Ommegang “Aphrodite” Belgian-Style Ale (New York) – Fermented with grains of paradise, though I can’t say that I notice anything peppery about it. Mostly it’s just big, weighty, built to impress, but for all that effort sort of pointless and formless. In that it’s like most of Ommegang’s ales, which are routinely disappointing for my palate. (12/11)
beer
Empty nest
Kiruchi “Hitachino Nest” White Ale (Japan) – Beautiful, soft, elegant, and as fully-integrated as any white ale of my memory. The tendency when drinking non-blind like this is, of course, to be moved to say things like “the sort of white ale a Japanese brewery would make, everything just so” without knowing if that’s the same reaction one would have if drinking blind, and yet…well, it is exactly that. (12/11)
This space left blank due to the brewer’s already-excellent pun
Philadelphia “Walt Wit” Belgian-Style White Ale (Pennsylvania) – Harsh, as if every single element of the white ale style was jacked up past 11 to about 15 or so. Absolutely no fun to drink. (12/11)
Throne of Belœil
Dupont “La Bière de Belœil” Ale (Belgium) – Vibrant and sour. Not as puckery as, say, Cantillon, but more aggressive than a red ale, and with layers of metal, spice, and density to offset the acidic bite. There’s a bit of yeasty stench, but it’s well-restrained. Really quite impressive. (12/11)
VVV
Sam Smith “Tadcaster” Yorkshire Stingo (UK) – Very deep, very dark, very intense. An absolute wallop of a brew, but without the food-like fatigue of a Stout; there’s something vivid and vibrant here. For my palate, this is just about the most interesting thing Sam Smith has ever made. (11/11)
I forgot
Pike “Auld Acquaintance Happy Holiday Ale” (Washington) – Solid and heavy, as befits the genre, with some spicy/metallic/preserved lemon stuff going on. Very linear. (11/11)
Chimay, Chimay, cocoa bop
Chimay Trappist Ale “Grandes Réserve” (Belgium) – This was purchased in 2008, but unless “LAN-662” is the lot number (and it may be) I have no way to know exactly what release it was. And unlike many of my beer aging experiments, this was one was a resounding success. Richer, darker, and more complex than at release (and it’s a pretty excellent beer even then), with more of its aromatics inhabiting the coffee, molasses, and chocolate realms. Yet it’s not sweeter. In fact, the opposite, as if its asymptote is amaro rather than that suggested by the sweet-ish aromas. I love this, and will promptly stash more in the cellar..(11/11)
David
Duvel 2009 Golden Ale (Belgium) – A beer aging experiment. This didn’t fail like some have, but it didn’t lead to much reward either: the beer is more lemon-dominated than its richer youth, and more about frothy yeastiness than much in the way of gained complexity. To make a wine analogy, aging it more or less turned a decent Champagne into a good Prosecco. (11/11)
At the hop
Harpoon “100 Barrel Series” Czech Hop Harvest Ale “Dočesná” (Vermont) – Aggressive in multiple ways: richly-hopped (but not one of those hop-overwhelmed extremities, by any means), chipped metal and wood aromas, and physically impossible to ignore. It is, perhaps, a bit more than I was expecting, but I’ll chalk that up to my expectations rather than an inherent flaw in the ale. All that said, it remains aggressive. (10/11)
Take three
Unibroue 2006 “Trois Pistoles” (Québec) – Overly-succulent, sweet, almost candied (in a licorice sort of fashion), and yet good. Worth aging? No. The froth is no longer integrated, and everything seems like it’s on the verge of collapse. (10/11)