Beer!

Should probably get around to posting about a trip from about 2 months ago.

Went to Asheville, NC for my 40th. Hit several breweries, highlights were Wicked Weed and New Belgium.

Starting/ranked from good to godly:

Wicked Weed

• Grissette
• Saison V
• Tyranny Red
• Uncle Rick's Pilsner (they nailed this style! wow!)
• Astronomical
• Ferme-de-Grand-Pere
• Bourbon Barrel Aged Saison V
• Wine Barrel Aged Saison V
• Silencio (this is an outstanding beer)

And from New Belgium (not listing the regular beers folks can get anywhere)

• Sour Saison
• Le Kriek Nior
• VooDoo Ranger Juicy Haze (DO grab this if you see it in the grocery store; between the Juicy Haze and canned Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing, IPA haterz can get 75-80% of the flavor/nose punch of something like Heady Topper for $11/sixxer. PSA: NE-style IPA is the new hot shit.)
• Oscar No. 65
• 2017 La Folie
• 2015 La Folie
• Le Terrior

Now, I think I can safely say I had the most mind-blowingly amazing beer I've ever tasted. Nitro tap New Belgium Geisha. Oh my word. This beer did something to me. Absolutely astonishing. Just flat out the best beer I've ever tasted. It's kind of a disservice to just call it a beer. If you see this beer, buy this beer. Drink it and share it with friends.

 

Geisha might still be on a couple shelves near me. I might try snagging one if they are still there.

 

Just be prepared for some sticker shock.

Like, enjoy a bottle with 3 friends, and small snifters.

But i will reiterate, it's worth every penny.

As a follow on, I managed to get a hold of 12oz of Geisha coffee beans (not the real deal $600/lb stuff used in the brew, but a from a smaller grower), and what's most astounding about the Geisha beer is how much of the flavor profile is derived from the beans. It's just one of the most unique flavor profiles (the beer) and it really just hits every flavor center with a balance that leaves me almost giddy that a beer can do what it does. Apologies for gushing a little too much over a fancy beer.

 

Enjoyed some Innis & Gunn original last night. I haven't had in years, as I used to to only see it in Canada. No idea why it's all of a sudden available in the States (Total Wine), but it's a decently priced treat if you're into barrel aged beers, or a medium bodied Scottish ale with some sweetness.

 

I forget you live in Tampa, I'll be there in June to engage in beer things before I go home to Miami .

 

Your dog is so cute, I miss mine. I have been getting into hazy IPAs like NEIPAs, more and more nowadays although I haven't really been drinking much. It is definitely a good style to explore though but it's best enjoyed fresh so getting the good stuff is hard. I had gotten this from a friend earlier last week but I had been advised by him and another friend to find a local equivalent of whoever does a decent IPA and just drink that regularly.


As you know though, I'm incredibly jealous of your location lol. Have you gone to Angry Chair or Cycle yet?

 

Finally found a place that has Dublin-brewed, export Guinness.

Finally I can drink my lunch again!

 

Guinness for strength!

 

So I had a little treat: "Learn about Lambic" hosted by Greg Engert of Sovereign DC.

Prior to this drink-and-learn the only Lambic I'd ever bothered with was disgusting Kriek from Lindemans. It reminded me of soccer moms drinking box rosé from red solo cups at a home owner's association meeting with manicured lawns and giant white SUVs.

Anyhow, little did i know that (real) Lambics are the f'ing business. And the brewing process is fascinating!

Tasted:

1. De Cam: Oude Lambiek 2017, Gueuze Lambic - 6.5%. Flemish Brabant, Belgium. Bottle Pour. Blend of 3 year old De Cem aged lambics. Wort sourced from Drie Fonteienen, Boon, Girardin, and Lindemans.
2. Drie Fonteienen: Cuvee Armand and Gaston 2016, Gueuze Lambic - 6%. Flemish Brabant, Belgium. Bottle Pour. Blend of 1, 2, and 3 year old Drie Fonteienen-aged lambics. Wort brewed exclusively by Drie Fonteienen.
3. Girardin: Kriek 1882, Vintage 2015, Kriek Lambic - 5%. Flemish Brabant, Belgium. Bottle pour. Blend of lambics aged on cherries.
4. Tilquin: Oude Questsche Tilquin a L'ancienne 2014/2015, Fruit Lambic - 6.4%. Walloon Brabant, Belgium. Bottle Pour. Blend of 1 year old lambic and French Alsace plums plus 2 and 3 year old lambics (35% fruit). Lambic wort sourced from Boon, Cantillon, Girardin, and Lindemans.
5. Cantillon: Fou' Foune 2017, Fruit Lambic - 5%. Brussels, Belgium. Bottle Pour. Blend of lambics aged on Bergeron apricots.

Ok - so I only typed all that shit out to appease any beer snobs that enjoy beer spider charts and whatnot.

In short, there's something that is absolutely magical to spontaneous fermentation beers. We get a lot of the fun flavors and smells with our American Wild Ales and derivations on the style (American Sours, etc.), but for anyone who has tried anything brett- these "live" lambics are that brett experience on steroids, but with much more finesse, too.

The thing about these lambics is that you really sense the fact that these beers are living things. The nuance in the nose across all of the beers above is astounding. There's a depth there that makes all the other top fermented "wild" yeast beers seems kind of plasticky with overdone tartness. Sure, some really great "wild" yeast top-fermented beers do some really, really fun stuff. But tasting some of the oude gueuze lambics above brings a whole new depth to scents like "feet" (and I'm being completely serious here!) and "sweaty horse blanket". Sounds disgusting (at worst), or objectionable (at least), but is pretty amazing when done properly as in a true spontaneous fermentation lambic with no additional fuckery.

Good news for the folks who think $40 a bottle is too rich for this silly business! Find you local fancy pants beer shop and see if they can get a hold of a bottle or two of Boon Oude Gueuze. Should be about $7/bottle for happy-action-fun-time (and still legit) spontaneous fermentation beer. Sante!

 

I LOVE lambic. I am very sad that my friends are in Quintessence in Brussels right now and I'm here in school lol. I am currently building a lambic cellar with mainly just Cantillon and Drie Fonteinen but I have visited De Cam's blenderie and Karel is such a nice guy. Totally worth it to go though, I just can't get enough of geuze and fruited sours in general. I really enjoy Cuvee Rene from lindemann's as well. One of the best lambics I can get in my area for reasonable pricing. I am hoping to collect all the boon vat series someday but we'll see lol.

@yotacowboy are you located in Belgium? (nvm I just noticed it says NOVA. The Answer, Triple Crossing are so good!)

 

Yeah - I'm now building a list of all the US breweries with a coolship setup to start hunting for new beers, can't wait!

 

Looking forward to your findings! Please share it here.

I've done a 50 states, 50 beers type of thing but I haven't really completed it because of school stuff.

Cheers!

 

I really like Gueze Bellvue. It was my dad's fav so I found it when I visited Belgium.

I also did a tour of the Cantillon brewery. I went in December when they were in the middle of brewing so I got to see a lot more of the process then people normally see. Beer tasting included with the tour. Highly recommended.

 

Just had a Sapporo and was suprised by how bad it tastes. Read the label and I noticed it's brewed in Ontario?!

 

Now, I'm only going on the remembrances of others there at the tasting, as I've never been to the Cantillon brewery, but according to those folks who have, the Fou' Foun had a distinctive nose of "library" in a way that was distinctively of the brewery. I mean, I got musty wood, leather, and old paper, but there were dudes in the tasting that claimed, "This book nose is exactly the same as what the brewery smells like". So that's pretty neat, to me, to be able to immediately place a location based on the nose of a beer.