FlatSpinMan Posted January 21, 2007 Share Posted January 21, 2007 Evening (or possibly not) esteemed fellow hounds, I have been partaking of the joys of Belgian brewcraft and thought this an appropriate time to offer praise to the noble art of beer-brewing and at the same time elicit recommendations from your distinguished personages. This evening I was lucky enough to have on hand a fine Belgian ale by Duinen - the Trippel no less. A delicious, citrusy,almost floral beer (in a really manly, un-gay sense of course, in case anyone was getting alarmed). I followed it up with a dark, roasted-tasting porter by a Russian brewer, Baltika. I'm not much of a one for dark beers but this porter, admittedly the only one I have tried, is delicious. Dark, a burnt, malty taste and nose, with a sweetness to smooth it off. Another thing I like about these kinds of beers is that they don't dick around with a ridiculous 4% alcohol content - the Baltika Porter weighs in at 7%, with the Duinen trippel at 9% so you don't have to drink 6 of them to get the sharp edges taken off. I am blessed with many things in life - a fine, beautiful wife, an execellent bunch of guys to talk flying with (cos I'm never awake when you are), and most importantly, a beershop around the corner with a staggering selection. So, do you have any recommendations for a fellow beer-lover? I drink the full gamut of beers though I find Stouts and Lagers to be fairly generic. They have their place admittedly, but for me it's the brilliance of the Belgian ales and the Weissbiers that drives me in my search for excellence in beer. [Canada has a corker, too - Fin du Monde. Any Canadians who read this should make sure to lay their hands on this beauty.] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DZ9 Posted January 21, 2007 Share Posted January 21, 2007 I too am blessed, with a pub across the road doing all kinds of interesting trappist beers Chimay- its pretty good and leffe- which is an interesting white beer i agree about porter, my favourite is orkney dark really really burnt tasting and very nice then again though my favourite remains a nice pint of guiness Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlatSpinMan Posted January 21, 2007 Author Share Posted January 21, 2007 Ahhh, see I don't really care for Guiness. Lacks the sweetness, the 'spices' of the Belgian abbey or trappist beers. To me it's like drinking a flat, marmite milkshake. I find it extremely tough going. In all fairness though it's been a few years since I last tried it. Chimay and Leffe are very nice but I'm very lucky to have access to a fairly good range of less common ones that to me have more character (but then again I might just be being a wanker about it ). If you enjoy the taste of the Chimays and so on, and you have a chance to try them then I can highly recommend Aachel, the Rochefort range (the "8" is my favourite), Villers trippel,Duinen Dubbel and Trippel, and if you can lay your hands on it, Westvleteren 10 or 12. It's very rare and costs an arm and a leg (relatively speaking) but is well worth trying, just for the sheer complexity of the taste. Plus it helps monks, like our very own Frior-One, support their 'monking' habit so drinking it is practically an act of charity! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delta7 Posted January 21, 2007 Share Posted January 21, 2007 Hi mate here are some of my favourite british beers black sheep spitfire mcewans 80 shilling and 90 shilling youngs winter warmer orkney dark raven timothy taylors landlord MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rattler Posted January 21, 2007 Share Posted January 21, 2007 Most NA beers are quite bland, IMHO. Too much pandering to the masses I guess. My favorites: Guiness (but even ours is nothing like in old Blighty) Big Rock (Calgary brewery) makes several nice ones: Grasshopper, Traditional, Honey Brown Haven't tried their McNally's or Black Amber yet: I'll give you a review. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlatSpinMan Posted January 22, 2007 Author Share Posted January 22, 2007 Interesting. I'll have to try some of those British beers as I have seen them in my local bottle shop but never heard much about them. As for the Big Rock range, they sound good so I'll keep an eye out for them. Mass market NZ beers are extremely bland, too, so it's not just exclusive to NA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JensenPark Posted January 22, 2007 Share Posted January 22, 2007 I think Fin du Monde is made by the Quebec brewery Maudite...? The guy who started the brewery was a avid separatist...had some good beer though. Pete: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rattler Posted January 22, 2007 Share Posted January 22, 2007 I shall give it a look, JP. We do get Sleeman's, but being in a small city, they tend to only get the minimum fare. I'll have to try it when I go up to Edmonton. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drinksky Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 Fin du monde is done by Unibroue here in Montreal. If I'm not mistaking its 9 percent alcool (a Killer), There's a whole bunch of beers made by Unibroue. Pretty good beer. A few example: Blanche de Chambly. Maudite (6 percent), U, yep its : U, And so on. Its was owned by Robert Charlebois, a pretty good rock singer here in Quebec, 30 years ago he was pretty much the first signer to sign rock stuff in french without making it sound silly. He had a pretty good career. He went to sign at L'olympia in France in '69 I believe, and during the show, The french didn't really know what to think about the guy and the show, them not use to hear french singing in Rock music, and they didn't react much, so Charlebois got mad at them , picked up the drums and threw it at the crowd. Hehe he, that made the show the talk in town. The guy also played a big part in a not very well known Sergio Leone film co-written with Damiano Damiani: A Genius, Two Friends, and an Idiot. (Dunno which part he played he he) and He also toured with Janis Joplin, The Band and The Grateful Dead. Anyway, Lately he sold his company to Sleeman and made a come back in music. Actually, he wasn't that much of a separatist but was more like one of the people who got the Quebec culture on it's way in the sixties... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drinksky Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 ... and on it's way to the corner store to buy his beer, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JensenPark Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 thanks Drinks... couldn't quite remember the brewer properly. Good beer indeed...one has a bit of a clove-like flavour to it...not my liking, but the rest...yum yum. Maudite is the one with the devil on it right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drinksky Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 Yes, that's the one. A few of the Unibroue beers are inspired by old local folk legends. And a lot of these these legends had a background in the Catholic religion. For example: the one beer label where you see a bunch of loggers canoing in the sky is the story of loggers working in the north for long period of time who were missing their wives and family. On Christmas night, they decided to go see their family instead of going to church. They used to travel on the river in a canoe at that time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlatSpinMan Posted January 23, 2007 Author Share Posted January 23, 2007 Thanks for the interesting info Drinksky. That should impress a couple of my beer-snob friends. I only tried the beer once but it was an impressive beer and I always look for it now. Alas, unsuccessfully but I live in hope... Jensenparl - what kind of beer is "Shaftesbury"? It sounds interesting from your recommendation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drinksky Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 travel all night for a hundreds years Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JensenPark Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 travel all night for a hundreds years Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drinksky Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 That'd be nice, get access to some small microbrew stuff from far. They normally dont have the means to distribute their Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rattler Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 That'd be nice, get access to some small microbrew stuff from far. They normally dont have the means to distribute their Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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