This is the story that they filmed when I was on a beer tour in Belgium last year. The focus of that story was on beer tourism. Now it’s all about the Westvleteren. I pretty much got cut out - but my wife has a brief moment on camera (She says it’s been a lot of work)
Click on the right to see the video of the story
For some, this Belgian town is beer heaven - On the Money - MSNBC.com
Sorry to the home town viewers - this beer is not available in Texas. I
picked it up while I was in Chicago - which is where it is brewed.
It’s a Weiss (wheat) beer. It is hefe - which means with yeast in - so
it is very clody.
Read more at
ratebeer or the website
He said:
Appearance: It’s a that wonderful golden cloudy color that means Hefe -
goodness. It doesn’t seem overly carbonated so the head is actually
already going down.
Aroma: There is a serious yeast funk to the aroma. I’m not sure Annie
was all too excited about it - but for me - that yeast smell just tells
me that it is fresh and going to be full of flavor.
Taste: It has a thick mouth feel to it - almost velvety. The mixture of
cloves, vanilla, and banana as well as some honey. The bottled version
is good but the one I had on tap was even better. Truth be told this is
the closest thing I’ve had to the beer we brewed for our wedding (So if
Happily Ever After Ale isn’t available in your area get some of this and
you will have a good approximation of what it tastes like). There is a
slight bitterness at the finish - but that is kind of nice because it
sets you up for the next round of tasting. The more I taste it the more
I wish it was a little more carbonated - but that’s a small nit to pick
on an other wise fine beer.
Overall: Once I tasted it I had to bring some home - if for no other
reason to than to compare it to our home brew. There is no disputing
the sweetness of this beer. For some that is a bit of a turn off. For
me, there is definitely a place in my fridge for this.
My Vote: Damn shame I had to go all the way to Chicago to get this.
It would be nice to be able to have it as back up in the event that a
batch of Happily Ever After went haywire. If you are in the Chicago
area, get some and raise a pint for me!
She Said:
On Dirk’s recent trip to Chicago, he called me from a bar to tell me that
they were drinking what tasted like a clone of our wedding brew on
draught.
He brought a six pack home and it turns out that it is a hefeweizen brewed
by Two Brothers out of Chicago. When we first opened the bottle, I noticed
a faintish funky aroma. Once poured, the color was beautiful. A murky,
golden, yellowy orange. The head disipated quickly and the nose is still
not pleasant, but the first sip was a surprise! It is a very nice sweet,
malty taste on the tongue that quickly turns to almost a citrusy sour.
The funny thing about this beer is that it truly does taste a little like
homebrew, which is not what one expects from a commercial beer. As it
warms, the yeast is becoming more apparent.
I would love to try this on draught — I think it would be much better.
From here, I will give this to Dirk: it could easily be mistaken for our
wedding brew.
Bottom line: Smooth and easy to drink with that little something (yeast?)
that makes any homebrew interesting. Like our wedding brew, I could drink
this all day. :)
This is a bit unusual. It’s called the “Brut of Flanders”. It merges the traditions of Belgium with the traditions of France. Basically they make a very strong golden ale and then age, riddle and whatever they call it when they remove the yeast plug.
Rate Beer gives it a 92 - which is very respectable. You can visit the brewry site. I couldn’t link directly because they use flash :(
We actually had a 2002 verision. Annie was able to score some from a friend cellar. I’m not sure if you normally age Deus - since the yeast has been removed. We’ll have to try a “fresher” bottle to compare accurately. Also, the bottle specifically tells you that it should be served very very cold and in champagne flutes. I’m not sure if they just want to re-enforce the idea that is it barley champagne or if it really makes a difference. Personally I tend to prefer my Belgian strong ales a lot warmer than 32 F
He Said:
Appearance : It is a beautiful golden color. It has some cloudness - but not too much. In the Belgium tradition, the head pours big and stays around (unless you have a glass malfunction like Annie - and then the head evaporates immediately).
Aroma:It has a light fruity aroma. There is no doubt of its Belgian nature. I would say a lighter version of a Chimay Triple (White) would be a good aproximation.There is something else in the aroma that I just cannot put my finger on. It has no hint of alcohol in the aroma.
Taste: The taste is wonderful. It glides smoothly across your tongue. There is a medley of flavors - I’m guessing there is some corriander in there - but I could be wrong. There is a bit at the very end. It gives it a bit of a bitter finish but it is not harsh in a hoppy way. To be honest there is almost no hoppiness to it at all. There is a light fruit/citrus flavor that is very satisfing.
I would never have guessed that it was an 11.5% beer. The taste is simply so smooth. The only complaint I have is the way your tongue feels afterward. It is like a thing coating has been applied. This doesn’t seem to impact the flavor but it is an odd sensation.
Overall: I’ll admit I came into this very skeptical. The bottle was $20. That is a lot for 750mL of beer. They were obviously targeting people who are into champagne but looking for a little adventure. I’m willing to forgive the marketing.
In case you didn’t know, I love tripels and saisons. This seems to be a big brother of both. I don’t think this would be a regular selection - it has the alcohol but the flavor is too subdued. (I actually blame the serving temp on that - I mean how much can you really taste if it is 36F). On the other hand, you could serve it and non beer drinkers would have to take notice - it would be hard for them to comprehend that it was made with barley instead of grapes.
My Vote: Get a bottle - keep it around for a special occastion and enjoy with people you love! I think it is very nice - but truth be told - I would save your pennies and buy as much Dupont Avec les Bon Voeux as you can get your hands on instead. (Mostly because it is truly amazing and it is not ashamed to be called a beer).
She Said:
I’d been meaning to pick a bottle of this beer up for a while, but the $25
pricetag is a bit shocking (although compare it to what people pay for a
great wine or champagne and it’s nothing — go figure).
It comes in a beautifully crafted, rounded, heavy glass bottle and is
available at only one store in San Antonio that I know of (Whole Foods).
So when I called on Double Dave’s for work today and Adam told me about
his new “rare bottled beer list” and the DeuS was on it for $20, I told
him that I’d take one.
One side note: I noticed Adam gave a pronunciation guide on his list (”say
it: DAY-ews”), which I thought was funny. Until I was walking out of the
store and one of the employees said “Hey, Annie! Enjoy that DEUCE!”. Heh.
Ok, I’ll get on with it. This is a remarkable beer. I have to admit that
although I LOVE beer, I’m slightly skeptical of any beer that compares
itself to champagne. The first taste was sweet, dry, and tart. Very
refreshing. The only thing I could think to compare it to was the Dom one
of my girlfriends brought (my first Dom) for us to drink on the morning of
my wedding. Though I’d had Veuve Clicquot several times before, I’d never
had Dom before that day and was surprised by the slightly sour taste it
left on my palette. When I say sour, I don’t mean it as a negative either
– it’s a very refreshing sensation.
I’m not going to get too technical in this review because at somewhere in
the neighborhood of 11% ABV, I’m pretty sure the DeuS has gone to my head
already.
Bottom line: This is a beer for celebration and that deserves celebrating.
If you have an occasion that calls for Dom Perignon, but only have $25 in
your pocket, DeuS is definately the way to go.
This looks like a great compromise between bottling and kegging. I have to admit that I played with the special caps they make for two liter bottles but it was annoying because once you start serving it you release all the pent up co2. This seems to solve that nicely.
Offical Site RateBeer
From their site:
This recipe is the actual oldest-known fermented beverage in the world! Our recipe showcases the known ingredients of barley, white Muscat grapes, honey & saffron found in the drinking vessels in King Midas’ tomb! Somehwere between a beer, wine and mead, this smooth, dry ale will please with Chardonnay or I.P.A. drinker alike.
He Said:
Now that I’ve been through a competition - I figure I can do this one by the numbers a little more.
Appearance: It is seriously clear. It has a copper/golden color - basically imagine mead combined with saffron and you get the idea. There is no head to speak of and it has almost no carbonation.
Aroma: It’s still pretty cold - and there isn’t that much aroma - especially because it doesn’t seem like there are any hops in the beer. What little aroma it does have is sweet and floral with a hint of alcohol.
Flavor: It has a very thick texture on your tongue. It feels more like syrup going down the back of your throat. The lack of hops and carbonation mean that there is no bitterness to its flavor. It is not sweet at first - but the finish definitely has a sweetness to it. There are a lot of flavors going on in this beer. I can taste the grapes the more I drink it. It almost gives you a warm feeling at the back of your mouth when you swallow it. As you let it warm up, the sweetness and burn become even more pronounced.
Overall: This is another unusual beer. I’m not even sure beer is the right word because it has so many flavors that are off the path of beer. I think it should be thought of as the love child of a belgian strong ale and a mead. This combination puts it in its own category. I would recommend it to some one who wanted to try a beer that prefers wine/mead.
My Vote: I’m not always a fan of the Dogfish Head brews - but I’ll admit I like this one - in a once in a great while kind of way.
She Said:
I first read about this beer in Travels With Barley, a book given
to me by my loving husband for Christmas the year before last. The author
devoted almost an entire chapter to I believe what he called “extreme
beers”. I started looking for it after reading about it and didn’t find it
until our fateful trip to Muncie, IN in January. For those who don’t know,
we went to Muncie for the sole purpose of drinking beer at Muncie’s famed
Heorot (a beer bar). Dirk and I probably drank six beers each that night.
AND ate way to many friggin’ nachos.
But I digress.
Dogfish Head’s Midas Touch Golden Elixir is a curious brew by Dogfish Head
that purports to be derived from one of the oldest known beer recipes in
the WORLD. Hats off to Dogfish Head… those people are CRAZY!
Once poured, it’s color alone is worth noting — simply put, it looks like
honey — especially since there is no head and very little carbonation. At
9% ABV, the nose is strong, smells more like a dessert wine than a beer.
Wait, maybe that’s because it is brewed with muscat grapes!! :) When the
brew touched my lips, I was surprised at how much carbonation there was.
Not that it was a lot, but definately more than it looked like inside the
glass. Inside my mouth, it tasted nice, albeit a little syrup-y for my
taste, but it went down smoothly and the honey and saffron really linger.
I probably wouldn’t buy this beer for regular consumption, but would buy
it in a heartbeat for something “different”, to make a point to someone
that not all yellow beer tastes the way you think it will, or just to
support Dogfish Head. The website suggests pairing it with pan-asian
dishes or curries, which frankly sounds enticing.
My vote: Give it a try — how often do you get a chance to get a history
lesson from the very beer you hold in your hand?
I participated in my first homebrew competition as a judge! It was the 3rd Annual Austin ZEALOTS Homebrew Inquisition. THey had over 200 entries. I was a judge in the Strong Beer/Big & Boozy category.
The picture is of me about half way through the process. The guy next to me is Chris Colby - the Editor of BYO (Brew Your Own Magazine).
All in all a very good experience. People were nice, and it was also great to get to try the home brew efforts of so many other brewers. Even though this was a very informal event, I got a much much better idea of how a beer in competition is judged. I think I need to spend some more time on my vocabulary when it comes to describing the flavor and aroma of a beer, but I did pretty well at capturing the problems with some of the beers (probably because I’ve a lot of mistakes myself). One beer that really threw me a curve was a spruce tip strong ale which I could have sworn tasted like raspberry (Sorry Joe!).
Now I just have to carve some time out to brew more - who know maybe I’ll be ready to enter a contest in the next year.
Welcome to a new column at Economys Size Geek - He Said / She Said Beer!
You’re probably wondering what the hell that means - well be patient and I’ll explain. Basically, my wife loves beer even more than me! To maintain marital harmony, we have to keep a lot of different beers in stock. I thought it might be fun to offer up some of our beer-sperience to my faithful readers so that the next time they are out and about they can journey beyond the tried and true.
We chose a very special beer for our first review. Left Hand Chainsaw Ale (Double Sawtooth)
This is a special release from Left Hand. It’s called a double ESB (for more about Bitter style (Wikipedia RateBeer). Following a trend in American brewing - by putting the word double in front of a style means you are going to kick everything up a notch. In this case, it means instead of a 4.5% ABV (Alcohol By Volume) you get 9%ABV. No mention on the bottle of IBUs.
He Said:
Truth be told, I’m not much for the Bitter Style. I tend to stay as far away from most pales - becasue frankly I’m more about the malt than I am the hops. (Though I will admit I had a St. Geroge’s this week and enjoyed it.) I wasn’t very excited about this beer. It has the incredibly low carbination that seems to be typical for the ESB style. It is a reddish brown color with more than a bit of precipitate (mostly probably yeast - the beer is bottle conditioned).
It has a very slight aroma with the smallest hint of sweetness. It’s very smooth going in with a very serious bitter finish. One thing I will say for the bitterness at the end - it is also very smooth. So much so it almosts seems to linger well after you finish swallowing it. I will also say that when I started drinking it, it was probably a little too cold. Now that it’s starting to warm up, the flavor is even more mellow and enjoyable. The really nice (dangerous) thing about this beer is that it is so smooth even in its very bitter finish - that it is hard to tell that it is 9%. If this weren’t a special release I would stock up on it just to launch it on unsuspecting visitors who drink all beers like they are Miller Light.
My Vote: Good enough for a special occasion beer, but it won’t be pushing Negro Modelo out of my fridge any time soon!
She Said:
The funny part about this beer is that someone tried to order it from me earlier this week and I had to say sorry, that I hadn’t heard of it, so it
must be a seasonal that’s not in season right now, but that I’d keep an eye out for it. The guy then noticed that the price tag was $124.40 per
case and quickly decided it wasn’t *that* interested. For price comparison, the cost of a case of Delirium Tremens is $72.
The next day I was in the warehouse and came across a pallet of it in the Left Hand order. We decided to bust a case open for samples. I grabbed two — one for me and one for the above mentioned customer.
Now on with the review!
This beer is a double version of Left Hand’s Sawtooth ESB and comes in a 22 oz. bottle with a cork. Let me start out by saying that I’m not much of an ESB drinker, although I did drink a fair amount of Red Hook back in the day. :) I was a little concerned when, after a fair amount of effort to remove the cork, it did not make that familiar popping sound. I poured three pint glasses (for Dirk, Brett and myself) about halfway. The color is pretty… very typical of an ESB, from what I remember. It’s lacking in carbonation, but that’s typical too, I think. On first drink, this beer is a bit of a punch in the face. However, now that it’s warmed a little, it’s much, much more palatable. I think I would enjoy this beer on draft with fish and chips in a smokey London pub.
As we work out our rating system, Dirk asks if I would buy this beer again. My response was a quick no, but that I’d drink it if it were given
to me. :D It’s obvious that I’m not loving this beer, but maybe I would feel differently if I didn’t know that the retail cost would be something
in the neighborhood of $13 per bottle.
My Vote: Save your money and buy a six-pack of Red Hook.
Ok you are going to have to go along with this one. It may not make any sense to you - but I’m excited so just nod along.
Part of the process of brewing involves taking samples of beer and putting them in a long tube. Into that tube you put a hydrometer. That tells you the denisty of the beer. During the course of fermentation you can use the readings you get from the hydrometer to tell two things. First, it allows you to calculate the approximate alcohol content of your homebrew. This is useful if for no other reason than to know if you have a session or serious beer on your hands. Second, it helps you determine if fermentation is truly finished.
When I started brewing I was a simple guy. I just figured when the bubbling stopped the fermenation was done. That isn’t always the case. (I learned the hard way when I let a batch get too cold and it stopped fermenting well before the process was complete).
The point of all this is that the readings called original gravity (gravity before fermenation) and final gravity (gravity after fermenation) are very important. The problem is collecting enough beer to measure the gravity once the fermentation gets going is a pain. It is especially bad because you have to open the carboy and risk oxidation each and every time you want to take a sample.
Enter the refractometer (Picutre at the top). It allows you to get these numbers with a couple of drops of wort. I read a great article on BYO about Refractometers a while ago. I thought it sounded like the answer to all of my prayers. To get the OG (original gravity) you can approximate it by taking the brix measuerment (which is what the refactormeter measures in) and multiply it by 4. That gives you a value that is a good approximation of the value.
There are much more fancy calculations taken from here
Here is the Brix to specific Gravity (useful for the OG)
Brix to Specific Gravity
Formula was derived from the 69th edition (1988-1989) of the CRC Handbook of
Chemistry and Physics, “Concentrative Properties of Aqueous Solutions:
Conversion Tables”, Table 88 SucroseMathCAD was used to curvefit the data for Degrees Brix @ 20 C (% sucrose
by weight) and specific gravity @ 15 CSG = 1.000898 + 0.003859118*B + 0.00001370735*B*B + 0.00000003742517*B*B*B
where:
B = measured refractivity in Brix
SG = calculated specific gravity at 15 C
This is all well and good. When I did it on a batch of beer I got a number that closely matched the number I was getting the hydrometer. As the fermentation progressed I continued measuring the gravity using the refactometer. The number didn’t go the direction it should. Instead of becoming less dense the tool said it was becoming more dense which made no sense. The sugar in the solution was being broken down into alcohol and CO2 which should always result in a less dense solution.
Eventually I assumed there must be something wrong with the refactometer and I went back to the old way of measuring. Since then the refactometer has sat in its case at the back on one of my drawers.
Then I stumbled on a forum post that explains that the brixing reading is effected by alcohol in a way that a normal hydrometer is not. You have to use a different formula once alcohol enters the picture.
Another formula has to be used.
Final Specific Gravity from original and final Brix
SG = 1.001843 - 0.002318474*OB - 0.000007775*OB*OB - 0.000000034*OB*OB*OB + 0.00574*FB + 0.00003344*FB*FB + 0.000000086*FB*FB*FB
where:
SG = estimated specific gravity of the sample
OB = Original Brix
FB = Final Brix
So it appears the problem was with the user not the tool. This is great news because it was so much easier to measure the wort using the refactometer! I guess the next batch I’ll be using it again to see if this time I have it right.
Now if only I could mount refractometer into the carboy so I could measure the wort at anytime without ever having to open the carboy… a boy can dream….
