Thursday, June 30, 2011

Tasting- Cascade Brewing Company

My first exposures to beer in Australia was Cascade Brewing Company who is an allegedly Tasmania brewery but has contracts brews all over the place, making it the down under cousin of Busweiser.


I put together my tasting notes and jumped on the website




$8.5

5.8% abv

Nitch rated 2.08/5

Good call on the name, because otherwise I would think they had fermented some stale coffee and sugar.  

stoutA: Reddish black, solid dark color with cream foam head that wilts quickly into a ring of large bubbles 2.5

S: Coffee with roasted malts and light sweetness 2.5T: Metallic and flat cold coffee with some abstract sweetness that jumps out at the end like unstirred sugar on the bottom of a coffee mug. There is also a feel of burnt something, burnt malt maybe or simply a fake smoked flavor. 2.0

M: Light cream but very dry, dry, dry on a medium to heavy body. 1.5

O: An example of what an average Australian thinks a “stout” should be. Coffee, roasted malt and a milky mouth feel that completely confuses with a super dryness sucking your face off. Going in for another drink is the only way to remove the barren milk scum feel, followed swiftly by the cold coffee and burnt malt. Desperate times call for desperate measures it seems. 1.5

The webiste does a great job of being a jackass and says to simply food pair this with: beef, cheese, lamb or dessert.

Good greif.

Cascade Brewing Premium Lager


5% abv


Nitch rated 1.83/5


A: Crystal clear, lots of bubbles coming to a pure white one finger head 3.0

S: Grassy, like old wet hay or rotting vegetables. Bubbles tickle the nose and it is served so drastically cold that I really can't smell much beyond the area around me. Does glass smell? 2.0

Cascade lager
This older labeling has more character then the new
T: Carbonation masks and then coldness freezes, malts are chewy and heavy while the hops from the smell are still what they smelled like: last season compost. 1.5

M: Dry, light body 2.0

O: In a landscape where American adjunct lagers still reign on high Cascade does a great job of keeping up the pace. It is great if you are looking for a beer that was blindly consumed by the post war crowd. I would say for sure it is "clean, crisp and refreshing." But then so is water. 2.0

Food pairing, you ask? Oh yes, let me see. The website says have it with: fish, chicken, vegetarian, or lamb. Not sure what a vegetarian tastes like but I'm sure they are lovely in a meat pie with ketchup (classic Australian dish).

Sigh. At least Budweiser has a well paid marketing team.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Tasting in Brittany

61e37e60-ddec-012d-ca7c-0050569439b1In a handmade boat, 12 years in the making by The French Man's grandparents, we took a tour of Brittany!

Stopped over and had some black grain crepes which are now on my food love list above quesadillas but below nachos.

And of course, beers:

BRASSERIE LANCELOT- Duchesse Anne (a real person) 6%

A: Blond, not hazy lots of little bubbles

 

BRASSERIE LANCELOT- Telenn Du  4.5%

lancelot-telenndu-bio

A: Very dark brown, thick head, light fizz

S: yeast, clean, earthy

T: nutty with dry finish, sweet

Organic, same wheat used to make dark crepes

 

LA MORGOT0000005823-morgat- La biere de belle ile en mer Ambree 5.5% from 56360 Belle island en mer

A: Very light brown, random medium bubbles, golden base, medium haze

S: sweet, earth, nut, toasted

T: Caramel, wheat, yeast finish, almost tart/sour on back of palate.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Tasting

Last day in Brussels and we went out with a rather blurred rush of bottle purchases and puppet shows.

images-1TRAPPIST- Rockfort #10

A: No fizz, dark drown, thin head

S: Sweet, pine

T: Sweet and sour, oak-woodsy but tart. Pop in front with caramel, barley dry finish

 

 

imagesBRASSIER BOCQ- Waterloo Triple 7 Blond 7.5% 1815

Currants, hops, yeast smell. Not complex

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Tasting

berBROUWERIJ DE RANKE- Noir De Dottignies- 9%

A: Dark, thin head

S: Tart yeast, spice, and pine

T: Barley, bitter, sour, coffee, herbs, toasted beginning, smoked in the middle.

 

CANTILLON- Gueuze 100% Lambic

A: blond, no fizz, hazy

S: Sour, yeast

T: light, bitter, sour acid, cherries, sweet and tart

 

MORT SUBITE- Lambic

S: Raw cider, sour crisp, cherry

T: Sour all over the place but comfortably so

 

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Clowns, Brussels and Beers



logo5


The French man and I hit up one of the more colorful locations in Brussels which happened to also be one of the harder ones to locate. There was a small sign and drunk day time locals. We drank heartily and took notes sparingly.




[caption id="attachment_890" align="alignleft" width="126"]thumb_wolf-7-belgian-ale Wolf[/caption]

BROUWERIJ LUPUS- Wolf


A: Blond

S: Currants, yeast

[caption id="attachment_889" align="alignright" width="263"]images The brewery recently went through a label change it seems[/caption]

 

 

ELLEZELOISE- Hercule Stout 9%

A: Very dark

S: Oat

T: Chocolate, bitter

M: Light cream lingering

 

 

imgresTRAPPIST- Achel 8%

A: Blond, hazy, thin bubbles

S: Country, flower, fruit

T: Young, flower, hops, metallic

O: "Tasty a like good sex party but not as strong as a gangbang," -French Man