This Week in Beer 3
Another week, another opportunity to share with the world my thoughts on beer and the beer world. This week, I speak about an event that I was quite looking forward to attending (Celebrating 25 years of American distribution for Chimay) as well as anything else that's going on in the beer world. A warning, this is going to be an extremely brief post as I have a paper that is due in about 48 hours that very much needs to be finished. Damn you René Descartes!
Chimay's 25 Years
While we were up in the air at first about whether this was going to be an interesting and fun event, our fears were quickly dispelled as soon as we walked in. The Mission on Huntington Ave is an upscale bar, located right at the edge of the "Longwood" district containing most of Boston's medical schools. The crowd was almost exclusively late 20 to early 30 somethings looking to have an after-work drink. That being said, it was crowded, but, luckily for us, not many people knew about the Chimay anniversary. The Chimay contingent basically contained a table full of "young professionals" who were apparently part of their American distribution team and then an older man who, as near as I can tell (he gave me his card, although I don't remember where it is) is a liaison between the monks and the distribution apparatus. I spent about 20 minutes talking to him later in the evening, asking him questions such as "what's it like to work for one of the 'big 7' (trappist monasteries)?" and "do you get a lot of competition from the likes of people such as Westvletern?" Later in the evening, he became a lot more, how should I put it, candid. I guess that's what happens when you spend an entire evening drinking Chimay Cinq Cents at 8% ABV. The highlight of the evening was most certainly the free stuff (hell, that was the whole reason that I wanted to go in the first place!) This older gentleman bought us a round of drinks which came in special anniversary Chimay chalices which he told us we'd be able to hang on to. The deal got even sweeter, the more drinks we bought, the more chalices we could get! Mere and I left with 4 special chalices and Pat with 4 as well. We also got Chimay keychain bottle-openers. All in all, some great beer coupled with amazing free stuff made this a lot of fun. Pat and I went from there to the Publick House where he had a Saison Dupont on draft and I had a Bernardus 12 and a Southern Tier Krampus. This ended up being a bad decision for me; damn was I hungover! Note to self, don't save very high octane sweet beers for the end of the night.
Reviews
My rating: 7/10
Poured: Chimay Chalice (would recommend wide-mouth/snifter also)
BeerAdvocate: Link
This next review is perhaps the easiest one I could ever write. As most of you know, I'm a huge fan of Southern Tier brews. Weirdly enough, this doesn't make reviewing them any easier. I think it's due to the fact that I set the bar higher for every brew of theirs I drink and like. As such, it becomes harder and harder for them to keep brewing good stuff... or maybe I'm biased, I have no idea, but I'm willing to accept either explanation. Regardless, Southern Tier Choklat Imperial Stout has only one thing to be based on, and that's the "source material," if you will - Chocolate. It pours like oil into a glass, opaque as a wall. The scent is straight Hershey's Chocolate Syrup, son, which made me want to guzzle the whole thing, or perhaps mix it with milk. This was an after dinner drink for us enjoyed after some seafood (and a long MBTA ride home.) It was a good dessert beer, very creamy when swirling around your mouth, even at 11% ABV; by the way, each and every one of those 11 percents are well buried underneath mountains of chocolate. Honestly, drinking this is kinda what I envisioned the experience of swimming in Wonka's chocolate lake would be like... with the added benefit of alcohol! I have to admit, this brew is not for the faint of heart, nor non-chocolate enthusiasts, but it's an honest brew, taking what it's trying to do and doing it perfectly.
My rating: 9/10*
Poured: Snifter
BeerAdvocate: Link
*This beer rated so high as per the last line in my review, namely that it accomplish exactly what it attempted and the presentation was a delicious dessert beer. I could see people thinking it's easily a 3/10 or 5/10 as the chocolate is borderline overwhelming. In this case, I attribute this to the title of the beer, the chocolate bars on the front, the Mayan chocolate currency discussion on the side, etc.
+ Update: There has been some discussion on the BeerAdvocate forums about this latest batch being less chocolate-y and viscous and more bitter, hoppy, and "hot." Having not tried the previous batch, I cannot comment to this extent, but I will note that there the only hoppiness/bitterness detected at all was in the form of an initial "twinge" or "sting" on the tongue which is insignificant at most and imperceptible at least. This is not a bitter brew by anyone's standards - it's sweet and rich chocolate! As to the consistency, again, I cannot comment, but for being such a robust and rich stout, you'd think there'd be a little more there. One cannot, after all, drink something like Founders' Kentucky Breakfast without thinking about how it almost "coats" the mouth and throat. All in all, I still rate this beer highly for accomplishing exactly what it sets out to do... robust chocolate!
Brooklyn is usually excellent in everything they brew. I love their Lager, their pilsner is top notch, and their Black Chocolate Stout is a thing of legends. One brew that I hadn't tried of theirs was the East India Pale Ale. Mere and I bought a six of it and drank it. Here's our original thoughts: we both thought the beer was borderline undrinkable! It pours a hazy apricot with about a finger of light head. The "hop sting" on your tongue is pretty severe even despite it being a lower octane IPA. However, that hop sting is not natural and factors into the taste. At the front of the taste is a taste which we could only characterize as "solvent," perhaps even reminding one of the early days of school and the scent of rubber cement while making projects and whatnot. I would even go so far as to say that it tastes a bit like earwax (trust me, it's been many years since I accidentally put something in my mouth that had been in my ear, but once you get that taste, it's not one you readily forget.) I had hoped that there would be a smooth or creamy aftertaste that would help to cope with the hop solvent, but unfortunately the taste ends as soon as you swallow it with just that caustic hop signature on the end. The mouthfeel, aside from the sting, is pretty consistent and even. All in all, I'd say it'd be an understatement to say I was very disappointed with this beer (and Pat said that this beer "made him angry.")
My rating: 2/10*
Poured: Imperial Pint/Session Glass
*Edit: I have been told later that I shouldn't have expected an American IPA/DIPA when testing this beer and that my lack of knowledge of what a British IPA is tainted my opinion. However, although I go by what a beer advertises itself as, I ultimately judge independently of this. This is why I publish these reviews in my blog and not on some other site such as BeerAdvocate, because I'm being very subjective and speaking to my own tastes. Anyone who reads these review should be aware that they're nothing more than suggestions, and obviously, they should form their own opinions or consult other opinions before purchasing beer, especially expensive beer. That being said, I still stand firm, that this beer had an offensive solvent-esque taste at the front which polluted the hops throughout. Perhaps I had a skunked six-pack of it, but I don't want to jump to that conclusion
Unfortunately, that's all for this week. Now, if you'd so kindly excuse me, I have to get back to proving that Descartes' Discourse on Method is a treatise about communication of ideas and the problems associated with that. As soon as that's completed, Rock Band 2 is on the agenda (early Christmas present ftw!)
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