THE COCKTAIL HOUR: Oregon Ale Taste Off

It's Oktoberfest season and here at The World on Wheels we're celebrating by focusing our Cocktail Hours on beer...

Tim and I are back again, this time tasting two Oregon produced ales.  Why?  Because this is what I found in the clearance basket at Albertson's!

The first ale is Drifter Pale Ale, produced by the Widmer Brother Brewery of Portland.  They're more famous for their hefeweisen and I'd never even heard of this ale before.  According to the brewery, there is supposed to be notes of citrus in the flaver.  It's an amber colored brew with a slight off-taste, probably that citrus essence they're going for.

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The second is Dead Guy Ale, produced by the Rogue Brewery out of Newport.  A cloudy, golden ale, this was made in celebration of the Mayan Day of the Dead.  The skeleton on the label makes it popular with Grateful Dead fans.  Smooth, and tasty, we liked this one the best.

Cheers!

-Darryl

THE COCKTAIL HOUR: Denver Pub Crawl, Part 2

Last week, we started the crawl with three pubs on or near the 16th Street Mall.  Today, we'll finish it with a couple of joints in LoDo and then move onto our last stop on Colfax Avenue, just east of downtown.

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Going upscale for our first stop, it's the Denver Chophouse and Brewery which is adjacent to Coors Field in the old Union Pacific building.

This is no ratty dive bar. It's a very nice restaurant, with great food, that happens to also brew beer...as you do in Denver. The food is awesome.  We have a lobster club sandwich, Cesar salad, new york steak, fries, sweet potato fries, and a bacon-cheeseburger for Tim.

The beers are all in-house brews.  We have a Dortmunder lager, a crisp refreshing German style beer, and their wheat ale, which is filtered unlike most of your wheat beers and has a clear, clean look.  Both were very good, the bitterness of the Dortmunder just right...even Letty liked it...and a very crisp taste to the wheat ale.

Next, it was a quick hop over to Blake Street for one of our favorite stops on the tour, the Falling Rock Tap House.  Not a brewery but what a selection! Their slogan is "No Crap on Tap" and it's fitting.  You'll not find the likes of Bud, Bud Lite, Miller, or even the state's biggest beer, Coors.  Like sitting in someone's converted garage, we relaxed on worn leather chairs while the fresh air wafted in from the large doors.

 Tim and I had New Belgium's Mothership Wit, a wheat beer very similar to Hoegaarden, and Letty had the La Folie, also from Boulder's New Belgium, a tart, sour ale which turned out to be her favorite of the trip.  A bit too sour for me and way to sour from Tim (be sure to see his reaction in the video above, it's priceless).  Letty, always a fan of the sours, really seemed to like it.

Our last stop was supposed to be our first stop last week.  We had trouble finding it but found I had transposed a couple of numbers on the address.  The Cheeky Monk on Colfax, about 4 blocks east of the capitol, is a Belgian Cafe with a large number of great Belgian brews on tap.

We were lucky to get there between 11 and 2 when almost everything is half price and there's a great selection of delicious lunch plates for only $5.99.

To eat, Letty and I had a penne with a gorgonzola cream sauce and bacon, while Tim had sliders with a side of fries cooked in truffle oil.

Our first round of beers was two dubbels...Maredsous for Tim and La Trappe for me.  Both had a musty, yeasty, and smooth taste that were almost identical.  Letty had a Bacchus sour ale, which she liked, but it just had an initial jolt of sour, which quickly dissapated.

Next, I had a St. Bernardus Quadrupel, which had a banana taste and weighed in at a hefty 12% ABV.  Tim had an Ommegang Rare Vos, which again was quite smooth and delicious, while Letty had a Kasteel Rouge, another Flanders sour ale but this one was actually way more sweet than sour, tasting like a fermented Dr. Pepper.

 And that's the end of the crawl, be sure to check out the video embedded above to follow our exploits across the pubs and breweries of downtown Denver.

-Darryl

The Cocktail Hour - A Trio of Tripels

It's another stop on the wide world of beer as Tim and I put three tripels to the test. A tripel (or triple, or trippel...depeding on how the brewery wants to spell it) is simply defined as a Belgian strong ale.

Why tripel? It's hard to pin down. My research points up to two reasonable explanations...

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1. It's got more alcohol than a dubbel, which has more than a regular ale. Legend has it that this is where the "X" in describing alcohol. A keg of Belgian ale would have an "X" for a regular ale, "XX" on the keg for the next level of strength, and "XXX" for the strongest.


2. It uses triple the amount of malt in the fermentation...this is the description New Belgium Brewery uses on their  entry, so I'd give that some credence too.

Today, we've got a true Belgian Abbey Tripel in the Petrus Gouden Tripel and two American contenders.  New Belgium...you might be familiar with their Fat Tire brand...from Colorado with their trippel, which they also add a little coriander to, and Andersen Valley Ale from Boonville in Northern California, near Ukiah and Mendocino.


All were very good but one really stood above the others for superior taste and drinkability...and it's probably not the one you guessed.


See the video above for the whole tasting and see who came in head and shoulders above the others in this strong ale taste off.

Cheers!


-Darryl

THE COCKTAIL HOUR: Belgian Sour Ale Taste Off

To me, Belgium is the beer capitol of the world.  In this small country, over 250 breweries make the best beer on earth.  Today, we’re tasting a tiny sliver of that tradition with our Belgian sour ale taste off.

Belgium is divided into two linguistic regions, Wallonia and Flanders.  French is spoken in Wallonia and Flemish (similar to German) is spoken in the northern region.  This area along the Dutch border is where the sour ales generally hail from.

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Sour ale is a beer that, just like the name says, tastes sour.   Sometimes it’s just a hint of sourness and other times you’ll think you’re swilling vinegar.  It’s definitely an acquired taste for most people.  It’s a taste I’m trying to acquire…sour beer is pretty difficult for me to get a handle on.  My wife, on the other hand, loves sour ales and it’s her favorite beer type.  Unfortunately for her, most beer drinkers in our area aren’t big fans of the stuff so it’s pretty hard to find.

We’re lucky that we have a few pubs nearby that serve a selection of Belgian beers.  One, Lucky Baldwin’s, has a Belgian Beer Festival each year and this is where my wife found out she liked the sours.

Today, we’re tasting two ales. Monk’s Café is a Flemish sour ale.  Brewed just south of the Dutch border, it’s made especially for Monk’s Café, a Belgian restaurant in Philadelphia.  It come out a dark, copper color with a nice, 1 inch head. The sour taste is not overwhelming and is not sweet like some of the Flemish ales you find available around here, like the krieks you get at Trader Joe’s.

The second ale is Duchesse de Bourgogne, a Flanders red ale.  This one is a little sourer but still drinkable to me.  It’s just slightly redder than Monk’s.  It’s brewed farther south, about 50 miles south of Brugges.

At BevMo, the Monk’s Café sour ale is about $3.50 a bottle and Duchesse de Bourgogne is $5.49.

Cheers!

Darryl

THE COCKTAIL HOUR: Brown Ale Taste Off

Picture courtesy of Flickr

Bernt Rostad under CC BY 2.0 license

Tim joins me again for another Cocktail Hour here on The World on Wheels.

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Today, we're tasting two brown ales, Arrogant Bastard Ale and Mission Street Brown Ale.


Arrogant Bastard is brewed by Stone Brewery in Escondido, California...just north of San Diego.  Stone is doing a lot of interesting things in beer these days.  They brew some great sour ales and have tried to make a great beer garden at the brewer...a garden I have yet to try.


The Bastard is a strongly hoppy ale, a little rough around the edges, but popular among the microbrew set.  A 20 oz. bottle will set you back $3.99 at Trader Joe's.  It's also widely available at various retailers and bars.


Mission Street is brewed by Firestone Walker Brewery specifically for Trader Joe's in Paso Robles, California...just north of San Luis Obispo.  A 20 oz. bottle is $1.99 there.


We like the Mission Street a bit better than the Arrogant Bastard...see the video for full details...and thought that if we like the beer, and it was half the price of the challenger...well... we'd just have to buy twice as much!

Cheers!

Darryl

The Cocktail Hour: Belgians on Ice, Part Deux or Part Twee

Felt like something different for this week's Cocktail Hour so I decided to expand upon our original Belgians on Ice post.

Today, I needed to go to the store for some groceries and remembered that the Stater Brothers in Glendora is right next door to Lone Hill Liquor, home to a vast array of beers.

Letty likes the sours, so I'm looking for something she'll enjoy without breaking the bank like the sour rye I see from the Bruery that goes for around $24 for a 750 ml. bottle.  There is a great selections here and I end up settling for the Rodenbach Grand Cru at about half the price of the Bruery's version.

For me, it's been a long time since I've enjoyed a St. Bernardus brew, so I go with the hyper-strong ABT 12, which clocks in at 10% alcohol.

First the sour...Rodenbach is a classic Flemish Red Ale made in Roeselare, Belgium. It's sour, real sour with...as my wife says...no hint of sweetness at all. That's fine with her as she likes her sour ales as sour as possible.  It's aged over two years in oak barrels and has added bacteria to impart that tartness.

When it hits the tongue, the first thought is vinegar, like the malt vinegar you put on fish and chips, but let it linger a little bit and you'll find a rich savoriness in the background that's quite interesting.

I admit, I'm still developing my taste for the sour ales but each time I try, I like it a little more.

The St. Bernardus is an abbey ale, a quadruppel, which goes down very smooth like a good Belgian dubbel like Petrus or Kwak. It explodes with a rich, deep, almost sweet taste that goes down like velvet.

At 10% alcohol, this one will kick your ass if you're not careful...I think I'll need a nap after this bottle.  Only drink it if you're somewhere you won't have to drive from any time soon.

It's a delicious beer with a well-hidden kick.

Cheers!

Darryl 

THE COCKTAIL HOUR: Belgians on Ice

Today on the patio were chillin’ some brews.  A couple of Belgian beauties.

Belgium is our favorite beer making country, followed closely by Germany and the good ole USA.  Today, we’re trying an abbey brewed reserve ale and a Lambic.  Both are readily available, today’s bottles came from Trader Joe’s.

The Lambic is Lindemans Framboise raspberry Lambic and the ale is Chimay Grande Reserve.

First the Lambic.  These are mainly sour beers often fortified with fruit.  Letty loves the sour Belgians, I think they taste like vinegar.  It’s an acquired taste for me but some people really love it.  This one is not sour, though.  It’s actually pretty sweet and tastes more like a raspberry soda.  Not sour enough for Letty and too sweet for me.  The raspberries give it a deep red color and it looks like punch.  

The Chimay is a rich, brown, smooth tasting beer.  It’s not very clear, almost a Guinness like thick brown that blots out the sun.  It is very smooth, like you’d expect a Belgian to be, and tastes just a little hoppy and a lot nutty.  Not a bad brew but there are better out there, although they are not as readily available.

The Lambic is $8 and the Chimay $9 for a 750 ml bottle at Trader Joe’s.

Cheers!

Darryl

THE COCKTAIL HOUR: Trader Joe's Ale Taste Off

Each year, Trader Joe's comes out with specialty ales for the holidays. This year, they've released a Belgian style blonde (brewed by Unibroue in Canada) called Audaciter.

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In recent years, it's been a brown abbey style ale, a vintage ale, meant to be aged a year before drinking.

Tim and I have put ourselves out in the patio with a bottle of last year's vintage ale along with the Audaciter to put 'em up against each other.

He's pronounced the vintage ale the best while I think they're about even, although the Audaciter would be better for a hot summer day and the brown ale better for a cold day.

Be sure to check out the video, above, for the entire tasting session and all our notes.

Cheers!

Darryl

THE COCKTAIL HOUR: Stone Ales Taste Off

We're in our lounge chairs, settled in for the evening, watching our shows and relaxing when...what's this?...there's a knock on the door. I go to see what's the matter and look out the window. It's a familiar face so I open the door...it's the beer fairy from Stone Brewing Company here to give us a package.

"I know you and Tim like to taste beers so here are some samples you guys can use on your next tasting," the generous soul, who leaves his package and fades away into the night, says.

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So there you are...free beer. I might as well make a Cocktail Hour out of it so you can all enjoy along with us. Problem is, I've never really had a fond spot for the products of the Stone Brewing Company of Escondido, California but, Hey!, free beer!

OK, so they're properly chilled and Tim and I go outside to give them a shot.

We've got the Stone IPA, a 6.9% alcohol hoppy straw colored ale.  This one isn't too bad. A little on the hoppy side like most American made IPA's. Would like a little more balance to make it tastier but there you go, an example of the hoppier nature of Stone's products.

Virtuale IPA, 7.2% alcohol. Very hoppy, mediciney, slightly skunky...an almost overwhelming mix of tastes that neither Tim or I really care for.

And the flagship, Arrogant Bastard Ale, 7.2% alcohol and the website says I'm probably not going to like it. Guess what...I do. Tim  does. This is our favorite of the bunch. A bit musty and hoppy but well balanced with a chocolate, syrupy aftertaste. This is the best of this bunch.

Please check out the video, above, for the full tasting and stop by The Musick Channel garage sale to help support our family of blogs and find a treasure for yourself at bargain prices.

Cheers!

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved

THE COCKTAIL HOUR: Ales for the Holidays

Pictured above are the two ales we're tasting today.

On the left is Trader Joe's 2010 Vintage Ale.  Each year the popular grocery store chain commissions a new ale for the holidays.  This year's version is a Belgian style brown ale produced by Unibroue in Canada.

To the right is Zoetzuur, a Flemish sour ale. You've really got to have a taste for this type of Belgian ale. Letty does. She loves them and wishes they were more widely available here in the states. I don't. I'm trying to develop a taste but so far the varieties I've tried are either cloyingly sweet (like Framboise) or tastes like vinegar.

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Zoetzuur is brewed by De Proefbrouweri in Lochristi-Hijfte, Belgium.  It's a small town near the Dutch border, north of Gent.  The ale clocks in at 7% alcohol and is served in a cork top bottle.  It's head foams up about an inch and has a lighter golden brown color.

For taste, it's a little off.  True, I'm not a sour ale afficiandao, but Letty is and she agrees.  There's a quick taste of, what I think of as, grape soda.  Letty does not taste that but we both agree that there's an off-smell and taste.  Kind of like a skunky beer but different.  Something that we went back and forth on as to what exactly it was.  We ended up agreeing that it is the smell and taste of a horse farm. 

At $10.99 for a 750 ml bottle, it's just not worth the price.  Letty is still looking for a good, sour ale that she can get on a regular basis.  Rodenbach is one of her favorites but hard to find and the Bruery supposedly makes one of the finest sours around but they ran out and it will be over a year (!) till their next batch is ready.

The Trader Joe's Vintage Ale 2010, on the other hand, continues the strong tradition of great ales released each holiday season.  It's a dark, dark beer but not heavy.  Extremely foamy like the time I used regular granulated sugar to ferment some homemade beer, the head grows very fast so you need to do a careful pour.

The taste is smooth, the ingredients very harmonious.  The bitterness just hits the back of your throat on it's way down the way a nice, cold Coke Classic does.  I like this beer quite a bit and at 9% alcohol content, it's no lightweight.  It's also a very good bargain at only $4.99 for a 750 ml corked bottle.  I'll be going back to buy a few more.

Cheers!

-Darryl

The Cocktail Hour...Strange Brew - The Finale!

It's time to wrap up this trilogy. I made it my project to brew a batch of Belgian style dubbel ale.

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I brewed and fermented it in Part 1.

I filtered and bottled it in Part 2.

Now it's time to see how I did. Tim joins me as we crack open a couple of bottles on New Year's Eve. It tasted very, very good but...

You'll need to watch the video to see how it turned out.

Cheers!

Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

The Cocktail Hour: Strange Brew - Part 2

In part 1, we brewed our Belgian Dubbel Ale.  It's been two weeks, fermentation is complete, and it's time to bottle.

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We must transfer the completed beer into another tank, mainly to filter out the bits of dead yeast and other bits, and then it's just a matter of pouring into bottles, pressing caps on them, and waiting.

It'll take another couple of weeks of bottle aging and conditioning until it's ready to drink. At that time, Tim and I will taste test them for you. 
Cheers!

Darryl
Copyright 2012 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved.

The Cocktail Hour - Strange Brew, Part 1

Once in awhile, I like to really get into creating something to drink. I don't mean just trying to invent a new cocktail, although that is a lot of fun. I mean creating something from scratch, like a moonshiner.

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No White Lightning for me, though.  This is a little more tame.  

Today, I'm making beer. This is the third batch I've ever made and I want to expand my horizon a little.  I've made a basic Pilsner and a Honey Ale in the past. Today, I'm going with a Belgian Dubbel Ale.

With a kit from Williams Brewing, a couple of five gallon tubs, and a few accessories, I'm ready to go.

First, boil the grain syrup from the kit and a pack of brewing sugar in 3 gallons of water for an hour. Add hops five minutes before the hour is up.

Once the mixture has cooled to room temperature, pour it into the fermenting tank. Add yeast, and let it ferment for a couple of weeks when we'll come back for bottling.

That's all a very simplistic explanation of the process that's covered in a bit more detail in the video above, which takes a 2 -hour process and compresses it to 5 minutes...take a look to see how we got the ball rolling on this batch.

See you in a couple of weeks for the conclusion to this report.  Cheers!

Darryl
Copyright 2012 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved.

The Cocktail Hour: Ales for the Holidays - Trader Joe's Holiday Ale Taste Off 2016

It's time for our annual Trader Joe's holiday ale taste off. Be sure to watch the video below, it's the first every live Cocktail Hour broadcast we've ever done.

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The store contracts with Unibroue in Canada to make it's Belgian style aged ale for each year's holiday season.

We skipped last year because we found out from Trader Joe's that you're supposed to age the ale a year before drinking so we've got our 2015 ale to taste alongside the just released 2016 version, which I have an extra to age for next year.

First, let's taste the younger. Tastes just like every other year, like a bitter Mexican Coke with a lot of foam. Good taste, not overpowering bitterness.

Now, the aged 2015 version. Much less foam, at least half as much and a slightly smoother taste reflecting the year of mellowing. I could taste more of the Mexican Coke flavor, maybe more notes of caramel on the back of my throat. Tim didn't notice.

That's it for this year's test. We'll do it again for 2017.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2016 - All Rights Reserved.

The Cocktail Hour: Trader Joe's Holiday Ale Tasting - 2013

It's time for our annual taste of Trader Joe's holiday ale. This year, I missed grabbing the usual holiday ale and got the second ale, the Belgian blonde instead.

Brewed each year for TJ's by Unibroue, the ales are corked and ageable.

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The blonde this year is like a Leffe with a little more heft and carmelization.

Check out the video above for the full tasting.

Cheers!

Darryl