What Beers Did You Drink Today? Or Yesterday? (Part 3)

[FrogPrincesse]

Going through some photos from a few weeks ago. Here is a special England travel edition.
 

One of England's many pubs claiming to be the oldest, this one in Nottingham. Supposedly Richard the LionHeart stopped to have a beer on his way to the crusades.

 

 

Beer options are pictured below. They also had some weird fruit-flavored ciders which apparently are "very popular with women". I took note and went with the Robin Hood ale, which is brewed locally by Nottingham Brewery. Easy drinking and very slightly bitter.

 

The pub itself is pretty cool. A series of little caverns, all connected, like a hobbit house. All local people.

 

 

 

 

 

99 Red Baboons from Blue Monkey, a brewery in Nottingham. Porter-style. Thick and malty. Burned malts, coffee. Probably not the best way to start a meal (although I had tongue, so I needed something robust), but I enjoyed it anyway.

 

 

I had a taste of this much lighter weight option, Extra Pale Ale from Nottingham Brewery.

 

 

Hepworth Curious IPA. I had it a couple of times (not by design, but sometimes there were very few "local" beers available), once in Nottingham and the other time at the London Heathrow airport. The first time I thought it tasted a bit metallic and only slightly bitter for an IPA, but it grew on me. I liked the grassy hops with the malty notes. In the end I think I like it.

It's highly rated by Diffords.

 

 

 

 

Meantime London lager. I tried this one in London (of course). Refreshing, with citrus hops.

 

Edited September 2, 2014 by FrogPrincesse (log)

[FrogPrincesse]

Imperial Hefeweizen "Call It What You Want" by Stone in Point Loma, brewed on the premises.

 

 

It's a hefeweizen, but Stone being Stone, so it's an Imperial version at 10.5% ABV. Again, it's Stone, so the banana esters are flambeed and the clove is huge. Nice dry coriander finish. 

 

Under the watchful eye of a couple of these guys. 

 

 

 

 

The draft menu today for the garden bar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 5, 2014 by FrogPrincesse (log)

[ChrisTaylor]

Sessioning some Hokkaido 'Nature on Tap' while burning through Mind of a Chef. It's a very generic beer in the Japanese sense of the word: accessible, light-tasting (even though it's not lower in alcohol content than your everyday Aussie or American drop). A bit watery. It's ... utterly unremarkable without qualifying as either good or bad. Generic wherein 'generic' is an objective descriptor, free of positive or negative connotations. 

[ChrisTaylor]

More Moa. Moa Southern Alps White IPA. Blurb is spieling something about a wheat-based IPA. I don't know. After a looooooong day it is workable.

[Hassouni]

Lucifer. First time. I heard it's Het Anker's attempt at Duvel. As much as love Gouden Carolus, Het Anker dropped the ball on this one. There was plenty going on it but it was overwhelmed by a taste of alcohol, that Duvel for one (and Gouden Carolus for that matter) doesn't exude.

[FrogPrincesse]

Lucifer. First time. I heard it's Het Anker's attempt at Duvel. As much as love Gouden Carolus, Het Anker dropped the ball on this one. There was plenty going on it but it was overwhelmed by a taste of alcohol, that Duvel for one (and Gouden Carolus for that matter) doesn't exude.

That's too bad. Duvel is such a great beer.

 

Hess Grazias Vienna Cream Ale. Pretty high on the malts, with a slight bitterness. Very easy-going.

 

 

[FrogPrincesse]

Stone Stochasticity Varna Necropolis. Stochasticity is a new project from Stone where they explore imagination and randomness through brewing (I am paraphrasing their press release) - essentially, it's a line of experimental beers made at large scale.

 

Varna Necropolis was inspired by Belgian strong golden ales (Duvel, Delirium Tremens, Matilda, Russian River Damnation, AleSmith Horny Devil, etc, to list a few of my favorites), with the addition of a high dose of hops and an aging step in bourbon barrels.

 

Trying this beer with no preconceived notions, to me it drinks very much like a cocktail. Pretty far from the inspiration. I definitely taste bourbon, with a lot of citrus, mostly grapefruit (with its bitterness). Very much like a Brown Derby in beer form. I like it better than when I first tried it at the brewery.

 

 

Edited September 18, 2014 by FrogPrincesse (log)

[FrogPrincesse]

Another one by Hess that I like a lot - their rye IPA, Habitus. What I like is that it's super malty and spicy with the rye very pronounced, and then it also has this intense bitter kick (86 IBU). Still, it's enjoyable even for non bitter lovers, meaning that it's really well balanced. Highly recommended.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[FrogPrincesse]

More local stuff.

Port Brewing Board Meeting double brown ale. Why do brewers so often feel compelled to add coffee or chocolate to their brown ales is a mystery to me. It's not bad, it's just that it makes the beer more difficult to pair with food. Thankfully the coffee/chocolate was not too pronounced, so it was fine with my grilled sausage. Good level of bitterness. Pretty boozy at 8.5%, if that's what I am supposed to drink before going surfing first thing in the morning, as the label suggests.

 

 

[Hassouni]

St Bernardus Abt 12, in the hope that it is much like Westvleteren 12 as I've heard. It's definitely in the ballpark, but sadly not nearly at the same level as the Westvleteren. Oh well.

[FrogPrincesse]

YuleSmith Summer from AleSmith, a double IPA that they release every summer. The beer was paired with a Thai green curry. It's super hoppy, but not in an aggressive way. These kind of beers always remind me of drinking some kind of herbal tea (chamomille?). A bit of sweetness. Spice. Tobacco in the finish. Very refreshing with spicy food. It's also 8.5% ABV, but you can't really tell.

 

 

 

 

[FrogPrincesse]

St Bernardus Abt 12, in the hope that it is much like Westvleteren 12 as I've heard. It's definitely in the ballpark, but sadly not nearly at the same level as the Westvleteren. Oh well.

 

You are being picky. St. Bernardus is very nice! (Although I've never had the Westvleteren, so I don't know what I am missing.)

[Hassouni]

You are being picky. St. Bernardus is very nice! (Although I've never had the Westvleteren, so I don't know what I am missing.)

 

You're right on all counts 

[FrogPrincesse]

I went to Stone at Liberty Station (Point Loma) again last Friday to relax after a long week. They have a great selection of Stone (brewed in PL or Escondido) and non-Stone beers on tap, plus a huge selection of bottled beers. What's great too is that you can order any beer on tap in a tasting size. Very nice for people like me who don't like to commit (and cheap - the 3 small beers were $7).

 

Here was the draft beer menu at the main bar inside...

 

 

and the draft list at the garden bar.

 

 

 

I started with Hibiscusicity, a beer from Stone's Stochasticity project. This one is a Belgian-style ale brewed with wheat, hibiscus and orange peel.

Pretty color. It was quite dry, with citrus notes.

 

 

The Lupulin Loop: Comet (Stone). This is a project where they make the same beer but change the type of hops as the only variable. This one had been brewed exclusively with comet hops, a rare US-grown hop according to wikipedia.

Citrus and pine. Dry. Quite balanced. (right in the photo)

 

 

 

I had tried Simcoe’s for Sartori (Simcoe single-hop) from the same series a while back. If my memory is correct, it was more aggressively piney.

 

Then a black witbier, Witty Moron (I know a bunch of these, so I had to try it...).

Moronic indeed. Pretty bland. Disappointing. (the black beer in the photo above)

 

There and Back (Sierra Nevada Brewing + New Glarus). This beer is part of Sierra Nevada's Beer Camp Across America series, a series of 12 beers brewed in partnership with other breweries.

That one was the "winner" of the night. I really loved it. It's a great ESB with fruit undertones. Really delicious.

 

 

One more for the road, Liberty Station Great Bowman’s Beard (Stone), a Scotch ale / Wee Heavy. It was a bit sweet, alcohol-forward, flat.

 

 

Edited September 29, 2014 by FrogPrincesse (log)

[Hassouni]

Paulaner Oktoberfest (1 L), and Weihenstephaner Hefeweisse (0.5 L) on Friday

[FrogPrincesse]

The tasting size at Stone is 4 oz I believe, so you "win" by a very wide margin...

[Hassouni]

hehehe

[FrogPrincesse]

I had tried Simcoe’s for Sartori (Simcoe single-hop) from the same series a while back. If my memory is correct, it was more aggressively piney.

 

Scratch that, I found my notes. I am sure I have a photo somewhere too, but I can't find it right now.

 

It was bitter, dry, a bit austere. Some citrus, with a burnt coffee flavor/molasses.

Edited September 30, 2014 by FrogPrincesse (log)

[Vuko Laosic]

Paulaner Light Lager Beer 0.5l 

[cdh]

Had a Vichtenaar with lunch.  And a Rochefort 10 last evening.  

[ChrisTaylor]

Batch #2 of my home brew. It has been stored for ... um ... three or four months now. Thereabouts. It was all canned stuff. A wheat beer. On the advice of a friend I did a secondary fermentation. The advice was good: dig the lack of sediment. On the advice of a friend I batch-primed rather than used those little carbonation drops. The advice was good: dig the even carbonation, bottle to bottle. 

 

The beer lacks a little body but, you know what? Aside from that wee flaw it's pretty fucking good. I couldn't finish the (large) first batch which had been in storage since the start of this year. I opened it recently and found that it had aged past the point of redemption. This, compared to how it was a month or so after being bottled, has developed nicely. If I can figure out how to achieve greater body I may well stick to the same cans for another batch.

[Alex]

Bell's Best Brown Ale. Gooood stuff.

[gfron1]

I had the North Coast Brewing Class of 88 Barleywine.  I hadn't had a barleywine in probably 15-20 years...enjoyed it...or maybe it was the 11% that I enjoyed

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I had Stone's 18th anniversary IPA tonight.  Very good, I thought.  Though I enjoy most of Stone's brews.  I have to say, however, I was expecting more hops.

[FrogPrincesse]

I had Stone's 18th anniversary IPA tonight.  Very good, I thought.  Though I enjoy most of Stone's brews.  I have to say, however, I was expecting more hops.

 

Draft Magazine has an interesting article on Stone's 18th Anniversary IPA (Will Stone’s new IPA kill IPAs as we know them?). Definitely a departure from their usual hop-bombs.