas Hops Double IPA (flight sample)

At Wynwood Brewing (Rounds 1 & 2):
Wynwood Pop's Porter (draft)
Wynwood Simcoe SMASH (draft)
Wynwood India Pale Ale (draft)
Wynwood Black Tie Hoptional (draft)

At Yardbird Southern Table & Bar:
Bell's Lager Of The Lakes (draft)
Alltech Lexington College Heights IPA (draft)

At Hofbräu München Bavaria Haus:
Hofbräu Münchner Sommerzwickl (draft)

At The Mighty Miami:
5 Rabbit Gringolandia Super Pils (draft)
Civil Society Southern Exposure (draft)

At Yardhouse Miami Beach:
M.I.A. Megamix (draft)
Cigar City Maduro Brown Ale - Vanilla (draft)

At a relative's place in Port Orange, FL:
Heavy Seas AmeriCannon
Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing IPA
Sierra Nevada Hop Bullet Double IPA
Urban South Coop'd Up Farmhouse Ale
Two Brothers Red Eye Coffee IPA
Urban South Delta Momma Citra Lager
Urban South Holy Roller IPA
Prairie Bomb!
Sierra Nevada Tropical Torpedo
Goose Island Fulton Street Blend Coffee Ale
Funky Buddha Nib Smuggler

At Mellow Mushroom & Half Wall Port Orange:
Central 28 Up River (draft)
Ormond Breakfast Brown Ale (draft)
Central 28 Show Pigeon IPA (draft)
Highland Oatmeal Porter (draft)

Standouts from Miami were the Breaking Bud, Fresh, Evil Kiss, Fade Away, Bye Bye, Stush, Tropic Of Passion, Pop's Porter, College Heights, Southern Exposure, and Maduro Vanilla. Civil Society and J. Wakefield seem to be the best local breweries as everything I had from them ranged from very good to spectacular. Standouts from Port Orange were the Hop Bullet, Red Eye, Bomb!, Nib Smuggler, and Breakfast Brown. Overall we had a great time and Miami's beer scene exceeded our expectations.

Collective Arts Life In The Clouds IPA - a real winner.
I'm enjoying the different artwork on each can of this brew.

Belgian wrote:Collective Arts Life In The Clouds IPA - a real winner.
I'm enjoying the different artwork on each can of this brew.

Between this and #5, Collective Arts is far and away my favourite Canadian IPA brewer.

At the moment I'm having the Grand Cru Val-Dieu. Moving on to a Straffe Hendrik Quad next.

Recently, I also had a Grand Cru Val-Dieu at Beer Bistro for about $30 (750 ml). Now, I am kicking myself for seeing it for less than a third of that price at the LCBO. Decent quad, but definitely not worth the $30 I paid for it. However, yesterday, I had an Abbaye de Rocs, which is a bargain for $6.20 at the LCBO (750 ml). Maybe I shouldn't compare it to the Val-Dieu, since the Val Dieu is a quad and the Abbaye de Rocs is a brune (double?). But, at 9% for the Abbaye de Rocs it is in quad territory. I have to say, the Abbaye de Rocs is a far superior beer IMHO. It has a smoothness and finesse that I found lacking in the Val-Dieu. Also, I would say the complexity of flavour and aroma is a notch above for AdR. Perhaps, the Val Dieu has a little darker malts. It has been a long time since I enjoyed Abbaye de Rocs from its last appearance in this province, and I am glad it's back. I too have a Straffe Hendrik quad waiting for me in the fridge. Maybe, I will give it a try tomorrow. Cheers!

BeerIsGood wrote:At the moment I'm having the Grand Cru Val-Dieu. Moving on to a Straffe Hendrik Quad next.

Curious about your thoughts on both of these. I have a Strafe Hedrik cooling its heels for later in the week, and plan on picking up the Val Dieu shortly. I quite enjoyed the Abbaye des Rocs, but felt that it fell short of the top tier.

I picked up 6 Abbaye des Rocs today, they had a sticker over the label stating 10.3% abv! As I said in a previous post, this 100 rated beer, imported from Belgium, for $6.20/750mL must be one of the best values ever. Also got a Straffe quad, but declined the $20 Deus Brut.

GtownRandy wrote:Abbaye des Rocs t... $6.20/750mL must be one of the best values ever... but declined the $20 Deus Brut.

The Abbaye des Rocs is very decent, maybe not as big and densely-flavored as I remember it years ago from 330 ml bottles at Only Café (and I could certainly be wrong) but great value.

The Deus is a whole different animal. Besides a specialized brewing and yeast, every bottle undergoes a secondary fermentation (bottle-carbonation) Champagne-style - which they even do it IN Champagne, France now - and just like champagne, they do a 'disgorgement' (freeze the yeast in the neck and pop it out) and 'dosage' (replace the difference in volume.)

Deus Brut is probably a pain in the a$$ to make even by Belgian beer standards - more akin to hand-bottling magnums of Chimay Bleue or such, which adds cost. It's nothing even close to an assembly-line product but more a labor of love. And after I try one of my 'first Ontario release' 2012 bottles we got here in early 2013 (I believe we got 240 paltry bottles for the entire population of Ontario) I may well go buy some more - if I dig it!

Pretty sure I have an old bottle of Deus kicking around too...had it once, and grabbed it way back during original LCBO release. But.....I'm also pretty sure it is not exactly meant to be aged for more than a 1-2 years, correct? I think when I checked the bottle recently it had a BB date of only 1-2 years after production.

El Pinguino wrote:Pretty sure I have an old bottle of Deus kicking around too...had it once, and grabbed it way back during original LCBO release. But.....I'm also pretty sure it is not exactly meant to be aged for more than a 1-2 years, correct? I think when I checked the bottle recently it had a BB date of only 1-2 years after production.

"Keeping and Storage
The beer can be stored for 24 months in the bottle. This beer will not gain from being stored in a cellar for years on end."

Ahh well, this should be interesting anyway!

Pops a cork. Nope, this is in very nice shape. Definitely ginger-y, a noted aspect of the specialized yeast. Very delicious stuff, definitely has a nice rounded balance of gentle phenolic, rooty spiciness, hints of vanilla and sandalwood, and a complicated suggestion of mostly sweet (ripe pear?) and some tart & tropical fruits in the background. Very good. I guess the carbonation is very fine from the Champenoise process, it's still strong enough and the bottle fizzed slightly on opening though I should have chilled it. I wonder if the long maturation attenuated the sweetness.

I've been drinking some beers received in a recent trade from a Buffalo trade partner. The White Oak IPA and Red Army RIS from 42 North. I had never heard of this brewery before, but he noted it is a local favourite of his. The RIS is particularly excellent. I love it when trades include local favourites as extras. They are usually beers I have never heard of that I end up really enjoying, probably in part because there is no hype to live up to.

Supposedly they have a fairly nice tap room too.

Cheers!