Count down to....

It is 2 days till the 25th. For many people it means Christmas day. For myself, it is the day I am leaving for Europe for beer and fun. We will be going to Amsterdam, Brugge, and Paris. The fiancee and I wanted to clear out some of the great beers in our fridge before we left so tonight we got out one we had been sitting on and waiting for a special occasion. That beer is called Isabelle Proximus. This was a pricey one when it was released. It was $30 a bottle but is produced in such small quantaties that it makes sense. Only 150 cases were made.

It is a collaboration between five of America’s best craft brewers – Tomme Arthur of Port Brewing / The Lost Abbey, Adam Avery of Avery Brewing, Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head, Vinnie Cilurzo of Russian River, and RobTod of Allagash – Isabelle was created from a common base beer to which each brewery contributed a yeast strain and barrels for aging. After 16 months in oak, the beers were blended to create the final product.

On to the tasting.

Poured from a Bottle into a tulip glass

• Appearance - Pours a golden pear color with a white thin head.


• Smell - This one is pungent. It smells very acidic and sour. There is a definite funky smell to it with hints of apples, cherries and other fruits.


• Taste - The first thing you notice when you take a drink is that it makes you pucker up. It is intensely sour but not overpowering. There are lots of fruit flavors happining in this one as well as funky yeast taste. You can also taste hints of oak.


• Mouthfeel - Slick and crisp. This is almost as dry as champagne


• Drinkability -Not for the faint at heart. If you have not had sour/wild ales before I highly suggest this not be your first. If you like sours you will be rewarded.


• Rating = A+

If you are a fan of sours I would highly recommend that you try to get yourself a bottle of this beer. It is one of my favorite sours ales and I wish I had more. I do have one in the cellar and hope to do a review on it after it has aged some more. If you can score this at $40 a bottle consider it a great Christmas gift to yourself!

Cheers!

Cromster

Been a long time...

Well it has been a long time since I have updated my blog. While I didn't stop having amazing beers, I did stop having time to update this site with my opinions. Work had taken up much of my free time. Thankfully things have slowed down abit so I can give this another shot.

It is that magical time of the year
The holidays are upon us so the fiancee and I decided to give a Christmas beer a try. We had one while on our last trip to Belgium but that was before we really knew much about beer. Our beer of choice was Delirium's Noel.


Without further ado here are the tasting notes.

• Poured from a Bottle into a Trappist goblet


• Appearance - Dark red/ amber in color with a thick creamy head.


• Smell - Figs, raisins, and a good amount of alcohol.


• Taste - This one started out tasting rather hot to me. With each drink and as it warmed up more, I started to get more flavors. I tasted raisins, cloves, other spices, and Belgian candy sugars.


• Mouthfeel - Feels warm in the mouth with some bite to it.


• Drinkability -A good spicy Christmas warmer. If you like dark Belgian ales this one would work for you.


• Rating = B

Cheers!

Cromster

American Home Brewers Rally

Well I went to the American Home Brewers Rally at The Lost Abby brewery this weekend. It was a great time. If you are into home brewing I recommend joining the Brewers Association. You will be supporting a great cause.

I paid $43 to get a family membership for my fiance and I. That got me 4 tasting tickets and a entry into the raffle. The day started with everyone just hanging out in little groups but as the more and more beer was consumed people started to be more friendly. Pizza was provided by Pizza Port which was delicious.

I got to try Lost Abby Veritas 002 as it was released for this event. It was a very good tasting beer. While I didn't do tasting notes I will say that it had amazing amounts of complex flavors going on in it. Lots of fruit flavors and malts. I wish I could have taken home a growler of it. Since I couldn't I got a pint of it. While it was $8 for the pint it was well worth it. I think it was this pint that made me forget which color my raffle ticket was compaired to the free tasting tickets. It wasn't till the raffle that I realized that I had traded in my ticket for a free beer. Who knows maybe I would have won one of the cool prizes. Oh well maybe next time.

There was a tour of the brewery given by Tomme Arthur where he explained his philosophy on brewing. Tomme is one talented brewer and he has won numerous awards in national competitions. If you get a chance to sample Lost Abby beers I would do it. They are well worth the money.

Overall it was a great time. I got to meet alot of really cool people and the staff at Lost Abby rocks. So big thanks goes out to them for hosting a great event and also to the AHA.

I have a bunch of tasting notes I need to throw up in my next post. It ended up being an amazing beer weekend so there is much to cover!

Cheers,
Cromster

One more beer review for Friday night

Had one more Belgian beer tonight. This one was a triple called Dulle Teve which stands for "Mad Bitch." According to their website they told the US that it meant triple so that they wouldn't change the lable.

It is made by a brewery that I am really becoming fond of called De Dolle Brouwers.

This is a belgian style triple with an ABV of 10%



Here is the review...

• Poured from a Bottle into a trappist goblet
• Appearance - Golden yellow in color with a thick foamy white head. Good lacing and the head lasted the whole tasting.
• Smell - Citrus, yeast. Very sweet smelling. This beer has a great smell.
• Taste - Citrus, spices, yeast and hops, all with a good solid alcohol kick to it.
• Mouthfeel - Feels warm in the mouth with lots of bubbles. Almost reminds me of champange.
• Drinkability - This is one great tripel. I personally am a big fan of triples and this is one of the best I have had so far. I could see myself knocking back a few in a sitting.
• Rating = A

Cheers!

Cromster

Friday Night Beer Reviews

Friday night is here and it is time for some new beers! The first review for the night is Quintine Blonde from Brasserie Ellezelloise brewery in Belgium.


We purchased this beer in Belgium while on our beer quest at the recommendation of a wonderful gentleman named Nasser who runs the store Beer Mania in Brussels.

As you can see the bottle comes with a cool little flip top. Quintine is pronounced like the English word, "canteen."

This is a belgian style blonde ale with a ABV of 8.0%.

• Apperance - Hazy golden yellow with a creamy white head about 1-2 fingers deep. Good lacing all around the glass. Lots of sediment floating in this one.


• Smell - Citrus, apples and yeast. Sweet yet tart smelling with a good amount of alcohol.


• Taste - Yeast flavors are right up front with some hints of apple and citrus. The finish is very hoppy but not overpowering. The alcohol comes through strong in the end and warms the mouth.


• Mouthfeel - Good amount of carbonation with a nice crisp feel.


• Drinkability - If you are in the mood for a hoppy beer with a good crisp refreshing feel this beer is for you. I could drink this one alot on a nice warm summer day.


• Serving type: bottle poured into a trappist goblet.
• Rating = A-

This was a very enjoyable beer that I would recommend to anyone that likes blondes.

Cheers!
Cromster

Stone Brewery Special Tap Night

Finally my first beer review.

We went to Stone Brewery and Bistro Gardens last night to take part in their special release of Smoked Porter with Vanilla Bean.

If you have not been to Stone Brewery I highly recommend the trip if you live in San Diego. They have a great selection of beers and a amazing atmosphere. It is a great place to hang out with friends. Either at the bar or in the garden area out by the ponds and waterfall.

The food is a bit on the pricey side but you can't beat the beer. They also have many harder to find beers in bottles.

Anyways on to the first review.

• Appearance - Deep red color with a light foamy head. Moderate lacing on the glass.
• Smell - Smokey caramel and vanilla. I couldn't stop smelling this beer as I drank it.
• Taste - Tastes of coffee and vanilla with slight hints of chocolate and earth. Finish is mildy bitter
• Mouthfeel - Feels good in the mouth and hits the top of your palate with a mild alcohol bite.
• Drinkability - Very easy drinking and refreshing. I could drink this beer all night long thanks to the flavor and the lower ABV of 5.9%.
• Serving type: on-tap
• Rating = A

Cheers!
Cromster

Welcome!

First and foremost, I want to say thank you for stopping by my new Blog. I am new to this but I am going to try to keep this site updated with new beers and tasting notes on a regular basis.

My days of beer drinking started back when I was still in Highschool. Back then I really didn't know good beer from bad beer and drank anything with alcohol in it. You name it, if it is nasty and cheap I have probably drank it. From Hamms to Lucky Lager. From Natty Ice to Keystone Ice. My taste in beer was based on a desire to get drunk and believe me that was the case pretty often.

Years of this caused me to burn out on drinking beer. I took a pretty long break from drinking much beer at all. In fact my beer drinking was so infrequent that my brother often referred to me as a pussy and other kind things like half man and the ever popular Sally. I shrugged off these comments for years all the while not caring if I had another beer.

It was a trip to Las Vegas by my fiance that rekindled the beer drinking spirit inside of me. Her and a good friend headed off for a girls night out trip to Vegas. On this trip she decided to have lunch at a fine little burger shop called Burger Bar Las Vegas in Mandalay Bay. At the recommendation of one of our friends she had a Chimay White. She ended up loving this beer and coming back home singing praises about this monk made ale. I had to try one for myself. Following a stop at Bevmo I finally got to taste my first Chimay. It was that fateful first drink of this amazing trappist ale that started my beer drinking days anew!

Thankfully I have gotten older and wiser when it comes to my taste in beers. I go for quality not quantity now. With the help of my wonderful fiance who has become a beer researching fanatic, I have had the opportunity to locate and drink some amazing beers. This blog will be dedicated to my impressions and beer drinking tales. Please feel free to agree, disagree, debate, or just say you have no f-ing clue what you are talking about. Any feedback is good feedback so I look forward to hearing from you.

Cheers!
Cromster