Archive for Beer a Day
Saison Imperiale Belgian Farmhouse Ale
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After enjoying Saturday’s “Saison Americain”, I wanted to compare the beer to a more traditional saison. Too late I discovered that my bottle of Saison Imperiale isn’t representative of the style — though it is quite good in its own right. So I’ve had my second “faux” saison of the year; at some point, I really need to find an authentic representation of the style.
Sunday was a beautiful day here in New England, so I carried my bottle of Saison Imperial to the back deck after grabbing a few pictures inside. The warm weather, singing birds, and colorful life emerging from the garden made for great beer drinking ambiance — especially with such a fresh and funky beer.
Pretty Things Jack D’Or
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Let me start with a word of thanks to reader mbschm for recommending I check into the brewings of Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project. mbschm met Pretty Things brewer Dann Paquette at a tasting at Whole Foods near Boston and was quite impressed with the beer.
And I’m quite impressed with the Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project too; it’s a business that seems to express the blend of creativity and passion required for crafting interesting and compelling beer. There’s artistry in brewing, and a quick perusal of his website confirms there’s artistry in Dann. (And that’s before you even try the beer.) Dann and his wife (and business partner) Martha live in Cambridge, MA but rent space at the Paper City Brewing Company in Holyoke, MA. Pretty Things could have chosen to be a contract brewer, but Dann drives the 90 miles to Holyoke to brew the beer himself. Artists may have assistants, but they’d never relinquish control.
Jack D’Or is the brewery’s flagship beer, but — experimentation and creativity going hand in hand — the recipe is being tweaked from batch to batch. My bottle is “Batch Two”, bottled March 2009. I picked it up over a month ago, so the version you’ll find in stores today is “Batch Three”. Playfully called a “Saison Americain”, this take on the traditional pale Belgian farmhouse ale seeks to be an easy drinking, everyday beer — a table beer to be enjoyed with food.
Allagash Dubbel Ale
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Allagash Brewing Company has appeared on this site several times, and I’ve been quite pleased with these Belgian-style beers. Tonight, the Allagash Dubbel called my name and gave me an excuse to use my chalice again.
Its website describes Allagash Dubbel as an ale that:
. . . boasts a dark mahogany color with ruby hues and a complex malty taste. The finish is dry with subtle hints of chocolate and nuts. With time, Allagash Dubbel will mature in the bottle and acquire distinctive port and sherry characteristics.
The ale will mature because it has a hefty 7% ABV rating, but the alcohol is hardly noticeable in the smell or the taste.
Phin & Matt’s Extraordinary Ale
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After the wallop I took from Wednesday’s dark Dogfish Head, I decided to retreat to the calmer qualities of a pale ale.
Southern Tier’s Phin & Matt’s Extraordinary Ale is an American Pale Ale with a label elaborately decorated with red, white, blue, and plenty of six-pointed stars. I originally grabbed the bottle thinking it would make a good back-deck beer for the Fourth of July — but I couldn’t wait that long to try it out.
Dogfish Head World Wide Stout
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Let this be a lesson for anyone exploring beers by Dogfish Head — if the ABV rating is nowhere to be seen, but the word “ridiculous” appears on the label, assume you are in for a heckuva strong beer.
The bottle describes Dogfish Head’s World Wide Stout as, “A very dark beer brewed with a ridiculous amount of barley.” In fact, so much barley is used that I should have treated the beer as a barley wine; Dogfish Head’s World Wide Stout has an 18% ABV rating!
I know this now, but I didn’t do my research before imbibing. I merely grabbed a big beer glass and dumped the entire 12 oz bottle in with such force that it created the big, tan head you see in the picture — usually, such a high alcohol-by-volume beer wouldn’t produce much of a foamy topper. Such was my carelessness that the beer gods, now offended, began plotting my imminent comeuppance.
World Wide Stout certainly was dark, pitch black with mere dark brown highlights, and it smelled delicious. Though alcohol dominated the aroma, the astringency was infused with rich vanilla, licorice, and roasted chestnuts — creating a perfume that sped deliberately to the nose and delivered its aromatic right punch. This stout smelled like the inside of a bourbon barrel; one that’s empty but still redolent of hooch.
