Summer Release notes

Andicus · Post by **Andicus** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 3:57 am

I tried the Chapeau tonight, and found it absolutely horrible. It tasted like liquified hard candies. I've honestly never had a worse 'lambic'. But, to each his own. Still worth a try. Just don't expect anything.

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 10:53 am

Andicus wrote:I've honestly never had a worse 'lambic'.

Give it time, you'll find worse.

I found at least some sourness of Chapeau steeled the fruit/sugar sweetness a bit. I'm not likely to buy it by the pallet, but for some tastes...

shintriad · Post by **shintriad** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 3:24 pm

I tried the Saison and found it alright -- to me it tasted more like a Trappist than a Lambic, a more bitter Fin du Monde. I can see myself enjoying it again.

Half-e-Weizen was good, but not mind-blowing. But I have to say, that Floris honey thing was definitely a guilty pleasure, and I'll be buying some more for my less snobby friends to try.

In fact, I'm going to try all the purportedly crappy brews I was avoiding until now -- the pineapple, the strawberry, the plum pudding, whatever.

lister · Post by **lister** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 4:33 pm

I've been drinking the Floris Honey at Smokeless for some time now. It's usually the last drink of the night for me since it's so sweet. There were a couple of slightly amusing and annoying times when ordering it at Smokeless when the bartender would voice his displeasure about it. (I think Rob and John are the two current guys we've been getting for the past few months. This is someone else, not sure if he's still working there. One time the Honey wasn't available and he suggested Dogfish Head ApriHop. Oops! Big mistake though I did manage to finish it, not happily.)

At least now I can stock up on Floris Honey cheaply now and direct my $$$ towards something else at Smokeless. I just wish the Chocolate one was available.

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 8:23 pm

shintriad wrote:I tried the Saison and found it alright -- to me it tasted more like a Trappist than a Lambic, a more bitter Fin du Monde. I can see myself enjoying it again.

Half-e-Weizen was good, but not mind-blowing. But I have to say, that Floris honey thing was definitely a guilty pleasure, and I'll be buying some more for my less snobby friends to try.

In fact, I'm going to try all the purportedly crappy brews I was avoiding until now -- the pineapple, the strawberry, the plum pudding, whatever.

I agree, the Dupont has a bit of Rochefort 8 bite or something like that to it. Ballsier than one might expect.

The Half-E-Weizen was Half-a-Something, but I must try it again. Floris Honey still waits for me.

Sweetened brews aren't really "crappy", the Fruli Strawberry for example is just what it is meant to be - sweet and fruity as fresh-stewed berries. Comparing it to beer in the usual sense is not useful.

shintriad · Post by **shintriad** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 9:27 pm

Agreed. I meant "crappy" by Ratebeer standards, which I obviously put too much faith in. Strange how many relatively sweet (but reportedly balanced) Imperials get sky-high ratings, but a simple sweetened wit gets trashed.

I actually didn't even bother buying that Floris chocolate last time it was in town, based on its dismal rating. Now it's become my life's mission to find the bastard.

mustang3 · Post by **mustang3** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 10:16 pm

I'm pretty open minded with sweeter beers and I have to say I liked the fruli strawberry and the other Floris fruit beers that have come out ie: passion and ninkeberry. However, Floris Chocolat deserves its place among the most awful tasting beers on the planet. It is an abomination and the onyl positive I took from the experience of drinking it was that I didn't have to drink the whole bottle because I split it with my brother at Smokeless. Actually I ordered a Rochefort 10 or something and convinced him to try the "chocolate beer". Heheheheh.......

lister · Post by **lister** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 12:30 pm

Started with the Christoffel Blond ahead of dinner last night. It starts well but I'm not fond of the finish. It's not IPA bad for me (it is drinkable) but definitely not what I'm looking for in a pilsner. I like to have them outside on a nice hot day to cool down and have them go down easy or in between two different styles of beers, like say a wit and a sweet beer, to cleanse the mouth.

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 3:34 pm

lister wrote:Started with the Christoffel Blond It's not IPA bad for me.

I find I can hit a ceiling with my "hop tolerance" for a while.

Now, the Floris Honey was... florid and... honeyish. Very odd for me. Not exactly repulsive but hard to go 'wow' to, sort of sweet-perfumey frutiness.

GregClow · Post by **GregClow** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 11:35 pm

Andicus wrote:I tried the Chapeau tonight, and found it absolutely horrible.

I was in the mood for some fruity stuff tonight, so I cracked my single bottle of this, and I must agree with Andicus' opinion - it is some nasty-ass stuff! Here are my Rate Beer notes...

"Slightly hazy golden yellow colour with no head and a completely lifeless body. Aroma of cheap pineapple juice, dried papaya, and butterscotch Life Savers. Mouthfeel is more carbonated than I expected from the appearance. Cloying flavour of pineapple candy, followed by an unpleasant, lingering lemony bitterness. Definately up there with some of the Floris offerings in the "what the hell were they thinking???" department."

Thankfully, I also had a Mort Subite Framboise on hand, as well as a very nice Blackberry mead that I picked up at the Rossignol Winery in PEI last month, so I had some enjoyable fruity beverages to round out the evening...

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 3:17 pm

Yeah the Chapeau is kinda to get through, but then people like the Floris honey and I can't bloody stand it - like a weird bubble bath aroma or something.

Some things just aren't worth the "beer gut." I will try anything once, save incest and square-dancing.

BeerMonger · Post by **BeerMonger** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 3:58 pm

I took the day off today to get the grass cut, etc., temperature at about 95 degrees (fool that I am). Sweated off a few pounds then decided to hit my local LCBO at the Applewood Plaza to stock up (Dixie and Q.E.W). They have quite a decent selection of beers there despite it not being a flagship type store.
Picked up several types and then tasted the following for the first time...

Floris Honey-Lots of honey, perhaps a touch sweet but very satisfying to slake a thirst. I couldn't drink a lot of these but would definitely pick it up again.

Saison Dupont- I agree with the ballsier description posted eearlier, another keeper.

Red Maple (Northern Breweries)- Never seen this before and I must admit that it was the surprise of the bunch. A darkish ale (5.2) tempered with a very slight touch of maple. I must say it was terrific on my palate and would like to hear other opinions. Great stuff for a hot summer's day.

Lots of others to try including Christoffel, Rogue etc. but most of these are old hat to most of you.

Cheers!

GregClow · Post by **GregClow** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 4:21 pm

BeerMonger wrote:Red Maple (Northern Breweries)- Never seen this before and I must admit that it was the surprise of the bunch. A darkish ale (5.2) tempered with a very slight touch of maple. I must say it was terrific on my palate and would like to hear other opinions.

This recently appeared at my local LCBO as well, and I decided to pick up a six-pack this past weekend. My notes:

"Dark mahogany-brown colour with a wispy head. Sweet aroma of malt with hints of maple and apple, and a slight earthy/herbal edge. Body is thin but refreshing. Flavour starts sweet, with caramel malt and maple, and finishes with a mild bitterness. A pleasant surprise."

Well worth checking out, especially given the $8.95/six-pack price tag at the LCBO (vs. the $10.95 listed on the Beer Store website).

lister · Post by **lister** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 6:37 pm

I've enjoyed Northern Red Maple for some time now. My only hesitation for not buying it more than I do was there only being 12 and 24 packs. Now that sixes are available I'll pick it up a little more often.

pootz · Post by **pootz** » Sat Jul 16, 2005 6:15 pm

Loved the Rogue half-a-weizen. Long awaited and it didn't disappoint... a very tasty and well carried off variation on 2 wheat styles..refreshing, spicy and a great summer drink.

The Saison Dupont was also a nice surprise.....great layered flavour profile and a very refreshing but satisfying ale.

The Schofferhofer Hefeweizen was a bit of a let down...not bad but too many better tasting Hefeweizens around

Belgian Peches: I'll be kind and say it was fruity

The rest I've had before and IF I had a free wish I'd ask the LCBO to keep the Edelweiss hefeweiss on the shelves all year and dump the Erdinger hefeweiss for the Erdinger dunkel weizen.

A fair summer offering in Ontraio...I wish there were more North American micro lagers available for the summer sampling but hey, we work with what we are given from the state liquor monopoly.

BTW: I sampled some great summer offerings from the west that hit the spot. There was Flying dog's Old scratch ( a California common ) and their great APA...Lagunitas Maximus and IPA, Tree's great BC IPA on tap and the surprise was the BC's Okanagan Springs "Dark" ( a Munich styled dark lager) and their Helles ( which is the best version of the style in Canada IMHO), the Brew Brothers are making a great Dunkel in AB as well. Too bad there isn't as much interprovincial beer importing as there is international.

The next trip out at the end of August I HAVE to take the time out to sample some of the variety of well crafted beers Dave is doing at Bushwacker in the outback of Sask.