1001 Beers

Beer No: 84
Page No: 902
Category: Specialty

World Cup Day 6!  Now that all 32 teams have played at least one game, it should start to get a little more interesting.  Teams will know if they need to win to advance or if they can just play for a tie, so expect teams that have nothing to lose to be ultra-aggressive, while those that just need a tie to stay in it sit back and play defense.  Either way, this second week of games should be a lot better than the first week.

Today's beer hails from Switzerland.  It was the only Swiss beer I could find, a 2006 vintage of Abbaye de Saint Bon-Chien.  And, even though I could have had a Spanish beer today, I picked Switzerland, and they upset Spain 1-0.  So, that got me thinking - how are my beer picks paying off for the teams I pick?

Day 1: Mexico - tie with South Africa
Day 2: United States - tie with England
Day 3: Australia - loss to Germany
Day 4: Denmark - loss to Netherlands
Day 5: Brazil - win vs. South Korea
Day 6: Switzerland - win vs. South Korea

So I'm 2-2-2.  Not bad, but not the best.  If I had picked Germany on Day 3, I'd be 3-2-1, which would be very good.  But since I already made all my picks in advance, I'm sticking to them.  If I can pick and choose the round 2 teams as I go, I'll try and pick more winners.  Up tomorrow - a French beer as France plays Mexico.

Back to the Abbaye de Saint Bon-Chien, I really loved the start of this beer.  I just didn't like how it finished.  However, as I type this, the beer is warming, and the finish seems to be mellowing out a bit.  Either way, I found the finish to be a bit dry, chalky, and astringent, but the initial flavors were quite wonderful.  This oak barrel aged beer has a wonderful aroma of tartness, sweet malts, sour fruits, and wine.  The initial flavor also has that same tartness and vinous undertones.  Which is to be expected - founded in 1997, the head brewer had his start as an oenologist (which is the study of wine-making).  Given this background, the beers put out by Jerome Rebetez are remarkably refined and I'd love to get my hands on one of the Abbaye de Saint Bon-Chien Grand Crus.  The non "Grand Cru" blend mixes the aged beers from a bunch of different casks, but the few casks that stand on their own are labeled Grand Cru.

I really need to figure out a way to get ahold of the brewery's La Meule as well.  Their only other brew in 1001 Beers, this Belgian inspired beer is a strong spiced dark ale with prunes and sounds pretty good.  It also feagures a strange twist - sage leaves.  So I'm really looking forward to it if I could ever find it.

My review, cross-posted at RateBeer.com:

BFM Abbaye de Saint Bon-Chien 2006 by BFM (Brasserie des Franches-Montagnes)

Aroma: 9/10
Appearance: 4/5
Taste: 7/10
Palate: 4/5
Overall: 13/20

Rating: 3.7 / 5.0

Had from bottle from Hi Time Wines - 750ml. 2006 Vintage, Blended in April, 2007. Pours a reddish brown with slight tan head that dissipates over time to nothingness. A bubbly mouthfeel accentuates the first taste. Aroma is tart, with nice oak / wood undertones. Aroma also consists of a bit of white wine and malty sweetness. Flavor is very vinous with a tart, sweet, fruity flavor. I love the way this beer starts, however, I’m not a fan of the finish. Finish is dry, chalky, and astringent. I really loved how the beer started - from the magnificent bottle, nice pour, good color, and sweet aroma - but the finish just put me off. The finish lingers for a bit too long and is just too astringent for my tastes. I wanted to rate it higher, but after consuming the bottle, just had to lower it a bit to account for the strange aftertaste.

Photo courtesy The_Photographer

Beer No: 66
Page No: 333
Category: Blond

After a rough Friday night, what better way to spend a Saturday than with a trip down to Stone Brewing Co?  It just so happened that at noon, the lovely Laurie from 100 Beers in 30 Days was going through Saisons and Dr. Bill lined up a beautiful selection of Saisons on tap just for her.  Of course, all of us other peons at the bistro that day were able to partake in the tap lineup.  Not knowing which were in 1001 Beers, I just picked one at random, the Dupont Avec Les Bons Voeux.

And, it just so happens that the Dupont beer is in the book.  Not really knowing, I forgot to break out my camera, but I did get a chance to use my new books from 33 Beers.com.  These little books fit in any pocket and handily hold 33 beer reviews.  I didn't want to take too much time to work through my review, but what I returned home with was a 4/5 rating and notes of, "spicy, fruity, golden orange, no head, adequate lacing, finishes dry, bitter."  The ABV is a surprising 9.5% and on the flavor wheel (a very simplified version of the one on the site linked), I have high "linger" and "fruity/citrus" with medium floral, bitter, astringent, and body.  Sour, toffee, and burnt were all low on the wheel.  But it's really fun to be able to quickly take notes, toss the book back in your pocket, and continue on with the lunch.

After a good lunch (I wasn't impressed my first time there, but was very happy with both the pretzels and the chicken tikki), we went on the Stone tour, which I had not done yet - which is crazy since it's really only one and a quarter to one and a half hours away.  The tour guide was awesome and gave a pretty good overview of the basic brewing techniques.  It's pretty cool to just see that they do what I do at home, but just on a larger level (e.g. boiling for same amount of time, milling their own grains, etc.).  He said that currently they produce 1/1000th of Anheuser Busch and that their goal is 2.5/1000 and they'll be done growing at that point.  As long as they keep the quality high, I'm all for more Stone Brews.

Here's a couple quick pictures I took - including boxes of bottles for their upcoming 14th Anniversary brew - an Imperial IPA.  Boy, I can't wait for that one.  Hops galore me thinks.

Dupont Avec les Bons Voeux from Brasserie Dupont

Aroma: 7/10
Appearance: 4/5
Taste: 8/10
Palate: 3/5
Overall: 15/20

Rating: 3.7 / 5.0

Had from bottle on April 18, 2003 at the Suffed Sandwich
An interesting beer, it pours with a small white head and a cloudy yellow coloring. The flavor is initially acidic with a bitter finish. I enjoyed the citric flavoring which masks the 9.5% ABV very well.

Beer No: 52
Page No: 921
Category: Specialty

May 15th...OC Beer Festival time.  As you can see if you flip through the pictures above, there were a lot of great breweries participating in the Beer Fest, and even though I didn't get a chance to visit even a fraction of the breweries due to time issues, we all had a great time (especially with 1/2 price tickets).  We decided to get pizza before the fest, so we headed over to Oggi's, but that took longer than expected and we weren't on the road until about 1:15 (the Beer Fest started at 1pm).  Unfortunately, the one lane road out to Irvine Lake was JAM-packed.  We crawled the few miles into Silverado and finally arrived at the fest around 2:20pm.  Over an hour to go 10 miles.  Not fun.

But once we got there, we had a great time.  As you can see, we visited Lagunitas, Karl Strauss, The Bruery, Angel City, Deschutes, Napa Smith, Firestone Walker, Ommegang, Port Brewing, Fireman's Brew, and, not pictured, New Belgium, Stone, Boston Beer Co., Bayhawk, Pyramid, Bootleggers, and Cismontane.  I'm probably forgetting a few more too, but it was a gorgeous day, the crowds were not too large, lines were small, and Metal Shop rocked.  I was a little fearful about how the whole day would turn out, but I was very happy with the event and I'd definitely make another trip out there - I'd just get there earlier.  I ran into my old boss and he had arrived a little before 1pm and didn't have near the amount of traffic we did.  Hopefully next year, the OC Beer Fest won't be scheduled on the same day as a Scout-O-Rama.

Getting back from the Beer Fest, the festivities continued at my house where we played a little beer pong, some Mario Kart, and then headed out to the Bruery to try even more beer.  They had a firkin of Rugbrod on tap aged with French Oak.  It was delicious.  I didn't have a chance to try their seasonal beer, Trade Winds Tripel at the brewery itself, but I did try it at the OC Beer Fest and it was quite good.  I also ran into Patrick Rue and talked with him for a bit at the festival where he explained that the keg they brought to the festival was "experimental" as the Trade Winds was keg-conditioned and turned out a little bit sweeter than he would have liked.  Either way, it was a wonderful experiment and I was very happy with the result.

So...back to the beer.  Like I said, we returned back to my place after the Beer Fest and I got out a nice Rodenbach to share.  One of my favorite beers (I love the Grand Cru a bit more, but the standard Rodenbach is just fine as well), the Rodenbach added a bit of tartness to my day that was lacking at the Beer Fest.  Most of the beers around the festival were blondes, pilsners, and light belgians.  There were a few strong belgians, a couple dopplebocks, and some stouts and porters, but mostly, the beer tended towards the lighter side.  There were definitely no sour or tart beers, nothing all that outrageous, so it was nice to have a change of pace back at my house.  Aged in oak tuns, the tart acidity of the Rodenbach stands out well and makes for a surprisingly refreshing beverage.

My review, cross-posted at RateBeer.com:

Rodenbach from Brouwerij Rodenbach (Palm)

Aroma: 8/10
Appearance: 3/5
Taste:  7/10
Palate: 4/5
Overall: 15/20

Rating: 3.7 / 5.0

Had from bottle multiple times. Pours ruby red / dark brown with a slight, quickly diminishing head. Aroma is tart, sour, acid, vinegar, cherries, and general sweetness / sugar. Taste is complex with sour cherries, acidity, oak undertones, and a wonderful wild yeast taste. Finishes dry, refreshing, and oaky. A lovely beer on a hot day, easy drinking, not too sour, almost as good as the Grand Cru.

Beer No: 31/1001
Page No: 779
Category: Dark

I just don't understand...why does 7-11 feel the need to sell their own brand of cheap beer?  Did they really think that the Bud Light / Miller Light / Coors Light marketplace needed another entrant?  Did they think people, most likely set in their cheap, yellow, fizzy beer ways would suddenly switch to 7-11 brand "Game Day" beer?  Well, I guess they figured if all the big breweries are getting a piece of the crap beer pie, they should have a sliver too...so out they come with "Game Day" and "Game Day Light" and luckily I don't have to go buy some to review it.  The folks over at the SF Gate did a wonderful review already.  So, if you really need a reason to not drink this swill, hopefully the review will do that for you.  Here's my favorite part of the review:

Despite showing up in a sport coat and button-down shirt, the dude behind the counter still instinctively covered my giant cans of Game Day Ice and Game Day Light in a small paper bag, presumably so the cops wouldn't hassle me if I wanted to drink my beer on the corner. Thanks, mini-mart enablers! I felt weird paying with a five dollar bill. Next time I buy Game Day beer I'm definitely dropping a handful of nickels, dimes and pennies, a crumpled up dollar and a subway token on the counter.

Luckily the educated out there aren't going to drink this.  Luckily we have beers from German, Belgium, and craft breweries in the United States to save us.  Luckily we have beers like Petrus' Oud Bruin.  A mixture of old and young brown ales, this beer smells a bit more tart than it tastes.  It has a wonderful complexity to the flavors with sweetness, malts, tartness, and hints of oak, cherries, and raspberries.  I drank this one as I watched my brother and his friends throw darts while drinking Bud Light for the most part.  Luckily one of his friends has a smidgen of taste and brought over a six-pack of New Belgium's Mothership Wit, but that disappeared first and they went to their old friend, the Bud Light.  I guess there will always be a market for cheap, crap beers, even amongst those that know good beers are out there - even if they're surrounded by the good beers.

My review, cross-posted at RateBeer.com:

Petrus Oud Bruin from Bavik-De Brabandere

Aroma: 7/10
Appearance: 4/5
Taste: 7/10
Palate: 4/5
Overall: 15/20

Rating: 3.7 / 5.0

Had from bottle from Total Wine & More. Pours a dark brown with hints of red and a tan head with good lacing. The aroma is tart which belies the subtleness of the sourness in the flavor. Other aromas of malts and fruits - cherries, raspberries... Tastes of a brown ale - malts, oak, slightly sour and more oak than I expected. With the tart aroma, I expected a more pronounced sour flavor, but it’s quite demure with just slight undertones. Very enjoyable, drinkable, and tasty.

Beer No: 3/1001
Page No: 471
Category: Blond

Yesterday, we focused on a pale ale (Sierra Nevada) - in my review of the beer, I lamented the fact that the hops were "a bit too disguised within the malts," but then went on to laud the balance between hops and malts.  Any pale ale should be a good balance, while any IPA should definitely be more hops than malt, and the Racer 5 from Bear Republic Brewing is definitely a hop-first beer.

Up front, I stated that my favorite beer styles are those of lambics and gueuzes - I love the sourness of the beers, the wild fermentation, the unpredictability of a perfectly brewed beer.  My second favorite beer is definitely the IPA - be it your standard India Pale Ale, a double IPA, or even a triple IPA.  I just love my hops - which is a stark, and somewhat odd contrast to that of sour beers, but there's just something about the citrus flavors, the pine aromas, and the bitter finish of a hoppy beer that gets my taste buds cheering.

The Racer 5 is one of the two Bear Republic beers in the listing of 1001, the other being a Hop Rod Rye - so it's quite clear that the fine brewers up in northern California love their hops.  A family owned brewery, the Norgroves know their beer, having been named Small Brewing Company of the Year on their 10th anniversary and having won multiple medals at the Great American Beer Festival.  Though 1001 Beers states that the Rocket Red Ale was the original flagship beer of the company, it has quickly been replaced by the Racer 5.  Blending Northwest American hops - Cascade, Columbus, and Chinook - this hoppy beer clocks in at 84 IBUs and is a striking example of what an IPA should be.

As a side note, I used to collect pint glasses and now have a couple hundred of them in storage.  I probably have a Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA glass somewhere in a box and it's a shame I couldn't taste this from the one pint glass made for this beer.  Perhaps a quick run to my storage locker is in order to see if I can pull out a few boxes of pint glasses and match them to upcoming beers...

My review, cross-posted at RateBeer.com:

Bear Republic Racer 5 from Bear Republic Brewing Co.

Aroma: 7/10
Appearance: 3/5
Flavor: 8/10
Palate: 3/5
Overall: 16/20

Rating: 3.7 / 5.0

Had from 750ml bottle. Pours a beautiful clear orange hue with a substantial white head which dissipates slowly and leaves behind ample lacing. Aromas of citrus and pine, definitely a hoppy beer. Taste is all hops - bitter, piney, and floral. A wonderful IPA which finishes slightly bitter and without any alcohol aftertaste.

And, just for fun, my original rating of Racer 5 from March 20th, 2003 (almost exactly 7 years ago):

The beer pours with a nice amber/brown appearance and has a great smell of hops and a slight sweetness. The initial taste is hops, hops and more hops - but damn, is it good. A slightly bitter/acidic aftertaste, but nothing bad at all. A great, hoppy beer. Recommended.

I originally rated the beer a 3.6 / 5.0 over 7 years ago, but updated my rating and bumped the aroma up from a 6/10 to 7/10, resulting in the 3.7 / 5.0 rating that it currently holds.