Beer Alert & Directory IV

Cuisine Food & Drink
41

Many beers are suitable for laying down. Some are best set down for several years. I brought two bottles of Fish Tale Ale’s 10 year anniversary ale back with me in November… It is brewed with ten different hops, has 100 IBUs, and is 10% abv…

I opened one bottle and drank it… Whaooooo… that brew is too much of everything in your face right a way… it needs to sit a spell, maybe 8 - 10 years, to settle down and mellow out.

Stone Brewery in SoCal brews a line of Vertical Ales… these are to be put down…

42

How about the Suffolk Strong Ale? One of the two Ales in it is laid up for 2yrs. Wonderful beer.

However, once things go in the bottle the maturation usually stops unless you’ve got something like Coopers.

43

[quote=“ceevee369”]
i do not know 1 single soul @ home who is laying down a Tripple or Abay beer for “aging”. As said in the article, we drink those more heavy beers whenever , wherever and do not belive in marketing tricks.
i can not judge for the copy-cat beers mentionned in the article, but laying down a beer for aging does not make sense. The oxygen and further fermentation proces harm the cork giving the content not the original taste anymore. Belgian pie, correct me if i am wrong.[/quote]

Interesting that this doesn’t seem to be a common practice in Belgium, judging from ceevee369’s comments.

I had a bottle of Samichlaus last night. I thought I’d go with a special beer to usher 2007 in with, and, after all, this is “The Strongest Lager Beer in the World,” as the label proudly proclaims.

From the back label:

"Samichlaus” beer is brewed once a year, in each case on December 6th, and stored and matured afterwards for over 10 months before it is bottled. “Samichlaus” beer can mature for many years in the bottle; older vintages obtain a complexity and receive their creamy warm aftertaste. This beer can be served with heavy meals and desserts, particularly with chocolate - or as digestive and meditations drink. According to the Guinness Book of Records, it is the strongest lager beer in the world with 14 % alcohol and 32° original extract content. It is brewed exclusively of natural raw ingredients after the purity requirement of 1516.”

I broke out some dark chocolate (Cacao 72 percent) to go with this beer. To be honest, I don’t have much “experience” with strong beers or barleywines, but I liked this one (may I daresay more than Bush from Belgium). Not much of a head, but not as heavy or thick as I’d expected it would be. It did have a nice alcohol kick to it, and it was definitely a sipping beer, meant to be enjoyed at a leisurely pace.

I have a bottle of the 2006 and two bottles from 2004 that I have been saving for some special occasions.

ceevee369, I don’t know if laying beer down makes any sense, but I look forward to finding out if this beer improves with age. And, it’s only beer, after all, and I see it as more of an experiment–and if it doesn’t work out, it won’t be the end of the world.

Available at Breeze (last time I checked), and I also saw it in Chengpin (Eslite) gourmet store in the basement of the new Chengpin complex in Xinyi district. NT$ 195 per bottle.

44

FYI - Molson Canadian is now on sale at Jason’s in the basement of the 101 for $59 a bottle. I guess they realized originally priced at $89 a bottle, no one was buying… :doh:

Still no return of Labatt Blue though. :frowning:

I’m sure some Canadian lads I know would buy Kokanee if they got it in…hint hint… :pray:

45

Thanks for that info, Mer.

Did you see any Sam Admas in Jason’s? I know that it was there a few months ago, but the selection is always changing.

Any other new or interesting beers at Jason’s?

Truth be told, I rarely make it over there, mainly because I find (scooter) parking to be too much of a hassle. But if there are some new beers on offer, then, of course, I’ll have to make the effort.

46

I’ll check it out this coming weekend and report back. I usually have lunch in the area on Sat or Sun.

47

Thanks, Mer. Cheers.

48

Stubled upon this article in the Atlantic about Belgian beers.

One paragraph from the article seemed to address the issue of laying down bottles of beer.

“Orval ale undergoes three separate fermentations over ten weeks; a typical American lager goes through one fermentation and is immediately carbonated and bottled. Even ten weeks isn’t enough for some fans. Many people wait a year or longer to drink “bottle-conditioned” beer, preferring the mellow, toasty flavors that develop. Others prefer the fresher, livelier flavor of the beer as soon as it is ready. Champagne buyers divide into similar camps.”

The rest of the article (a bit dated, perhaps, from 1998) can be found here:

theatlantic.com/doc/199803/beer

My favorite line out of the whole article:

“Anyone interested in coffee roasting or sourdough bread will find beer a natural subject of fascination.”

Yes, I’d have to agree–coffee, sourdough bread, and beer are three of life’s greatest pleasures.

49

mmm. this is comparing apples with peers. Orval is a monk beer so why does it has to be compared with a normal Lager? All non-pilsner beers have other fermentation processes depending their category.
neither a white beer such as Hoegaerden or Erdinger has a similar process than a lager, even though it has been fermented once, but the fermentation continues in the bottle.

Sourdough bread? like “zuurdeeg” brood, the dark sour German bread you mean? If so indeed, combine it with some Old chuky salty cheese and a Westmalle triple and it is MY heaven!

And as for everything which “can” age because of the contact with cork ; time will change as cork becomes rare, expensive which will affect aging processes when we have to stick with those rubber Australian invented corks…

50

oeps… double post :blush:

51

Yes, it is a bit like comparing apples with pears, but I think the writer made that comparison because most of the readers in North America would probably be more familar with a lager beer than a monk’s ale. It was meant to give reader’s a point of reference, so that they could better understand Belgian brewing.

That does sound like heaven, indeed! Sorry to say that I’ve never had “zuurdeeg” bread, but I’d love to try some. Any available in Taipei? :wink:

My sourdough bread experiences have been limited more to the San Francisco-type. Boite de Bijou (sp.?) behind Shida has a nice rye bread with peppercorns. Not quite sourdough, but it does have a bit of a sourness to it.

And I haven’t had a Westmalle triple in quite a while. That is a great beer.

52

Dusting off the ol’ beer thread for the summer.

I recently enjoyed some Swiss beers at the Taipei European School summer barbecue and party. It was a good time, though a hot day, and the beers really hit the spot. Plus, I’d never tried Swiss beer before.

My favorite was a Belgian-style white beer called Calvinus Bier. It had an orange label with the odd tagline, “speak with someone from another planet.” This was a really nice beer, especially on a hot summer day. A bit of corriander, a nice smack of citrus, really refreshing.

I also sampled Vollmond and Naturperle. Both were acceptable, but nothing on the Calvinus, imho.

I tried to find out who was importing these beer, but I didn’t have any luck in finding out that information. I haven’t seen them for sale anywhere else, either.

In any case, it was a nice treat to have the chance to try these Swiss beers.

53

Sorry, Fee this is not swiss beer, but seeing as the beer thread got dusted again I’d like to let everyone know Newkie brown in bottle format is arriving soon.

If anyone is interested we deliver island wide to your door!

Roll on the summer!

54

Swiss beer?

55

Anyone been to Jason’s in the 101 recently? Just curious if they have brought in any more Labatt Blue.

56

DRINKS (I think it’s called the “Oaken Bucket” in Chinese) stores are having a special on De Koninck beer, a Belgian beer out of Antwerp. They have a blonde, a winter, and a tripple ale. About NT$200 to 230 per bottle.

Some stores were giving away a De Koninck chalice glass, if you bought three bottles, but the last store I went into had run out of the glasses.

Here’s an interesting article about De Koninck by the “beer hunter,” Michael Jackson (not the singer).

beerhunter.com/documents/19133-001631.html

"We were in a street-corner bar, lavatorially white-tiled, but somehow cosy nonetheless. I pointed to a glass and gestured that I would like the same. “Bollecke?” responded the barman. It turned out that this vulgar-sounding riposte referred to the shape of the glass. A bolleke (“little ball”) always contains a beer called De Koninck. This is technically very similar to a British ale, but more aromatic, softer and spicier. In this instance, it is the particular yeast culture that contributes the spicy flavours. Other Belgian beers do use spices, herbs and fruits.

De Koninck is soft that it slips down with soothing sociability; so tangy and perfumy that each glass invites another. I lost an afternoon in that bar, and never found it again."

57

the chungho costco had a 16-pack of 4 assorted "badger ale"for NT1245.

58

Thanks for that info, Tempo Gain.

I’ll be checking out the Neihu Costco to see if they have Badger Ale there.

Someone else told me that the California Grill over on Yongkang Jie was serving Badger Ale with their cheeseburgers. I hadn’t heard of it before, and assumed it might be a California microbrew. But I think it might be from England.

In any case, thanks again for the notice. A 16-pack might be nice for this upcoming Dragon Boat 4-day weekend.

59

[quote=“fee”]

But I think it might be from England.
.[/quote]

yep.

60

The Breeze Center Supermarket has some beer promotion going on now. No discounts–more along the lines of buy six bottles of beer, and get a free glass. Prices are all the same as usual, so it’s not really a sale at all.

I’m hoping that RT Mart will roll out its annual summer beer sale soon. Does anyone remember when RT Mart used to have Chimay for something like NT$59 and Duvel for NT$69? Those were the days, sadly now long since past.

And 7-Eleven should be cranking up its summer beer sale sometime soon.

Yep, without a doubt, summer and beer go together. (But winter and beer go together pretty well, too . . . and spring and autumn . . . I guess it’s always a good season for beer.)