Lone Wolf Beer Review LIVE!: Trois Pistoles

This week's post comes to you LIVE! Woohoo! This one isn't written from tasting notes or anything, it's just me and you... you being my laptop and probably nobody else. What we've got in front of us today is Unibroue's Trois Pistoles. I was walking by Trader Joe's at Coolidge Corner and decided to pop in and buy a good beer on the cheap for a movie night tonight and settled on this wonderful beverage. I quick checked BeerAdvocate on my iPhone to see the reviews, and when they were roundly good, I picked it up. It pours fizzy into my glass with about half an inch of head that dissolves into small "clouds." The smell is straight belgian, son. It smells like it's going to be very sweet, like Chimay Rouge or like a dubbel, tripel, or quad. That being said, I'm ready for sweet. First taste is... wow, not sweet at all! Very "bready." I don't really know how to describe it, but it's like a smooth belgian bread beer; very yeasty and everything. As it warms up, the alcohol comes out a lot more and it begins to taste more like the belgian sweet strong ale it smells like. Aftertaste is the iron-y and bitter sweet, much like normal belgian ales, but with a bready/yeast-y overtone. I like it, I really do... I'd like to think I'm not swayed by the BeerAdvocate reviews, and like trying new beers - what I'm trying to say is that this is a beer that I'd buy again on my own behalf, or if I have a friend who is really interested in belgian beers but wants to try something different.

My rating: 9/10

Poured: Snifter

BeerAdvocate: Link

Lone Wolf Beer Review: John Harvard's Houblon Saison

Ok, so I lied. I do have something to write about. Over the weekend, my friends and I met up for late lunch/early dinner at John Harvard's Brewpub in Cambridge. I have been there several times, but usually to watch sporting events or grab a quick dinner with Mere. However, I don't know if I've ever stayed at this place longer. We got there around 3:15 and left around 7:15 for another friend's place, growlers in tow. Let's not get ahead of ourselves yet, and return to dinner. The first and pretty much only beer I drank that night was their Houblon Saison. The waiter explained it as a "lighter unfiltered belgian wheat ale." Knowing the Saison style, I decided to give this a try. I have to say, I was very pleasantly surprised. This brew is faithful to the Saison, but is a tad sweeter. The sweetness is not to say it approaches a dubbel or tripel, but it has just a hint to keep one intrigued. It was served a golden hazy color with about 3/4 inch of frothy head. The lacing on this beer was spectacular as it clung to the side unapologetically. The smell was almost a little yeasty, and definitely hearty. Can smell a faint hop aroma, but mostly other things. It was nice and smooth on the tongue and a good swishing brought out the bitter hop signature to counterbalance the sweetness. It definitely compares more to La Chouffe's Houblon IPA Tripel (geez, longest name ever for a great beer) than to a Saison like Dupont, although it would not be crazy to see this brew as a combination of the two. The aftertaste was an almost perfect balance of bitter and sweet, but left me wanting more. I ended up waiting with my first pint well over an hour just savoring it. Needless to say, I left with a growler of it which I drank later that night. Overall, amazing beer... one that is friendly to both the seasoned Belgian style ale drinkers and new fans.

My rating: 9/10

Poured: IPA glass 

Location: John Harvard's Brewpub, Harvard Square

This beer is not on BeerAdvocate

The Hiatus Continues

What do having a friend in from out of town, working on my thesis, and finishing up another paper have in common? They all prevent me from doing my regular posting. Unfortunately, I will be unable to have a TWIB post this week, but will be back with a good one the following week about the possible experimental meeting of our beer club. That being said, we'll see whether it goes anywhere, or it merely dissolves into three friends trying different beers (which, most likely, is what'll happen - that's pretty much what it's at now) Anyway, I'll keep everyone posted, as I know you're all hanging on the edge of your seats :P.

This Week in Hiatus... (TWIB 7)

As some of you know, I've not posted a beer review or anything in a while. First of all, that's due to the fact that I've had a lot of company coming in and out and haven't been able to afford the extra good beer on the side. Mere and I've been splitting Sam Adams Holiday/Winter 12 packs as good stand-by beers. If this beer club thing ever gets off the ground, I'll review Victory Storm King, another one of my old stand-by beers, and Rochefort 10, which is allegedly one of the top contenders for best beer in the world. I'm trying to avoid the hype, but at the same time wanted something for our club to be able to cultivate some opinions on why people might think this beer is so good, or what makes it stand out from other beers. When we get right down to it, I'm not very knowledgeable about beers. Sure, I know lots of brands, styles, and glassware and stuff, but I don't know a whole ton about the specifics of tasting and whatnot that I have been trying to read and improve on all the time. So, I'm hoping our club will give me the opportunity to continue taking beer seriously, and spread the good word about a lot of the beers I love! Just recently, I was able to introduce Storm King to one of my friends, and they loved the malt complexity and bitterness of this top-notch RIS. I'm hoping others will like it as much as I do.

In other news, I still am as impressed with Sam Adams' Holiday Porter and Old Fezziwig... and am only disappointed insofar as they're not released in their own six packs, 22 0z bombers, or 1 pt 9.4 wine bottle style. Who knows. Anyways, kudos Sam Adams!

Also, I'm hoping to hunt down a sixer of Troegs Nugget Nectar next week just based on its reputation. Many people are saying that it's a wonderful amber ale/pale ale that just must be experienced. Well, rumor has it they'll have some in stock by the end of next week at Publick House Provisions.

One final thing... I was able to try a few interesting beers over at my friend's place the other night. He had a bottle of aged Anchor Steam holiday beer from 2007 and a bottle of Smuttynose's Really Old Brown Dog Ale. I remember the Anchor Steam well enough to review it, so here goes nothing... The ROBDA I remember being very fruity, but this beer followed in the footsteps of the Anchor Steam beer, so my palate was way ruined (unbeknownst to me before my friend opened this other bottle.)

Reviews

The Anchor Steam's Our Special Ale circa 2007 we opened first, and it poured a muddy reddish into pint glasses with a little bit of light tan head. The smell was holiday spices, and what my buddy described as "fruit cake." Indeed, there was a slight smell of holiday fruit cakes and fruit displays. First sip gets a hint of the spices, but your tastebuds are instantly overrun by dark fruits and molasses. From there on out, pure dark fruit. It's a very interesting beer, reminding me of the Aventinus Eisbock and Dogfish Head's Raison D'Extra but toned down a whole lot with a bit of Christmas spices added to it. That being said, I didn't enjoy either of the other two because I felt like the raisins were overwhelming. This is a lot more subdued and contained within the character of the beer. It probably doesn't hurt that this beer doesn't even come close on ABV at ~6.5% to those other two (~11% for the Eisbock and 18% for the DFH) As it warmed up, the more vivid the fruit became. I honestly was suprised that I liked this beer considering just how fruity it was. This was a beer that, as a result of being aged, had lost all traces of hop spices that would have complimented and supported the other clove/nutmeg/etc. Christmas spices and dwindled down to the malt sweetness, which didn't even taste of malt! What I'm saying is I was wholly unprepared to drink this beer, but it was very interesting. Ultimately, if you have a bottle of this laying around, you're in for quite an experience. Despite the "holiday" label, this doesn't taste like any holiday beer you've ever had, or ever will.

My rating: 8/10

Poured: American Tumbler/Pint Glass

BeerAdvocate: Link

In the meantime, you can check out our provisional site at Boston Beer Club (for a group that's largely provisional.) I hope you all know that, in all likelyhood, this club will simply be four friends sitting around trying and writing about new beers and beer experiences... and I'm totally fine about that. It also means that I'll be blogging twice as much about beer! (yeah, I can hear the groans out there... what is this guy, obsessed? Well, what can I say, I enjoy reading about the industry, trying new beers, and the like... so get ready to listen... or ignore.) Even though I said I had nothing to write about... look, I proved myself wrong! Have a good week, I'll check back in when I can.

Crafting a Beer Club

It's official... we've got this club thing started! I'm really excited, and it seems like there are a number of individuals getting pretty excited as well. We don't really have a title for it yet, so our provisional title is going to be the "Boston Beer Club." That's right mother-effers, the Boston Beer Club. It's likely that'll change, but until then... hey Boston... I got your beer right here! Don't worry (as if any of you were,) I'll still post reviews on here of the beers I drink. More news to come, but this is pretty sweet. I even have my introductory letter to everyone already drafted! Yes, I'm excited about this... in case you're wondering.

This Week in Beer 6: Sick Edition

Unfortunately, this week's TWIB is, like last week, going to be very short. This is due to the fact that I'm pretty sick. Figures, right? I go home and spend a week at home for the holidays and come back with a decent cold. I blame my cousin-in-law, although not seriously. It was a very nice holiday and a chance to reconnect with a lot of members of my family that I haven't seen in a very long time. That being said, I tried to get a decent amount of good beer so I could recommend some different varieties to some people that were even on the fence about beer. However, I was a bit selfish and ended up picking up a couple things I didn't think anyone would really like (if they couldn't do good beer) such as Southern Tier's Backburner Barleywine... oh, yeah, and I was pretty reluctant to share any of my St. Bernardus with anyone. I was, however, very willing to spread the wealth on two of my favorite beers (Founders Breakfast and Founders Red's Rye.)

Beer Art Project

At the end of last year, I had saved most of the six-pack caddies from all the beer either my friends or I had bought and drank throughout the course of the whole year in the hope of possibly doing something... "artsy" with them. I explained what I'd like to do to Mere, and she had a bunch of great ideas about things we could do with them. We decided upon making a Chimay chalice, a Hefeweizen glass, and a bottle (one for my love of trappist/belgian beers, one for her like of wheat beers, and one for both) - all constructed out of beer paraphernalia. The picture at the top of this post is our Chimay chalice. As of yet, the only one that has been completed. Later tonight, we might begin construction on a "mosaic" style Hefeweizen glass on a background of Magic Hat Lucky Kat caddies.

Jack D'Or - Pretty Things "Brewing Experiment"

Being in Boston, I hear a lot about beer news and stuff. As such, one of the things I heard was when my parents were in town and looking to have a night at the Publick House. I read on the BeerAdvocate beer calendar that people from Pretty Things (which apparently is a husband and wife that run a small homebrew operation in Cambridge) were celebrating the release of their first beer, Jack D'Or, at the Monk's Cell. I didn't think anything of this, as I had yet to learn of their story and what exactly this beer was. Weeks later, I would discover not only that their whole homebrew operation has been very successful, but also that their beer was being served at some of the best beer bars in town (PH, Deep Ellum.) Furthermore, their flagship brew, Jack D'Or (and, as far as I can tell, the only thing they've distributed) has been received extremely well. It is apparently bit of a different perspective on a Belgian farmhouse ale, or Saison. They fashion this brew as a "Saison Americain." That being said, I'm really excited to give this beer a try, and wish I would have known the story behind it before, as I would have written about it at least a couple weeks earlier. As per usual, I'll post a review when I finally have one. (Note: I'm headed over to Deep Ellum this afternoon to catch an early dinner with Mere after meeting her new housemates, and will post something if they still have it on draft seeing as how their website isn't exactly great at staying up to date.)

Pretty Things Project 

Reviews

As said above, I really anticipated Pretty Things Brew Project's Jack D'Or. It came to me in a Westmalle chalice with about two fingers of off-white fluffy head. The smell was very light and airy with a hint of saison-esque semi-sweet belgian ale scent. The taste is very much like Saison Dupont except for less of a hop bite and more of a malty complexity. I'm glad this beer is served in a very wide mouth glass to allow the malt to take on its own characteristic. The aftertaste is very minimal, malty and creamy with a slight hint of hops. That's what this beer is about through and through. I'm glad that I got a chance to sample it as I think that it's an outstanding example of homebrewing and should inspire others to attempt the same endeavor. See above for more notes on the release and the nature of the beer itself, but all in all, a very solid beer that carries the "saison" banner into a new generation of beer!

My rating: 8.5/10

Poured: Westmalle chalice (On Draught - Deep Ellum, Allston, MA)

BeerAdvocate: Link

While I wasn't planning on doing any reviews, I'll point readers to my review of the Brooklyn rare offering of Black Ops posted previously. Also, I'd like to note that I'm attempting to start a "respect beer" club of some sort, and plan on having the "best beer ever" on hand for that occasion according to the latest issue of BeerAdvocate magazine... a Rochefort 10. Psssst. Don't tell anyone, but I have one in my fridge right now... it was $1o a bottle at Blanchard's in Allston. I'll keep everyone posted as to the status of this blog if it will be taken over by hooligans (i.e. other members of my beer group.) As for now, so long, and see you next week!