Non Belgian beers

[John B]

Here's one from pFriem Family Brewers (that's how it's spelled, with a small p followed by the capital F) located in Hood River Oregon. I'd heard good things about their beers, but have never had one since until just recently they didn't distribute in my area.

This beer is simply called American Lager and comes in at 5% abv. The store which I happened to come upon this one also had two other pFriem beers, one simply called pilsner and one simply called lager. Can't say I'd give them much credit for creativity as far as beer names go. But that's not the important thing, let's see how this tastes...

It's described by pFriem as "... beautifully golden and easy drinking, effervescent with honey suckle and a spritz of lemon and pear. We add corn for a touch of sweetness to this buoyant brew, a crafty twist on a simply smashable American classic". And that's a pretty good description, better than I could give. The honey suckle, slight lemon and pear are there in the taste. Unfortunately though, I also picked up the corn sweetness, which I'm just not a fan of. To me, corn gives a beer somewhat of a "cheap" sensation to my taste buds. So while I liked this beer for the most part, I would have preferred it without the corn. All in all, a good introduction to pFriem's beers, and I'll be giving their other ones a try somewhere down the road. Cheers! - John

[Trappist]

Hi John,
Too bad about the corn sweetness.
Corn starch is not frequently used here in Belgium for brewing. That's really an American thing I think.
I sure love some sweet balanced beers, but mainly from malt and plain candy sugar, gives great body and mellowness to the beer.
Cheers,
Filip

[John B]

Here's a brew from Offshoot Beer Company, which is an offshoot of The Bruery, hence the name. This one is called Relax, and it's a 6.8% abv hazy IPA. I've seen this one around for a couple of years, but haven't given it a try until now.

It has those fruity notes to it that so many hazy IPAs have, along with a fairly smooth mouthfeel. Overall this one reminded me a bit of Firestone Walker's Double Mind Haze. Not bad. Cheers! - John

[Jay]

Hi everyone,

Many of you will be aware of the very much hyped beer Putty and its new bigger brother Puttty (a 10% Triple IPA) well there's also an annual release along the same vein from Manchester brewery CloudWater - a 10% TIPA name Chubbles that comes in a variety of guises, brewed in collaboration with American brewers The Veil and like Putty released once a year.

Well yesterday I received a box from CloudWater containing the 4 variants plus a couple of extra bottles and a special Chubbles glass.




From l-r

Chubbles 53° - 6.5% NEIPA

Chubbles - 10% TIPA

Chubbles Chubbles - 10% TIPA

Chubbles 3 Enhanced - 10% TIPA

CloudWater Who Turns The Wheel - 8th Anniversary Imperial Stout aged in blend of Port, Whisky & Bourbon barrels

Two Chefs Brewing (from Amsterdam) 14.2% Imperial Stout aged 12 months in Heaven Hill Rye Whiskey Barrels

Plus that fantastic Chubbles tasting glass...will be cracking a couple this weekend

Cheers
Jay 

[Trappist]

Hi Jay,
That's quite some special box with alot of heavy monsters.
I notice that those Heaven Hill barrels are very frequently seen in the recent beer brew scene. Even Rudy is experimenting with one of those.
And we had a Heaven Hill barrel aged beer too at Rudy's most recent beer tasting at De Bierboom.
https://heavenhilldistillery.com/barrel.php
Have some cracking tasting next weekend Jay 
Cheers,
Filip

[John B]

Here's a few recent imbibements:

First up, from Lagunitas Brewing Company located in the northern California town of Petaluma - Waldo's Special Ale. It's one of their "Limited Release" beers, an 11.7% Triple IPA. It's an inexpensive beer, one which is good if you're looking to get buzzed for cheap. I wasn't, so I only purchased a single bottle. Glad I did. This is one overly sweet mess of a beer. I remember having it once before, but that was a number of years ago and I forgot how sticky and sweet this one was. Some folks like this sort of thing, but I'll try to remember not to buy this one again.

Next up, from Riip Brewing in Huntington Beach California - Cast A Pink Shadow IPA. West coast in style, with an abv of 7%. This beer benefits the Pink Boots Society, which helps women in the brewing industry get ahead in their careers through education. I'd heard good things about Riip beers, but until now had never had one. This one, Cast A Pink Shadow, turned out to be pretty good. Very crisp, as you can tell by the amount of carbonation. A nice refresher on this warm spring day.

Next up are two beers from Liquid Gravity, one which I'd never had the pleasure of trying beers from before. They're located in the central California town of San Luis Obispo. First up is a beer simply titled "IPA". It's a west coast style brew with an abv of 7%. Hate to be a downer, but this one just didn't do much for me. At first I thought maybe it was an old can, as it had that sort of a taste sensation to it, but I don't think so. The store where I purchased it just got it in this week, and I've never seen outdated beers at that store before. They're pretty careful about not having old beers there. The bottom of the can read 038 IPA 174. I have no idea what that means, unless it means it was canned on the 38th day of the year which would have been early February. That's not that old. Well anyway, maybe I'll give another can a try some other time.

Finally, the next one from Liquid Gravity - Pale From The Crypt, a 5.5% west coast pale ale. This one hit the spot much better than the IPA. It had a good hop bite to it without being overly bitter. Very easy to drink, with a smooth and medium feel in the mouth. This is a beer I'd happily buy again. Cheers! - John

[John B]

A few more:

Here is a trio from Russian River Brewing in Santa Rosa California. I won't go into any sort of lengthy descriptions of them, other than to say Blind Pig and Pliny The Elder are two old school classic west coast IPAs which have been around for years, and are still among the best representations of that style being made today. The third beer is Row 2 Hill 56 Pale Ale, and if I had to pick just one Russian River beer to drink among their non barrel aged offerings I'd probably choose this one. All three beers are beautifully made, and a joy to drink.

 Cheers! - John




From Bottle Logic in Anaheim California, a 6% pale ale called Moon Lava. Brewed with El Dorado, Citra, and Nectaron hops, it's an easy drinking type of beer, and at $10.99 for a 4 pack of 16 oz cans a pretty good deal these days. I'd buy it again at that price.

[Viv]

Hey John,

You've got some beauties there!

I've seen Pliny the Elder getting ratings to put it near the top
of worldwide beer lists...

Cheers!


Viv

[John B]

Hey John,

You've got some beauties there!

I've seen Pliny the Elder getting ratings to put it near the top
of worldwide beer lists...

Cheers!


Viv

Hi Viv, yes Pliny the Elder is a very highly rated beer. The key is to drink it as fresh as possible. I'm not the world's biggest fan of IPAs, but that beer is a real beauty that I'll treat myself to on occasion. It's a beer that many breweries strive to copy or at least approach in quality, but few do.

Sometimes I wonder what it's like drinking this beer for those of you who are many thousands of miles away from the source (Russian River Brewing is located in northern California). I'm sure many have heard of Pliny, but how often is it drank fresh over there? It makes a big difference. People likely have big expectations for this beer (and some others), but if you're drinking a bottle that's a couple of months old, or hasn't been properly handled then you're not drinking this beer as it was meant to be.

In fact, Russian River is very very serious about who is allowed to sell their beer here. They stipulate that their beer MUST remain refrigerated at all times from the moment it leaves the brewery. If Vinnie Cilurzo, the owner of Russian River finds out that a store has his beer sitting out on unrefrigerated shelves he will stop allowing that store to sell his beer in the future.

This thought crosses my mind in reverse as well. How many Belgian beers sold here have been properly cared for by the time it reaches our shelves and what affect does it have on the taste of the beer? Hard to say. I guess what it all comes down to is this:  Try to drink beers as close to the original source (the brewery) as possible. Also in not all, but most cases, drink it as fresh as possible too.

Fresh Beer Cheers! - John 

[JRJordao]

Weihenstephaner Vitus

Weizenbock style, strong german wheat beer. 7,7% abv.

Classic banana bread aroma and taste. Sweet (not too sweet), no noticeable hops. Unfiltered and quite filling, the tradicional 50cl bottle is a meal by itself

Great example of the style from one of the top german breweries.

Cheers!