Pauwel Kwak
Beer No: 14/1001
Page No: 223
Category: Amber
I'm not sure what it was about this beer, but it just knocked me out. Maybe I stayed up too late, maybe I woke up too early, or maybe the awesome comeback by Bayern Munich just wore me out. But I'm sure the 8.4% ABV of this beer that was not masked in the least bit probably contributed a bit to my lackadaisical feeling for the past few hours. Either way, I probably won't be buying a Pauwel Kwak again any time soon.
I really did have high hopes for this beer. One of my friends mentioned that he really likes it and the tasting notes from the book make it sound pretty yummy - "from a toasty, earthy aroma to notes of orange and spice in the body and a lengthy, drying finish. Would rejuvenate even the weariest coach driver."
However, I was just not feeling it. So much so that I think I may have gotten a skunky bottle. I guess anything's possible since you never know how long the beers have been sitting at BevMo, but this dark brown bottle seemed fairly new and since purchase, it has been stored properly. But with the very alcoholic nose and a heavy dose of alcohol in the taste, I think I might have gotten burned with this one. I might give it a second chance, but only if I knew I'd have someone else there to finish it off if it tasted the same.
And yes, I served it in a Pilsner glass, if you saw the monstrosity they serve it in in the book, you'd understand why. This glass is crazy - with a bulb at the bottom that tapes into a thin pilsner-like glass which then opens up quite a bit at the top (edit: As I posted this, I looked closer at the label and there's the crazy mug right in the middle that they have a picture of in the book). Either way, it wasn't the fact that I drank it out of a Pilsner glass instead of a tulip glass that caused these off flavors.
My review, cross-posted at RateBeer.com:
Pauwel Kwak from Brouwerij Bosteels
Aroma: 5/10
Appearance: 4/5
Flavor: 5/10
Palate: 3/5
Overall: 10/20
Rating: 2.7 / 5.0
