Summer Beer Release

midlife crisis · Post by **midlife crisis** » Fri May 13, 2005 7:27 pm

Not that great for us Wheat intolerant drinkers then

Not a great release in my view either. Too much wheat, too much fruit ... nothing from the entire UK, nothing from the entire USA (except yet another wheat), no bitters at all (what happened to Hop Back Summer Lightning, for instance).

pootz · Post by **pootz** » Fri May 13, 2005 8:38 pm

Note to Christoffel importer: love the blonde but will we ever see their excellent red vienna lager here?

GregClow · Post by **GregClow** » Sat May 14, 2005 1:53 am

pootz wrote:Note to Christoffel importer: love the blonde but will we ever see their excellent red vienna lager here?

Do you mean the Robertus? It showed up in a Christmas giftpack a couple of years ago that include a bottle of each of the Blond and Robertus along with a Christoffel glass.

esprit · Post by **esprit** » Sun May 15, 2005 12:40 pm

Among others, we proposed 9 U.K beers and 3 U.S., none of which were selected. We certainly question the narrow approach that seems to be taken now towards these promos. With fewer SKU's one would hope the direction would be a wider variety of products and countries. Can't understand multiple purchases of similarly styled beers from the same country (I will forever scratch my head about Mort Subite Gueuze and St. Louis Gueuze in the same small release with 2 French Biere de Gardes). It's hard to imagine doing any sort of seasonal release with nothing from the U.K. or the U.S....welcome to Ontario. I'm probably getting myself in trouble with the buyer by saying all of this but it's not anything that I would not say to their faces.

midlife crisis · Post by **midlife crisis** » Sun May 15, 2005 8:06 pm

Among others, we proposed 9 U.K beers and 3 U.S., none of which were selected

That's so disappointing, but par for the course I guess given what has been said previously about our friendly state monopolists. Thanks for your efforts and your comments, in any event.

JerCraigs · Post by **JerCraigs** » Sun May 15, 2005 10:43 pm

esprit wrote: Can't understand multiple purchases of similarly styled beers from the same country (I will forever scratch my head about Mort Subite Gueuze and St. Louis Gueuze in the same small release with 2 French Biere de Gardes).

I kind of like the "themes" ie. wheat beers in summer, etc. but it would be nice if the theme was "great beers from all over "

... or imperial stouts of the world, hop filled pale ales... etc.

shintriad · Post by **shintriad** » Mon May 16, 2005 2:59 pm

it would be nice if the theme was "great beers from all over"

Hey, let's not go nuts, here. I think we could start with a "non-mediocre beers from within, say, a 250-mile radius" theme, and then slowly but surely work our way up to "great."

I think we could adjust to that kind of culture shock...

Cass · Post by **Cass** » Mon May 16, 2005 3:12 pm

An update to this release: Fruli Strawberry is also in it.

GregClow · Post by **GregClow** » Mon May 16, 2005 3:15 pm

Cass wrote:An update to this release: Fruli Strawberry is also in it.

Huh. That seems like an odd choice, considering that it is just about to be added to the general list at the Beer Store. But given it's similarity to coolers and alcopops, I suspect it was a big seller for the LCBO last year, so I'm not completely surprised that they're bringing it back.

esprit · Post by **esprit** » Mon May 16, 2005 5:37 pm

JerCraigs, if you'll recall, when the General List first took over the specialty beer program from VINTAGES, those were the themes of the seasonal releases. They stopped doing PALE ALES/BITTERS, STOUTS/PORTERS because they felt they were too one dimensional....now we've gone full circle and have seasonal releases that are almost as one dimensional. Please oh please government of ours, let someone else sell the beers that your monopoly has no time for!!! For any other food product or beverage, there would be no problem...because there's alcohol involved, the Dream Police have to control it....Big Brother, set us free...this is not Uzbekhistan...actually, they probably have more free enterprise than we do in regards to alcohol.

How's that for melodramatic...my wife and I have just finished a dinner of what would normally be called an Irish Stew but we used a bottle of Chimay Premiere as part of the liquid......pure ambrosia.....as someone who sells a lot of wine, I have in the past tended to cook more with wine than beer and only of late started to use much more beer. A crock pot, some animal flesh of any kind (chicken, beef, lamb, pork) a medley of vegetables, some stock and lot's of beer produces some of the greatest culinary treats in the world. I love what beerbistro does with beer but, even more, I love what we can do with it in our kitchen at a very modest price...vive la cusine de la biere!

OK, OK, I drank a bit of Chimay Premiere before writing this but surely I'm still relatively coherent....off to Kyiv, Ukraine this weekend....so, where do I go for good beer there?

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Mon May 16, 2005 5:55 pm

esprit wrote: Please oh please government of ours, let someone else sell the beers that your monopoly has no time for!!!

Well, if people started to buy whatever beer & wine they want (and the cities didn't explode and burn to the ground immediately as a result), the public would start to question the neccessity of this LCBO. And its authority. Its relevance. Its purpose.

It's a self-perpetuating beaurocracy. If LCBO were forward thinking they'd create their own demise. The cat MUST stay in the bag, while they keep dangling illusions of retail-minded intentions.

old faithful · Post by **old faithful** » Mon May 16, 2005 6:32 pm

Peter, having practised beer cookery for many years and owning a small library of beer cookery books, some tips:

Almost always a "corrective" is needed when cooking with beer like sugar, mustard (or another vinegar element) or cream - sometimes these can be combined. This avoids a bitter edge that might be suitable for some dishes but generally is off-putting. The corrective often makes all the difference but not a lot is needed, e.g. a tablespoon or less of loose brown sugar to a kilo of meat often does the trick - the classic carbonnade flamande is best made in this way

Stews (I agree, almost any kind of meat) tend to show off beer's attributes the best but basting roasts works well (e.g. sherry and beer, or honey and beer on veal or pork). Also, the welsh rabbit dish is one of the best old beer dishes, and we have great cheese in Ontario to make it with.

Mushrooms and cream make a fab coq a la biere, and beerbistro offers a killer one at the moment. Green herbs work well with this kind of dish, too )taragon is traditional in French Flanders). Oddly perhaps, French fries are the best accompaniment - if they are good fries!

Gary

P.S. What to drink in Ukraine? There must be the odd Imperial porter or stout around. If not, try kvass. If no kvass - vodka!

Rubaiyat · Post by **Rubaiyat** » Sat Jul 02, 2005 10:28 am

greg -- the fruili sold just as much ... and slower than many ... of the other thematics it was released with last year. just for the record.

TerryW · Post by **TerryW** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 8:27 pm

The summer release has shown up in the LCBO at Dixie and Queen (City Center) in Brampton. No Saison Dupont though ...

... Saison Dupont at Mavis and Dundas, in Mississauga, along with the rest of the summer release, plus Sinha Stout.