A beer drinker's week

[old faithful]

Monday: La Choulette Blonde, sampled at home, dated to June '06 and very fresh-tasting, just great, gristy and ale-y and faintly Belgian-like, I tempered IT finally with a few ounces of Scottish sparkling water to let it down to 5% abv or so. Emblem of an old beer drinking tradition, effortlessly good.

Tuesday: Labatt Genuine Honey, a shot of Blanton's bourbon and Who's Next in the background - 'nuff said.

Wednesday: Upper Canada Red, fluffy and latte-like, very drinkable, perfect for the summer.

Thursday: Pilsener Urquel and a shot of Caribbean rum - the week's almost over.

Friday: pint of Foster's Lager at the Keg Bar, York Street, followed by a fish dinner (elsewhere) with flavoursome Tavel Rose. Flame away guys but after a long day the Foster's was great: rehydrating, tasty and quite bitter in the finish.

Gary

[BeerMonger]

I have a couple of botlles of the La Choulette Blonde in the bar fridge...you are making me thirsty, even this early in the morning.

[old faithful]

My advice when you do sample it is to pour it in one motion and leave an ounce or a little more in the glass (for discarding). You can pour it "all in" but the yeast tends to overwhelm the other flavours in the beer. This is not a wheat beer style. Even when you decant it there is enough residual yeast character to inform, without dominating, the beer. I find my bottles drop bright after a few days when left at room temperature but stay cloudy even after a few days in the fridge. I think this is a protein haze and therefore I still decant even when the beer is cold, protein hazes are harmless and by decanting you are still leaving (I believe) only a little residual yeast in the bottle. Anyway this is how I do it and like most things about beer many will disagree and that is fine, I just offer my own views and experience. I've had good Ambree Choulettes too, e.g. beerbistro (excellent), Volo (ditto) and one other place (less good). As I recall that Ambree was older than the Blonde stock so I don't know if that influenced the variations or not. Anyway it's an excellent traditional ale brewery, La Choulette of Hordain in the far North of France. I visited there once many years ago.

Gary

[BeerMonger]

Thank you for the fine advice Gary, I am not very knowledgeable about the specifics of beer (I like to try them all and I know what I like) and appreciate your sharing.

[esprit]

FYI, we sell the La Choulette Ambree through Consignment and have stock available. In addition, a small quantity of La Choulette Brune was brought in and you can find it at Beerbistro, Smokeless and La Palette.

[old faithful]

This week there were just a few beers, some I've mentioned on other threads: Fuller London Porter, Chimay Bleue, Wellington County Imperial Stout, Nickel Brook Ale, Dogsbody Ale. All fine or very good. The Dogsbody was a surprise, served to me at Volo by error when I asked for the IPA but I was glad at the slip because the Dogsbody was great. Really it has everything I like in a beer: very good balance, a medium, dry hoppiness, a good malty quality in which the hops are well-integrated. I liked the low gravity which suited the hot weather we had been having. This was not on cask and I think I prefer it non-cask, the beer seemed fresher that way or just, more interesting as a result. Normally one would think the cask would be better but this is not my experience. It is as good as Chiswick Bitter (a Fuller session draft in London).

Well, this has been an active period on the site for me but I'll be taking a break to focus on some professional stuff that's coming up. I do appreciate (this to Cass) the chance given to beer fans to offer our opinions, it is a great site. I read all opinions with interest and have learned a lot from the board. I'll be back after Labour Day sometime but will be at beerbistro this Saturday for the awards and look forward to meeting the bartowlers who will be there.

Gary