Seattle Beerfest

[MsRamsey]

We're meeting at 12:30!

If you pay admission between 12 and 1, you get extra beer tickets!

[LEdlund]

I'd like to, but Mr Ledlund and I are going to Mistral for our anniversary dinner that night. I don't want to get full on beers beforehand.................

[tighe]

Tighe, this is right up your alley. Anybody else coming?!...

The beer part is very appealing, but I have something of an aversion to 'Fests', 'Bites' and the like. Just one of my quirks. I would like to do a comparative tasting of a particular style of beer sometime with a small to medium sized group, possibly at my place....

[malarkey]

ok, quick review of the beers I tasted at the fest. (yes, I managed to stay semi-coherent enough to take notes).

Bottled beers:

Unibroue from Quebec:

Trois Pistole - a Belgian Strong Ale: almost port like, complex malt flavors that aren't 'in your face'. Wonderful.

Éphémère - Apple Wit bier: oh my god, maybe the winner of the show. a lovely cross between a hard cider and a wit style. great summer beer, with the apple flavor in the foreground, with the coriander/orange in the background. excellent beer.

Nora - an italian beer described as an "Egyptian with ginger & orange": definite ginger flavor in the beginning. only slight on the orange, this was an interesting beer I'd like to try again on its own.

Hannsen's Mead the Gueuze, a gueuze/mead blend from Belgium & England: I really liked this one too. Smelled like honey, tasted like gueuze. nice balance between the two flavors.

Caracole Saxo - a Wallonian Blonde from Belgium: I needed to try this just because I'd never heard of a "Wallonian Blonde". Nice beer, typical Belgian flavors, nothing wrong with it at all, but seemed a bit ordinary after tasting the Unibroue's...

Drafts:

Dogfish Head 90 minute IPA from Delaware: not much malt, strong hops (tasted like Cascades to me) a nice beer, but this one doesn't take Diamond Knot IPA off their pedastel.

Leipziger Gose: a rare German gueuze: whoa, tasted like a wit to me, with coriander and salt flavors.

Unibroue Maudite: a Belgian Red. only slightly sweet, nice malt flavors, subtle.

Dinkelacker Dark: a Munich Dunkel: good malt/hop balance, not heavy, filtered. a good session beer. I personally love and prefer unfiltered dunkels, they look like muddy water and taste surprisingly light and oh so drinkable.

Hair of the Dog "Fred": a Triple. very much like a barley wine, intense, syrupy, winey, high alcohol.

St. Bernardus 12: a Quadruppel: never had one so had to try it. smooth, but strong alcohol and malt. lacks the syrupy winey thing barley wines have.

Those are all my notes kids. by this time I had a really good buzz going. Me, MsRamsey and Rose had a grand time, ran into SeaWaKim, Mr SeaWaKim and Mr SeaWaKim's Mom. They seemed to be having a grand time as well. We decided Happy Hour at Brasa was in order after all that beer so we indulged ourselves.

I would have to say for the small sampling I did, the Unibroue beers were the clear winners and the ones I'll be seeking out very soon to sample again. I've had the La Fin du Monde and I liked it but it didn't draw me to taste the other Unibroue's. Really glad I got the chance here.

I know that Rose & MsRamsey tasted a few I didn't (and we did some sharing) so I'll leave it up to them to fill in the gaps in my review!

edit: ah, left one off I just remembered. Liefmans Frambozenbier: a sour flemish brown: very raspberry, but not in an overly sweet way. still, this is a good example of something that is NOT a session beer Would be a great dessert beer.

Edited July 14, 2003 by malarkey (log)

[tighe]

OK, so now you're making me regret not going.....

I think the Unibroue beers are some of the most distinctive and interesting around, but I've never tried the 'Trois Pistole' before, which sounds right up my alley. Sounds like there was a great selection to choose from...

[Schielke]

After all that high alcohol dogfish, I am suprised you made it to Brasa!