Archive for Beer a Day
Southern Tier Choklat Imperial Stout
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Roses and chocolates form the cornerstone of most Valentine’s Day celebrations. But this Valentine’s Day, I gave my wife the roses and kept the “Choklat” to myself.
I first learned of Southern Tier’s Choklat and its Blackwater Series from a review on 52BREWS, which praises, “Southern Tier hit it out of the park with this Choklat Imperial Stout.”
Given my mixed experience with chocolate stouts so far this year, I decided to read a few other reviews before choosing Choklat for Valentine’s Day. Southern Tier’s tip of the hat to the ancient Maya and their “beverage known as xocoatl (ch-co-atle)” seems to have received universal praise. And if I am allowed a moment of foreshadowing, I believe I couldn’t have picked a better chocolate-flavored beer for Valentine’s Day.
The moment I lifted the cap, a high, sweet smell of chocolate began wafting from the bottle. I stuck my nose to the narrow opening and pulled in the smell, feeling a touch disappointed. There was little special in that one-dimensional scent from the bottle. But as I poured the beer and watched the thick, black brew splash and swirl, the oxidation generated a much richer and warmer aroma with a combination of chocolates. I imagined cartoon aroma tendrils ascending and caressing my face.
Founders Rübæus
Posted by: | CommentsRübæus, from Founders Brewing Company, is everything you would hope to find in a raspberry beer.
If you’re looking for a sweet beer with just the right tang of tart raspberry, Rübæus is your perfect match. Founders knows how to make a good dessert beer.
If you’re only drinking one beer a day, and if you aren’t a fan of fruit beer — well, let’s just say I can forgive you for taking a pass on this one.
Either way, if you want to try this beer, you’d better grab a bottle quickly. Word is Founders will no longer brew Rübæus, due to the rising cost of raspberries.
Sierra Nevada ESB (Early Spring Beer)
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We could all use an early spring. (To hell with that Pennsylvania groundhog and his stupid shadow.) Today I grabbed a bottle of Sierra Nevada ESB (Early Spring Beer).
Here in New England and around much of the United States, we’ve had a bit of a respite from the bitter cold that has been plaguing us all winter. Some of the snow has begun to melt, and where I have plowed walking paths with my snow blower I can actually see, for the first time in months, what’s left of my decimated lawn.
It must be for occasions like this that Sierra Nevada releases its ESB in January, calling it an Early Spring Beer. While ESB typically stands for Extra Special Bitter or Extra Strong Bitter, reader John D. pointed out in a Forum post recently that many breweries take liberties with the initials — consider the Elvis’s Special Bitter that has been brewed in the past by Laurelwood in Portland, OR.
For some background on the ESB style, I turned to BeerAdvocate.com:
ESBs are essentially more aggressive and more balanced Bitters, both in alcohol and hop character, but nothing overpowering. Color range will be similar, though leaning towards the darker end of the scale; dark golds to copper. Low carbonation. Malts tend to be more pronounced, often toasty and fruity, with maybe some notes diacetyl. And despite “bitter” being in its name, ESBs are not really all that bitter. The key to an ESB is balance.
Harpoon Munich Dark
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Harpoon holds a special place in my beer drinking heart, as I explained in my very first entry. So despite the atrocity inflicted upon my taste buds by the Harpoon Chocolate Stout, I believe Harpoon deserves a chance to redeem itself with me.
Its first chance at redemption came last weekend when I carried a bottle of the Chocolate Stout to a party, asking a few beer drinkers to tell me what they thought. We cracked it open and passed the glass around. I couldn’t drink it of course, but I took a big whiff. Every artificial, syrupy element seemed exactly the same. Still, the reviews were mixed. One person found the Chocolate Stout undesirable, another was on the fence, and a third really enjoyed it. But I’ll let her review speak for itself — it was, essentially, “Mmm — it tastes like artificial chocolate sweetener!”
Yeah, we’ll call that a wash.
Tonight’s attempt was far more successful. The Harpoon Munich Dark (or, as the label reads, the Munich Type Dark) is a fun brown ale, complex and extremely pleasant to drink.
Schneider Weisse Hefe-Weizen
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After a week of extreme beer and curious ingredient lists, I’ve decided to retreat to the religious rigidity of the Reinheitsgebot.
Really.
The Reinheitsgebot, you may already know, is the “German Purity Law” that specifies only three ingredients for beer: water, barley, and hops. Such stringency means that if the law had not been repealed in 1987, somewhere in Bavaria you could find a post office with Sam Calagione’s “Wanted” poster.
Reader Scott suggested a couple of weeks ago that I try out Schneider Weisse, a German Hefe-Weizen. And as luck would have it, I stumbled across a bottle of Schneider Weisse during a beer run recently and tucked it away.
And let me say — it’s a very enjoyable beer.
