Beer is my friend.

[The_Godfather]

Have either of you read this book? I scanned through it went it first came out, very interesting. I'll have to go back and read it one of these days when I have time, especially now that I have a better appreciation of what Dogfish Head/quality beer is all about.

[yankeefan21]

Have either of you read this book? I scanned through it went it first came out, very interesting. I'll have to go back and read it one of these days when I have time, especially now that I have a better appreciation of what Dogfish Head/quality beer is all about.

Haven't read it, but it rekindles an idea a friend and I had a while back about starting our own brew pub... Maybe I'll start looking for financers? :mis2

[yankeefan21]

3) Pagaea (http://www.dogfish.com/brewings/Occasional_Rarities/Pangaea/20/index.htm) paired with Lamb Vindaloo. (Don't know if you've tried this one Yankee fan, but it was also very good)

Damn you, Cane! I just went out and dropped 50 bucks at the beer distributor because of you!

 

I wanted to pick up a couple of Sams for my father-in-law because that side of the family is coming to my house for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. Then I thought, why go to the grocery store when I can stop at the Brew Crew and pick up a little something special for myself? Yeah, I got the Pangaea [good with turkey?]. I also noticed and picked up a bottle of their Old School Barley Wine.

 

While I'm there the one guy was like - hey man, we only got a case of this stuff but I set a bottle asside for you - and he pulls out a bottle of Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence Stout. Obviously I HAVE to buy that now. [side note: is it a good thing or a bad thing when your local beer distributor starts setting bottles asside for you? :mis2 ]

 

I think I may have grabbed a Three Philosophers, too, but I started losing track by that point.

 

Bottom line: I'm in for one happy Turkey Day!

[JetsMania]

3) Pagaea (http://www.dogfish.com/brewings/Occasional_Rarities/Pangaea/20/index.htm) paired with Lamb Vindaloo. (Don't know if you've tried this one Yankee fan, but it was also very good)

Damn you, Cane! I just went out and dropped 50 bucks at the beer distributor because of you!

 

I wanted to pick up a couple of Sams for my father-in-law because that side of the family is coming to my house for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. Then I thought, why go to the grocery store when I can stop at the Brew Crew and pick up a little something special for myself? Yeah, I got the Pangaea [good with turkey?]. I also noticed and picked up a bottle of their Old School Barley Wine.

 

While I'm there the one guy was like - hey man, we only got a case of this stuff but I set a bottle asside for you - and he pulls out a bottle of Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence Stout. Obviously I HAVE to buy that now. [side note: is it a good thing or a bad thing when your local beer distributor starts setting bottles asside for you? :mis2 ]

 

I think I may have grabbed a Three Philosophers, too, but I started losing track by that point.

 

Bottom line: I'm in for one happy Turkey Day!

 

Nice, that happened to me a few weeks ago. I went in planning on just getting one thing, and ended up dropping $58 dollars.

 

Luckily (or unluckily we'll see) my beer that I brewed will be ready this weekend so I will be drinking that.

[yankeefan21]

:lol

 

Instructions: open bottle, pour contents into two snifters. Enjoy. ALTERNATIVELY: Walk hand-in-neck with bottle into the middle of the woods. Use shovel to dig 2x2 hole three feet deep. Seal bottle in plastic bag. Place in hole and pack with dirt. Memorize location and leave. Return exactly one year later. Dig up bottle, open and enjoy.

I have half a mind to buy another bottle and dig a hole. Then again, the practical side of me says, "Who wants to wait a year on another bottle of beer?!"

[The_Godfather]

While I'm there the one guy was like - hey man, we only got a case of this stuff but I set a bottle asside for you - and he pulls out a bottle of Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence Stout. Obviously I HAVE to buy that now. [side note: is it a good thing or a bad thing when your local beer distributor starts setting bottles asside for you? :mis2 ]

 

I think I may have grabbed a Three Philosophers, too, but I started losing track by that point.

 

Bottom line: I'm in for one happy Turkey Day!

 

 

 

Niiiiice! Put up the review of the Chocolate Stout after you've had it, I'd love to know how that one is. I'm really loving this Ommegang brewery, they seem to put out some great stuff, eh?

[yankeefan21]

Niiiiice! Put up the review of the Chocolate Stout after you've had it, I'd love to know how that one is. I'm really loving this Ommegang brewery, they seem to put out some great stuff, eh?

You know I wont keep the results of ANY of my tastings a secret! :thumbup

 

And I agree. Ommegang consistantly puts out a quality product. The only beer of theirs I haven'd cared for was their Ommageddon. Now you have TWO reasons to visit Cooperstown.

[JetsMania]

How is the brewery tour at Ommegang?

[yankeefan21]

How is the brewery tour at Ommegang?

It's a great tour in the summer. I like to hit Cooperstown first then head over to Ommegang later in the day. They do a Belgian Beerfest, too. This year it was on my b-day (July 21).

[JetsMania]

How is the brewery tour at Ommegang?

It's a great tour in the summer. I like to hit Cooperstown first then head over to Ommegang later in the day. They do a Belgian Beerfest, too. This year it was on my b-day (July 21).

 

which is also my birthday...

 

 

 

 

Sweet, I will look into it. Its only a 3 hour drive from providence, so that would be a nice weekend since I havent been to the hall of fame.

[yankeefan21]

I havent been to the hall of fame.

:o

 

In other news - good birthday!

 

How was the beerfest? I ended up unable to make it due to a family commitment.

[JetsMania]

I havent been to the hall of fame.

:o

 

In other news - good birthday!

 

How was the beerfest? I ended up unable to make it due to a family commitment.

 

It was pretty good, I tasted at least 50 or so different beers. They are coming back April 12th incase you are interested. I guess they come twice a year.

 

Suprisingly the best one of the day was a beer made at a brew pub (trinity brew house) in providence. Its called Redrum and its an Imperial IPA. It was listed at 9% but the guy told me its actually closer to 11%.

 

I also tried a coffee milk stout which was interesting as well.

 

 

There was also this mustard stand called Dr. Gorans's or something like that. I went up there and asked for the hottest mustard (someone told me to do so). Lets just say I have never had anything hotter. It burned for over 20 minutes and I thought I was hellucinating.

[JetsMania]

Trappest Rocherfort 8 just blew me away.

 

I went to the liquor store to get some beer for the party I am going to in a few minutes and I rochefort 8 caught my eye, so I pounced on it. I have had 6 and 10 before, but 8 is in a different category imo. Wow is all i can say

[yankeefan21]

Pangaea 3.3/5.0

 

Pours the amber color of a crisp cider. The aroma hints of ginger and flowers. This is a very odd concoction. It it like a cross between a ginger beer and a dry saki. Would probably be really good with sushi.

 

 

 

 

Tasting note on Three Philosophers: great with beef - not so much with turkey.

[yankeefan21]

Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence Stout 3.9/5.0

 

Ommegang puts out some excellent beers and this was no exception. It pours a beautiful chocolate brown with a light milky head. I have to admit, I got pretty concerned when the first smell that hit me was something I can only describe as dirt. Not happy about that at all, I pressed on. What met my lips was a thick, chocolaty, stout with a buttery feel on my tongue. Now I know why there was only one bottle left at my local distributor! This is a great dessert beer but maybe not something you would want to have with a main course ? unless your main course is chocolate cake!

[yankeefan21]

Dogfish Head Olde School Barleywine 4.3/5.0

 

Wow. This was awesome! I like my beer strong and I like my beer to finish strong and this beer delivered in both categories! It acts almost like a delicious sipping wine with a sweet finish. There was a VERY faint astringent quality on the sides of the tongue that other people had noted but that is such a minor complaint that it is easily made up for with the smooth feel on the tongue and sweet alcohol flavor. I will be buying more - don?t know if it?ll make it a year if I know where I burried them!

[The_Godfather]

Dogfish Head Olde School Barleywine 4.3/5.0

 

Wow. This was awesome! I like my beer strong and I like my beer to finish strong and this beer delivered in both categories! It acts almost like a delicious sipping wine with a sweet finish. There was a VERY faint astringent quality on the sides of the tongue that other people had noted but that is such a minor complaint that it is easily made up for with the smooth feel on the tongue and sweet alcohol flavor. I will be buying more - don?t know if it?ll make it a year if I know where I burried them!

 

 

I'll have to keep my eyes open for this one. Sounds great!

[JetsMania]

My two beers were finally ready yesterday. So I did a blind taste test to see how they stacked up against other beers.

 

The molasses stout is about 7% abv. It is very thick, the thickest of the stouts it competed with. I had St. Peters cream stout, left hand milk stout and an oatmeal stout from maine. I ranked the beers in order, and mine came in second, just behind the St. Peters. Before it was revealed that it was mine, I said that my beer and the St. Peters were in a different class than the other two.

 

Next up was my Honey Wiezenbock. It was up against Victory, Weinhenstephaner and some other weizenbock (something and son), I forget the name. In this taste test mine beat out the other four. I am very proud of this one because it was a total wild card when I made it.

 

 

I am submitting them into the sam home brew contest. I'll post if I make it to the second round.

[yankeefan21]

I am submitting them into the sam home brew contest.

Break a wort chiller! :thumbup

[JetsMania]

The latest Westy article

 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1196283880..._mostpop_viewed

 

 

WESTVLETEREN, Belgium -- The Trappist monks at St. Sixtus monastery have taken vows against riches, sex and eating red meat. They speak only when necessary. But you can call them on their beer phone.

 

Monks have been brewing Westvleteren beer at this remote spot near the French border since 1839. Their brew, offered in strengths up to 10.2% alcohol by volume, is among the most highly prized in the world. In bars from Brussels to Boston, and online, it sells for more than $15 for an 11-ounce bottle -- 10 times what the monks ask -- if you can get it.

 

For the 26 monks at St. Sixtus, however, success has brought a spiritual hangover as they fight to keep an insatiable market in tune with their life of contemplation.

 

The monks are doing their best to resist getting bigger. They don't advertise and don't put labels on their bottles. They haven't increased production since 1946. They sell only from their front gate. You have to make an appointment and there's a limit: two, 24-bottle cases a month. Because scarcity has created a high-priced gray market online, the monks search the net for resellers and try to get them to stop.

 

"We sell beer to live, and not vice versa," says Brother Joris, the white-robed brewery director. Beer lovers, however, seem to live for Westvleteren.

 

When Jill Nachtman, an American living in Zurich, wanted a taste recently, she called the hot line everybody calls the beer phone. After an hour of busy signals, she finally got through and booked a time. She drove 16 hours to pick up her beer. "If you factor in gas, hotel -- and the beer -- I spent $20 a bottle," she says.

 

Until the monks installed a new switchboard and set up a system for appointments two years ago, the local phone network would sometimes crash under the weight of calls for Westvleteren. Cars lined up for miles along the flat one-lane country road that leads to the red brick monastery, as people waited to pick up their beer.

 

"This beer is addictive, like chocolate," said Luc Lannoo, an unemployed, 36-year-old Belgian from Ghent, about an hour away, as he loaded two cases of Westvleteren into his car at the St. Sixtus gate one morning. "I have to come every month."

 

Two American Web sites, Rate Beer and Beer Advocate, rank the strongest of Westvleteren's three products, a dark creamy beer known as "the 12," best in the world, ahead of beers including Sweden's N?rke Kaggen Stormaktsporter and Minnesota's Surly Darkness. "No question, it is the holy grail of beers," says Remi Johnson, manager of the Publick House, a Boston bar that has Westvleteren on its menu but rarely in stock.

 

Some beer lovers say the excitement over Westvleteren is hype born of scarcity. "It's a very good beer," says Jef van den Steen, a brewer and author of a book on Trappist monks and their beer published in French and Dutch. "But it reminds me of the movie star you want to sleep with because she's inaccessible, even if your wife looks just as good."

 

 

Thanks to the beer phone, there are no more lines of cars outside the monastery now. But production remains just 60,000 cases per year, while demand is as high as ever. Westvleteren has become almost impossible to find, even in the specialist beer bars of Brussels and local joints around the monastery.

 

"I keep on asking for beer," says Christophe Colpaert, manager of "Caf? De Sportsfriend," a bar down the road from the monks. "They barely want to talk to me." On a recent day, a recorded message on the beer phone said St. Sixtus wasn't currently making appointments; the monks were fresh out of beer.

 

Increasing production is not an option, according to the 47-year-old Brother Joris, who says he abandoned a stressful career in Brussels for St. Sixtus 14 years ago. "It would interfere with our job of being a monk," he says.

 

Belgian monasteries like St. Sixtus started making beer in the aftermath of the French Revolution, which ended in 1799. The revolt's anti-Catholic purge had destroyed churches and abbeys in France and Belgium. The monks needed cash to rebuild, and beer was lucrative.

 

Trappist is a nickname for the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance, who set up their own order in La Trappe, France, in the 1660s because they thought Cistercian monasteries were becoming too lax. The monks at St. Sixtus sleep in a dormitory and stay silent in the cloisters, though they speak if they need to. Today, though, Trappists are increasingly famous for making good beer.

 

Seven monasteries (six are Belgian, one, La Trappe, is Dutch) are allowed to label their beer as Trappist. In 1996, they set up an alliance to protect their brand. They retain lawyers in Washington and Brussels ready to sue brewers who try use the word Trappist. Every few months, Brother Joris puts on street clothes and takes the train to Brussels to meet with fellow monks to share sales and business data, and plot strategy.

 

The monks know their beer has become big business. That's fine with the brothers at Scourmont, the monastery in southern Belgium that makes the Chimay brand found in stores and bars in Europe and the U.S. They've endorsed advertising and exports, and have sales exceeding $50 million a year. They say the jobs they create locally make the business worthy. Other monasteries, which brew names familiar to beer lovers such as Orval, Westmalle and Rochefort, also are happy their businesses are growing to meet demand.

 

 

Not so at St. Sixtus. Brother Joris and his fellow monks brew only a few days a month, using a recipe they've kept to themselves for around 170 years.

 

Two monks handle the brewing. After morning prayer, they mix hot water with malt. They add hops and sugar at noon. After boiling, the mix, sufficient to fill roughly 21,000 bottles, is fermented for up to seven days in a sterilized room. From there the beer is pumped to closed tanks in the basement where it rests for between five weeks and three months. Finally, it is bottled and moved along a conveyor belt into waiting cases. Monks at St. Sixtus used to brew by hand, but nothing in the rules of the order discourages technology, so they've plowed profits into productivity-enhancing equipment. St. Sixtus built its current brewhouse in 1989 with expert advice from the company then known as Artois Breweries.

 

In the 1980s, the monks even debated whether they should continue making something from which people can get drunk. "There is no dishonor in brewing beer for a living. We are monks of the West: moderation is a key word in our asceticism," says Brother Joris in a separate, email interview. "We decided to stick to our traditional skills instead of breeding rabbits."

 

The result is a brew with a slightly sweet, heavily alcoholic, fruity aftertaste.

 

One day recently, the wiry, sandy-haired Brother Joris returned to his office in the monastery after evening prayers. He flipped on his computer and went online to hunt for resellers and ask them to desist. "Most of the time, they agree to withdraw their offer," he says. Last year, St. Sixtus filed a complaint with the government against two companies that refused -- BelgianFood.com, a Web site that sells beer, cheese, chocolate and other niche products, and Beermania, a Brussels beer shop that also sells online. Both offer Westvleteren at around $18 a bottle.

 

"I'm not making a lot of money and I pay my taxes," says BelgianFood.com owner Bruno Dourcy. "You can only buy two cases at once, you know." Mr. Dourcy makes monthly two-hour car trips from his home in eastern Belgium.

 

"Seek the Kingdom of God first, and all these things will be given to you," counters Brother Joris, quoting from the Bible, adding that it refers only to things you really need. "So if you can't have it, possibly you do not really need it."

[Guest CrimsonCane]

Nice article JetsMania. I'll definitely have to try that Boston bar they say occassionally carries it one of these days.

 

In other beer news, Magic Hat Brewery is hosting this month's beer school at my campus' pub tomorrow (Last month it was Dogfish Head). I've tried alot of their stuff before, but I'll be back with a full recap of the night on Sunday.

[JetsMania]

Nice article JetsMania. I'll definitely have to try that Boston bar they say occassionally carries it one of these days.

 

In other beer news, Magic Hat Brewery is hosting this month's beer school at my campus' pub tomorrow (Last month it was Dogfish Head). I've tried alot of their stuff before, but I'll be back with a full recap of the night on Sunday.

 

Ya I want to try it too. I may call them and see if they have it in stock before going there.

 

I am also debating getting a six pack from ebay for christmas. Currently its going for about $100 for a six pack including shipping.

[yankeefan21]

I am also debating getting a six pack from ebay for christmas. Currently its going for about $100 for a six pack including shipping.

[looks at empty bottles of Sam Adams in disgust]

[Lefty]

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/custom/fr...0,7061102.story

 

Guinness beer heist.

 

 

I was at the factory last summer and I just don't see how it's possible for someone to get away with that theft.

[Bradcore]

I need a beer. I swear, some of my customers are crazy. No ma'am, I don't want to hear the story about neutering your cat.