Smoke Signals

   GIRL Night Home Alone!

Oh, who am I kidding, every night of my life is a girl night and I'm not even entirely sure what that statement means anyway.
Cuz my idea of a 'cozy night in,' is to soak my feet in hot water while smoking a cigar, drinking a beer and judging the neighbor's music taste (because it's drowning out nerd session of the new Star Wars VII Trailer).

And tonight, my dear friends, I have a cigar that was hand transported from the Americas. North America to be specific. Florida, Cigar City Brewing to be exact.

My dear friends Jaclyn and Pierre from Bierocratie not only shared some of there killer American beers with me, they fed me, answered my French burocracy questions and then sent me on my way with a cigar. God effing bless them. Want to know how to win the heart of a Nitch? Well, that's how, ladies and gentle geeks; specialty craft beer, delicious food, insightful conversation, and cigars.

So, here I am with my stogie in hand thinking "gee, I wish I had a beer to pair with this moment." When I realize that part of the reason I have this lean figure is because my fridge only contains beer! And the best beer to pair with this moment? #perpetualpairings

Siren Craft Brewery - 

SMOKE SIGNALS

Naturally.

What I absolutely love about a beer like this is that makes zero sense. Dry-hopped smoked sour wheat ale. (insert all manner of bitter beer face men and confused people gifs)
I mean... Who thinks up this shit?

Can't complain though really, other than a lack of dry hopped character, which I would have persumed to present itself in the aroma, Smoke Signals starts out bacon, rolls into lemons and finishes a wheat shack. It's like a person who has been sitting next to a camp fire all day offers you a glass of unsweetened lemonade after you've been eating sliced wheat bread. I don't know in what world that situation would occur, but that's what's in the bottle.

The cigar is mild and rounded, a bit dry, but what do you elect from people who don't have a travel humidor.

I'm blessed, relaxed to the max and going to go troll YouTube.

Cheers to nights home alone (with the Internet!)

Xoxo

Paris beer in the spring

The sun has just started blasting through the smog here in Paris and with the heat comes a change in wardrobe, a rush to green open spaces and the welcoming of warm weather beers. 

Officially I've put away my furs, knits and thick socks and pulled out the swim suit, rubber slippers and mini skirts! Nothing feels better than a massive intake of vitamin D, my dear seasonal weather friends. My white skin (newly steered of it's own winter fur coat) is oiled and ready for baking. 

Although I'm a year round Stout and Porter drinker there is something wholly satisfying about demanding the coldest, most refreshing beers the bottle shop has to offer. So, on my way down to Café Chilango,  I stopped by Bierrissm to say hello to Arthur and pick up something that would match my spring skirt and wicker hat.

While there I found out that they'll be offering low priced artisan beer on pression (aka on tap)! Since they are located in a beautiful and deliciously stocked covered market, their neighboring selections of food products makes it my next social day out destination.

IT'S SPRING!

Printemps en français means that the local population swiftly moves from complaining about the uncomfortable cold to complaining about uncomfortable heat.

To battle such hypocrisy, here are my three top spring beers 2015 :

Outland - West Coast IPA

Local brewer Yann, the maker of an another beer named simply 'merica,  knocks this 'dank & sticky' West coast style Ipa outta the park. Full of grassy, grapefruit pith hops and a lasting, rounded bitterness, this is THE California lovin' beer of Paris. 

Biere du Vexin - Blonde de Printemps

Although generally I avoid beers that style themselves as colors, this Ile-de-France beer naming itself after the season of hand holding and lady bugs, hits the right notes. Still a bread mouthful, as most blonde beer deliver, but lighter in body with cloying sweetness. If you're looking for a true example if spring time Parisian beer, here it is. 

Saint Cru - Tempete  du Desert

My initial transition skills when viewing this beer label had me thinking about tempting dessert items! Alas, (and much to my dismay) it means desert storm. Welcoming the inevitable meltdown that Paris is about to have in the summer, Tempete du Desert displays all the hallmarks of an American invasion. Another blonde but this time calling itself a 'Biere blonde pacifiste,' we get that same mouth coating and yeast heavy style but with a slight hop character. The middle ground between the two others, what we have here is a peace keeper and a thirst quencheder

So there you have it, my three top beers for the blossoming season. 

Link me yours via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or email, and if you're ever in Paris, whatever the season, let me show you around our nouvelle monde de bière ! 

Xoxo

Beer Tasting Review - Mosaic Black Bitter

Join me in the darkest of Parisian beer caves as I sip out a quick review of a popular local session ale.

Mosaic Black Bitter by Brasserie du Mont Saléve

This black bitter is based off the Strong Bitter style , often referred to Extra Special Bitter, ESB or English Pale Ale.

Balance is important and most examples range from balanced to moderately bitter. While many commercial examples can be described as "hoppy," do not confuse this style with American pale ale. Strong bitter has more fermentation and malt character than American pale ale and the hop character is nothing like the big, bold hop character you find in many American-type pale ales. Moderate is the key word here and the hop character should be somewhat restrained and balanced, never overshadowing the fermentation and malt character.

BJCP Guideline

While these styles are usually best done using English hops, like East Kent Goldings, Fuggles, Target, Northdown or Challenger, Mont Saléve pops in with what hopunion.com refers to as, "a great aroma variety," Mosaic, which adds a great pine and citrus note to the nose that keeps the fresh sessionability of this low abv beer a winner for a variety of occasions.

Unless you're like me and you just want to skip to the stouts.

XOXO

For more on ESB skim through this in depth profile from BYO.com

Also :

• If you haven't seen these beer label gifs, get with it!


• Want to know more about how to become a BJCP judge? Follow this blog


• Shoot TastingNitch texts international with the goTenna

Mout & Mocca will you marry me? Non, peut-être

De Molen, the Amsterdam based brewery, may have the keys to my beer beating heart! They consistently rock out liquids that are unique and well balanced with great flavor profiles and beer geeky labels. I like that I the inside is clearly written out in simple black text : EBC, EBU, Plato, ABV, Bottle date and ingredients. What more could a single girl ask for?

Mout & Mocca

Notes of chocolate, dried red fruits, raisin and fig with a toasted caramel coating on the mouth and just a hint of boozy-ness, just the way I like it. My man Greg says that Mout & Mocca maybe be a 10/10, guys while Dr. Beer gives it a 3.4/5.

Personally, if this beer asked me to marry it. I'd look it right in it's bubbly head and say :

Non, peut-être

Non, maybe. Typical independent woman style answer. The best you can ask for honestly when dealing with a flagrant beer slut such as myself. I couldn't really be faithful to one brew, now could I?



 

Non, peut-être is a new beer from Belgium! American hops give off sweet candied orange scents over a caramel and banana bread spiced yeast. Sugary and slightly bitter on the finish, my friend Tuesday says it tastes like what the sky looks like :

Agreed.

What beer would you marry? Rules are: gay marriage is accepted, polygamy is not. Go!

XOXO

After work beer review- Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

What to drink after work?

Nitch's got you covered with a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale video review.

http://youtu.be/zJS9Ei9xQZI

I finished working at the pub and, although I usually go for a Brooklyn IPA because the hops will blast through all the vodka shots I've been taking all night, I picked up a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and was delightfully surprised by how enjoyable it was. Simple, crisp, clean and not mass produced muck I had thought it was.

Something about Sierra Nevada had me thinking that the company had sold to one of the big macro brew companies, thusly landing itself on my "it's fine but I don't want to give my money to the man" list.

After some net searching I found I was completely fucking wrong (nothing new there) and was thinking out my ass.

If anyone knows WHY I would have thought that (something in the news?) please let me know.

Sierra Nevada might be a staple of normality where you come from, but we are one of the only bars on the block that sells it (for some strange reason) and I recently got around to drinking a bottle. My first Sierra Nevada Pale Ale in decades.

Cheers!

XOXO

Black Bear Beer

Over on Tasting Nitch BeerTube we got ourselves a new beer review

A Morning Beer Review!

Black Bear Beer

Which, as I have mentioned here, is my current favorite French craft beer for a number of reasons. Not only does the style tickle my fancy being a heavily chocolate-malted black IPA but it packs a boozy punch at 10.5% ABV. I love mingling around a bar with a glass full of deathly looking brew and Black Bear Beer delivers on more than just aesthetics. There is love in that bottle, you can tell that someone labored over that beer to get the right balance of roasted malt to hop ratio. An entirely smooth drink that goes great with hardy beef dishes, chocolate desserts and tangy bold cheeses.

Alas, much like my first Brasserie de Fleurac review, I got myself a beer that wasn't ready for the reviewing.

Good morning Nitch, go fuck yourself.

That is what I get for drinking in the morning- the universe is trying to tell me something.

'Try another beer'

I've emailed Greg at Brasserie de Fleurac but am still waiting for a response. Hopefully he hears my cries for help and sets me up with some of their beer that I will REALLY be able to show off because hey deserve some positive attention. And so does my mouth. I'm tired of drinking malted wines.

Enjoy the disaster that is

Tasting Nitch

Morning Beer Review

Black Bear Beer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv4fTEhbUXY

And if you know of any really good Quadruple Black Ipas- do tell, because that's ma new thing and I found a website that can ship me stuff!

XOXO