After Work Beer Review- Brooklyn IPA

I don't always drink at work, but when I do- it's never .... really the same ....thing. Last time it was Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and this time, my money counting co-worker has joined me on film to discuss what makes the India Pale Ale such a novelty in France with some

Brooklyn IPA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNEo5LPfz8k&feature=youtu.be

"This might be a little crazy but this is a beer I would consider eating with."

-Roberto

The multi lingual self craft beer convert, Roberto points out that French hardly ever (mostly never) drink beer with meals. New and exciting ways to enjoy hoppy beer!

Check out the Brooklyn Brewing page for details about where you can find a pint or two. It's pretty average stuff but bounds above general commercial goo. I had some gentlemen in the bar tonight who hail from Brooklyn and were excited to see the beer (not the price). They might love their city but they shadow current American drinking culture:

"I love Brooklyn lager! But it's the pale ales that everyone goes for so we don't really drink it much."

-Brooklyn native #1

and

"I drink Sierra Nevada. It's cool to see our beer all the way over here though. Do French people go wild for this stuff or what?"

-Brooklyn native #2

The answer is mostly no. To say that they go wild is totally wrong but they do like the idea of "American beer," which is why they also enjoy drinking Duff, even though it's made in Germany. (More on that later). Most can distinctly taste the difference and when not drawn to "le moins cher" or "the more cheap" beer they are delighted with Brooklyn lager.

We aren't sampling the lager in this video because I also, am not a lager fan. Instead we wrap our brains around the Brooklyn IPA and what the average French person thinks of beer.

The "American style" Pub

O'Connell's is your average dive type late night bar. The people that come in range from 18 year old kids who like tequila shots (or the cheapest thing possible) to business men who don't blink at paying extra for good scotch. There are students, locals, lovers and vacationers. We get em all! And we sell a wide range of beers to accommodate.

Considered an "American style" pub, O'Connell's is slowly expanding it's base set of regulars by adding time old American traditions. Including: bi monthly beer pong tournaments, ladies night, burgers with home made fries and a general sense of "anything goes."

Pub = America. In Paris. We sell Guinness but we aren't an Irish Pub, we don't have Jameson.

More to come about O'Connells and their beers! The future of top secret, but I can say that I won't be doing my own editing this time. Heehehee.

A bientôt!

Session #83- Against the Abbaye De Saint Bon-Chien grain

[caption id="attachment_1560" align="alignleft" width="263"] The Session, a.k.a. Beer Blogging Friday, is an opportunity once a month for beer bloggers from around the world to get together and write from their own unique perspective on a single topic. Each month, a different beer blogger hosts the Session, chooses a topic and creates a round-up listing all of the participants, along with a short pithy critique of each entry.[/caption]

January is all about resolutions and Rebecca over at The Bake and Brew has suggested that we all take a long hard look at the reasoning behind our beer preferences.

"How much is our taste or opinion of a craft beer affected by what friends and the craft beer community at large thinks?"

The Session #83

Against the Abbaye De Saint Bon-Chien Grain

Or, why beer reviews are messing with my mind.

I recently did a tasting review of Abbaye De Saint Bon-Chien in which I spill one of the world's most talked about Swiss beers all over the floor and compare it to fermenting socks.

No matter what my Ridiculous Co-host said, I was (drunk and) unable to find the redeeming complexity that made that beer so highly rated on the rate sites.

I don't care much about what the rate sites say because they don't always agree, but I do watch a lot of beertubers, read a lot of beer blogs, and

all my beer geek friends say it's the best beer ever...

What we now know, in hindsight of the filming, is that in my headstrong determination to enjoy the beer, even though I was more interested in singing christmas songs, was due to the fact that some where I had got the idea in my head that this beer was, "advanced."

Abbaye De Saint Bon-Chien is one of those beers that one does not drink, one must experience.

You don't go springing this baby on a newbie craft beer drinker, oh nooo, waste of your time (and money, lots of money), this beer takes years of palate exercising. When a newbie does insist on sampling a bit, their nose gets all wrinkly and face mushes up, and thats when we are all supposed to lean back in our leather arm chairs and chuckle, "how cute, the new one can't appreciate the complexity of this fine heavenly liquid."



Like Glen from Ithinkaboutbeer Beerisyourfriend mentioned, I had a fear of missing out. I wanted to understand what everyone was gushing about! It was the last bottle in the store- so rare and unique. Not everyone could appreciate it (or afford it). And, although we had already been drinking heavily on big christmas brews, I could not resist those renowned accolades and self inflicted peer pressures from luring me in.

I learned my lesson:

1. You can have too much of a good thing.

2. You may not be able to recognize said good thing.

3. Just because it's rare, expensive, and all your friends say it's the best thing ever does not mean you should get drunk and make a beertube review.

And some might add

4. A beer made with great attention deserves great attention.

But I haven't tried the beer again since this episode, so I still might think it a big ball of sweet & sour, tangy old socks. In a bad way.

Beer reviewing websites, as others have pointed out this month, are not the end-all word of what is top most in the world of beer. We'd have to first agree on what is the best beer style in the world. Literally impossible, because beer trends change daily, by region (according to google).

Read beer reviews, watch beer tube, get involved in discussions about what you like and why because you are more complex and well aged than any beer out there. No one can taste your taste.

This year's beer resolution: do more beer reviews! For you.

XOXO

"They're just trying to kill you with hops"- Neal Stephenson

There are times in a beer geek's life when they do just what their stereotype designates: they geek-out about beer.

For me, I geek out when I find craft beer culture leaked into mainstream mediums. And, I also geek out when my other geeky interests display a bit of beer knowledge.

This is my second time reading a Neal Stephenson book and the second time I've been thrown into fits of delight by a subtle tipping of the hat to the relevance of beer in the future.

Legendary Sci-fi writer Mr. Neal Stephenson might not be a home brewer or, even have much love for hops-

[caption id="attachment_2313" align="alignnone" width="517"] Slate[/caption]

but he does go out of his way to make gentle suggestions that good beer is part of the world around him.

"...she squeezed a wedge of lemon into her wheat beer and took a sip."
"The only thing I believe at the moment is that my legs are wet, this stout is good, and I like your perfume."

-experts from Diamond Age

Diamond Age was written in 1995 while Mr. Stephenson was living in Seattle, Washington so things like stormy weather stouts and hefeweizen with a lemon in it were likely a normal aspect of his daily life.

There have been suggestions on beer collaborations with the author, but nothing seems to have some it as of yet. Which shows that I am not the only one mixing my nerdy infatuations.



"Like my current pet peeve is—and here we're definitely talking about First-World problems—over-hopping of craft beer. Hops are a very aromatic, bitter compound and I suspect that they're being used by incompetent brewers to cover up defects in the taste of their produce. I've been trying this experiment lately: If you go into a microbrewery type of place and ask them for their "least-hopped" beer, they either can't even answer the question or they seem pretty seriously taken aback. They're just trying to kill you with hops."

Bookish interview Feb. 2013

Rather or not death by unpalatably hoppy beer is in the future of man kind's beer adventures, one thing is for sure, Neal Stephenson is a beer geek (who gets quoted saying beer snobbish things).

Beer will be in our future as surely as it has been in our past.

XOXO

Abbaye De Saint Bon-Chien all over the floor

The following recent beer review contains heavy amounts of the fuck word and excessive sloppy consumption of highly rated beers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcSXbvDOl8Q

In fact, the beer that me and my Ridiculous Co-Host x-rated reviewed on this winter evening is so world class rated that it is often considered to be better than the best. (although not everyone agrees as to what the best is.) Too bad much of the prize winning brew ended up on the floor and, as skin moisturizer.

BFM (Brasserie des Franches-Montagnes)- Abbaye De Saint Bon-Chien

Switzerland, Bière de Garde 11.00%

[caption id="attachment_2346" align="aligncenter" width="481"] Picked this beauty up at A la bière comme à la bière[/caption]

There is nothing unusual with the amount of drunk going on in this week's video, I do feel that bold, complex beers like Abbaye De Saint Bon-Chien should be consumed when the palate is more... how shall we say.... primed. Perhaps with less... saturation. 

That being said, I'd like to make a point to try this beer again in the future and better analyze the reasoning behind the greatness. What is all the hype? It made me want to vomit. Could have been the Bon Veux, Biere d'hiver and Rouge Double Chocolate Stout I had earlier in the evening trying to leave the stomach party through the front door. Is Saint Bon-Chien is a party crasher? Or the best beer since open fermentation revival?

Until next time, enjoy the antics.

"She smell's like Cantillon."

XOXO

Tasing Biérocratie!!

Looking for neighborhood beer culture inspiration?

Newly opened cave à bière has just the bureaucratic thing the 13eme needs

Biérocratie

http://youtu.be/N8ijgRjpDw0



The newly opened craft beer bottle shop located at 32, rue de l'Espérance is owned by a young and beautiful married duo on hand at all times to lead you through the growing selection of local and import brews available in Paris, France.

Horaires d'ouverture :
Lundi & mercredi : 16h30 - 20h
Mardi, jeudi, vendredi & samedi : 11h - 20h

In French or in English, Pierre and Jaclyn are ready to help you discover your newest beer addiction. For me, it's Cycle Éphémère or Corinne Louise which we sampled during and meet and greet last week.



Holiday bottles to share

[caption id="attachment_2325" align="alignnone" width="696"] The bigger the bottle, the more to share! (or horde)[/caption]

and a full refrigerator stocked with beers to go

[caption id="attachment_2320" align="alignnone" width="687"] Beers chilled for your immediate enjoyment[/caption]

With everything from beer soap, to beer vingaire, to beer fashion asscesories.

[caption id="attachment_2322" align="alignnone" width="696"] Hand made local beer soap[/caption]

Beer hunters beware: Biérocratie is addicting! shelves packed with the best beers France has to offer, knowledgable owners on hand to educate and prices at a wallet friendly level. One is bound to spend more than passing time.

[caption id="attachment_2326" align="alignnone" width="696"] Hand made up cycled bottle crown earrings[/caption]

those lucky enough to live in the area have learned that, although Heinekin might be cheaper, a share bottle of craft beer carries better than a case of green glass and cardboard. (feel free to leave your macro brew box outside when entering)



Follow Biérocratie to get up dates on the growing Parisian craft beer scene and high five the power couple behind the name who is holding down for craft beer in the 13eme.

CRAFT FRENCH BEER- coming to a neighborhood near you!

XOXO

 

Tasting- A la bière comme à la bière

A la bière comme à la bière

Located at 20 Rue Custine, 75018, this cave a biere/sampling bar/beer-shake hut is one of Paris's new cool craft beer kid hang outs.

Six month old A la bière comme à la bière is a play on a classic French proverb: à la guerre comme à la guerre. Which literally means at war as at war but is translated more like all's fair in love and war, or the ends justify the means.



Jean baliste and Clarel are on hand to help fit a beer to your current mood. And, if for some reason you aren't sure what you are in the mood for, they'll let you buy a few and take a sampling seat.

If they don't have enough room in their mini back area (as was the case when we were visiting) then they'll pull out some fold out tables and chairs. Why not sit right in the middle of the room, like we did, for a front door view and arms reach to all the beer shelves.

At beer as at beer

Taking it's fighting stand, ready to do what it has to do to survive- beer culture in Paris is blossoming at a spring fever rate!

If you haven't had a chance to stop by A la bière comme à la bière and aid in the cause, then I'd suggest hopping over for your favorite hoppy brew on a Friday evening. Just the right balance of bustle and body mass to make the shop stand out in the lonely, dim winter street but no drunk patrons or over pricing.



The young, hip and well mannered crowd inside were drinking a huge range of beers from Sierra Nevada to Rouge Dead Guy Ale.



My Ridiculous Co-Host and I here there for big bottles. Show me the big guns! Christmas bells ringing in our ears, we started by snatching up the last bottle of Rouge's Double Chocolate Stout. Ridiculous Co-Host chose it himself, and commented on how beers like this double chocolate stout make for a great after sex sip. Answering the question posted in a recent comment here on TastingNitch.



I chose to keep things holiday G-rated and picked out a Biere d'hiver by St. Rieul and Bon Veux by Dupont. After drinking the Rouge and Biere d'hiver at our randomly placed table, we decided to get our take home groove on because, like most of the other Friday night people, we had places to be.

Bon Veux got consumed over conversation and laughter.

We got drunk.

Abbaye De Saint Bon-Chien was spilt all over the house ( don't worry, a great deal got into our mouths) and was reviewed for beertube in a team effort to show young people the detrimental effects drinking has on one's ability to profile a beer.

Thank you A la bière comme à la bière for selling such outstanding beer for me and my Ridiculous Co-Host to slobber all over this winter season.

Looking forward to my next trip to the beer war zone where I'll be loading my belly with beer-shakes!

XOXO

 

Papa Noël's shrimp and Kernel loving beard

Joyeux

Noël !

What is better than stuffing one's face with oysters, shrimp with home made mayonnaise, vegan falafel, deviled eggs (aka mimosas en français) and sauvage saumon?

Stuffing one's face in good company while listening to christmas songs and discussing beer! That's what!

The Noël Box

This winter season left Nitch family-less, partner-less and in a general, "bah-humbug, it's just another day," kinda mood.

Until recieving a box on christmas eve.

Santa came early and he came in the form of a a three headed english man: The Craft Beer Channel. Jonny and the gents from The Craft Beer Channel had sent over a box of hand selected craft brews from the UK and mailed them over to Paris just in time for christmas diner!

Watch me unwrapping the box of goodies here.

The Noël Drink

With two bottles of beer mail in tow, I attended a private dinner party with the family of my Marilyn Monroe like friend.

The Kernel

Santa's Beard

Marilyn picked up on the caramel notes of Santa's Beard but explained that champagne was the chocolate cookie of Christmas in her French upbringing:

"We always had to leave a glass of champagne out for Santa before we went to bed."

The Noël Food

Marilyn's sister is married to a Columbian man who whipped up a guacamole like it was bread and butter. He also happened to be a beer fan and had some nice German lagers on hand. We were able to wade through Spanish vs English accented French to discuss the differences between lagers and ales. Education is key to enjoyment, I educated myself with his guacamole recipe while he sipped on the best fermented hops this side of the ocean.

La Mère buzzed around with arm loads of excessively delicious foods in quantities that would have suggested an army was in attendance.

I did my personal best to put a dent in the two kilos of shrimp. Because I wanted to eat them and no one else knew how. I realized that no matter how badly one might want to stop eating, there is always room for more cheese... cheese cake... chocolate tiramisu... and beer... or champagne. At more than one point we made references to La Grande Bouffe.

The Noël Bisous!

Kisses to everyone this holiday season! I can't wait to see what everyone else eat, drank and discussed for this year's Christmas eve feast.

XOXO