Hook Norton Flagship

Flagship
Hook Norton

0,5l
5,3%

Winter is sorta here and I survived my first LARP and got totally hooked. So no wonder that I asked one of my fellow Larpers to choose the brew from my current selection that I will write about today. Otso, this one is for you!

I chose this when it was still hot outside and I wanted an IPA.
I must admit that I never heard of the brewery but it is English so it must be decent.
I am not entirely sure whether the page of Ratebeer has the right beer in their database but it was the closest I could find.

The brew cites "Maris Otter, Pale Ale and Enzymic" as its malts and "Fuggles, Goldings and Admiral" as its hops... I am undecided whether I find a malt with the name Enzymic pleasing or not but hey...

Beeradvocate shows the bottle I have but they do not have as cool ratings as Ratebeer... though I still don't understand their rating either.

So the bottle is brown with a sky blue label on the front with a brown golden frame. Apparently originally brewed to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, Otso told me it is supposed to be good so I know where he lives if it isn't. (OK It's a lie, I do not know where he lives)

I actually cleaned my whole action figure and glass cupboard today as I am missing 3 distinct glassed from my collection... and they seem to be gone with the wind. So I instead chose a rather plain not exactly fitting one ... just because I can and because it can go into the dishwasher.. I know, I know I am losing my touch.

The brew pours with little foam of rather big pored bubbles and is not entirely filtered and gold brown of color.

The aroma is very sweet, freshly cut grass, fruits, faint honey and yeast. Heavy zesty tones couple with faint floral ones. I SO want to try this now.

It is surprisingly bitter on the first taste but the sweetness of zest and honey mix in instantly, painting a very nice painting of tastes.  It could use some more carbonation but that's English for you. The fruity tones tickle the front of the tongue while it then rolls off the whole tongue only to end in pleasant bitterness. I absolutely like the fruity, floral tones in it, especially when coupled with the hops.

I really, really, really think you should try this one!

Prost!

DMW

Chimay Blanche

Chimay Blanche
Bières de Chimay

0,33l
8%

As I realized I have had the blue Chimay but never the other ones. The Blanche appears to be the most hopped and driest of the three. I have learned to evade Triples recently as the alcohol usually knocks me down and gets me tired but this is in the name of science, right? I mean.... right?!

The bottle is a standard small brown bottle with the name of te Abbey cast into it. Though a nice move, I heard that it isn't too grand on recycling because this way only the special bottles can go back to the matching brewery.

Trappist beer is brewed in Trappist Monasteries so the only ones that can call themselves to be Trappist brews are Achel, Chimay,Gregorius, La Trappe, Orval, Spencer, Rochefort, Tre Fontane, Westmalle, Westvleteren, and Zundert.

Obviously this bottle has a white label and a white cap. There are discussions on whether one mixes in the yeast of which there is plenty or not. I usually try it once without yeast and then mix in the rest. 

For trying this I chose my traditional Trappist beer glass by Westmalle. 

It pours deep orange yellow with a super fine head od long persisting bubbles.. just how I love it. 

RateBeer goes high for the brew, not as high as for the Bleue but still high. 

The aroma is really nice. We can find honey mixed with fresh flowers and the smell of hay as well as herbs and fine citrus notes all ending in a very nice bouquet of pepper aspects.

The without yeast:

Very sweet start, mixing with fine hoppish tones that then take over pleasantly but allow the citrus tones to linger. Berries dipped in alcohol only to then be submerged into dark chocolate come to mind.

Yeast added:

The fruity tones are higher now and it generally tastes a lot sweeter, alas this dampens the crisp hoppish tones we had before although it adds a certain mellowness to it while chiseling out the overall composition.

I would say I prefer the without yeast added version a TAD bit more because of the confronting clash of sweet and bitter but that might be just imagination. 

Definitely still amongst the best beers around.

Prost!

DMW

Xirdalan

Xirdalan
Baltika-Baku

0,5l
4,8%

Well friends, Winter is coming, it is getting colder and thus the time for cheery sitting on the terrace with a brew in the sun is over... luckily as I hate the sun... :D
So today I bring you something special.... though I'd guess that it isn't special where it comes from...
My esteemed friend and Y Chromosome donor of my Godson Axel has brought me a brew back from his trip to Baku so that I can give you a (the?) beer from Azerbaijan. Wikipedia tells me that the Xirdalan is indeed the most common beer there (It even has a nifty customs/tax sticker thingy). The can informs me that the brewery is part of Carlsberg... seems one can't escape them.

The can is white and blue and reminded me of some Finnish designs... mainly because of the color pattern. I actually like the design.

For the glass, I chose an old handmade round stein that I found on a flea market together with its twin which has gone missing for now.

Do I dare to check RateBeer?  Well I did and the rating is rather low... who would have guessed...

It pours really light and made me wonder whether it's not water after all, alas, once in the glass it was surprising gold with nice foam that didn't dissipate too fast. It is nice and golden and filtered.

The aroma is surprisingly fruity but with some side tones of ash and alcohol. Slight honey and amber scents mix with something weird that I can best describe as cough candy dipped in cheap honey. It isn't unpleasant, just very weird and unexpected. Once in the glass for a while the aroma dissipates and there is not much left.

Wish me luck!

It does start honey-cough candy-ish, then blends into a rather okish lager taste. The alcohol can be found in the taste which isn't hyping me but this is far from bad. There are faint apple tones and next to none bitterness. The taste is definitely better than the aroma. The grainy taste is a bit weird but it grows on me. Not the worst thing I ever sampled!

Thanks, Akseli!

Prost!

DMW

Viking - Schlossbrauerei Fürstlich Drehna

Viking - Schlossbrauerei Fürstlich Drehna

0,33l
7,6%

It's too hot and this is a high percentage beer... not a good combo but we shall see. I have never heard of the brewery (German only) though when looking at their page I realize that I did have their Odin at some point and I remember not liking it.

Ratebeer is low in their ranking like so often.

Viking is advertised as a Schwarzbier a typical German kind I usually like. I have never seen one with this high alcohol content, though.

Funnily enough I cannot find the beer on the homepage of the brewery... I wonder whether that's a good or a bad thing.

The bottle itself is brown and unremarkable with one label depicting a grim looking Viking in yellow and black with the Text "Viking Craft Bier" and an added Stark / Schwarz / Magisch (Strong / Black / Magical). Sadly no information about what Malts etc.. a bit surprising for a beer that calls itself Craft. Some advertising promises to AWAKE THE VIKING IN ME.... I doubt...

The cap depicts Mr. grim Viking again. This time in silver and black.

Untappd lists it as a Doppelbock... I see that they get that from the percentage but that's just wrong.

Standard tasting glass as I wasn't sure what else to chose.

The brew pours nice, very black and with mediocre amount of foam which vanishes super fast.

The aroma is meaty, tones of honey and umami faint pepper and clove aroma. All in all not a very strong aroma.

Carbonation is perfect, taste starts surprisingly strong and sweet with faint liquorice and pepper tones. I actually had to double check that there is no added sugar in it.
Decent chocolate tones with a hint of honey.
Aftertaste very nice and full with spicy aspects. Faint bitterness but very pleasing.

Maybe a TAD too syrupy sweet for me, but all in all a really good brew! I wonder why ratebeer goes so low on it as I do enjoy it a lot. The higher alcohol content can't be tasted which in my eyes always is a HUGE bonus.

Happy I found that brew!

Prost!

DMW

Crafty Loki - Wacken Brewery

Crafty Loki
Nordic Pale Ale
Wacken Brewery

0,33l
5,7%
IBU: 40

I stumbled across this when I recently ordered something from a shop and as I had to pay shipping anyways, I added 2 brews. Wacken is mainly known for the huge festival happening there and I had no idea there is a brewery... maybe they just use the name.. anyways. It seems that Wacken Brewery (German only) has a series they call Beer of the Gods and I chose to sample their Crafty Loki which they call a 'Nordic Pale Ale'. I am not sure about the Nordic part besides maybe the Loki name but hey.. it's a Pale Ale and me likey them usually so.

Like most of the beerses with a fancy name, this also has flashy labels. The front one shows us an old depiction of Loki the Trickster in his glory, the name of the brew and a text calling it something like 'a top-cool, top-creative, top fermented  beer'.

The back label holds some text about Loki and why the beer holds as many facets as the trickster God himself yada yada... let's give a personal relationship to it so we will like it more and buy more of it... I guess marketing is part of everything but I like my beers to have good taste not a good story, unless they have both but we will get to that.

RateBeer at this point does not have any scores for it, lacking enough ratings for it now.

I'm back to one of my standard trusty tasting glasses just because I can and didn't want to use the Widmer one again.

Loadsa bubbles, very nice. Full head with very fine bubbles. As it is 36° Celsius outside I didn't want to wait till it dissipated so the pic has a bit much foam. It's a golden, unfiltered brew with slight red hues.

The aroma is very fruity. Fresh berries with fresh cut grass and faint fruity hops and lemon zest. It's basically ones good ole IPA aroma but a lot sweeter.

The carbonation is a tad bit overpowering, the hoppish goodness is semi muffled by some weird musky tones but they vanish fast and give place to fruity, flowery aspects mixed with very faint medicinal tones. The awesomeness of this brew comes from the aftertaste which perfectly masters to blend the IPAness with what I would call the dry hoppish aspects of a crisp good German Pilsner.

This is unlike any pale ale I have had before and though there are some minus aspects, all in all, I really like it. I was skeptical about this I have to admit but now I want to try more of their brews!

Prost!

DMW

Bourbon Barrel Bock - Welde

Bourbon Barrel Bock
Welde
0,33l
6,6%
IBU: 28

From the same brewery as the last entry, I saved this baby for a while. A friend had mentioned it to me months ago as one of his favorites, alas I have saved it because nowadays I'm not too grand to digest stronger brews anymore. It's kinda fitting that I'll use my Widmer Brothers glass again as they used to make an almost similar brew.

Ratebeer goes pretty high on that baby as far as I can tell.

Funnily enough, Bock used to be the poison of my choice when it was served in a local pub I used to frequent many, many years ago, nowadays I often dislike the sweetness of them, which is automatically coming with the higher percentage.

Anyways, according to the information on the label itself and on the web, the brew rests 3 months in Bourbon, Rum and Tequila casks, thus making it a Cuvée. The hops used, namely Green Bullet seems to be a New Zealand variety and according to my research is nothing special.

The label again has 2 parts, the front label showing a barrel and the name and some general information, while the back has ingredients etc. I like the labels though they are minimal.

As mentioned above, I will use the same glass as the last time, a Widmer branded tulip I brought with me from the US.

Now I had the beer in the fridge overnight, till I just saw that they recommend 12° Celsius for it. As we got 35° outside and 7° in my fridge I will have to settle for a bit colder than usual experience though I took it out to acclimate itself a bit.

I kinda dread to venture outside to take my usual pictures because I react to the sun like a vampire ... but I shall undergo extreme trials for you, my readers.

It pours a bit thickish with a nice copper red cloudy color, clearly being not filtered. A medium amount of head can be produced with small to mediocre sized bubbles, which dissipate fast.

The aroma is very rich, floral tones mixed with freshly picked berries and the distinct barrel smell of liquor and faint honey and cork.

Now the taste.... my mouth is watering from the aroma...
It starts thick and syrupy, the carbonation could be better, the barrel taste is definitely there. Sweet, medicinal tones, vanilla and the alcohol being recognizable in the aftertaste together with faint bitterness. The bourbon tones are definitely there but so far I must admit I am not a huge fan. I will let this get a bit warmer and then try again..... stay with me...

Still the wood/barrel overpowers the brew. I like my Whisky smoky and peaty and woody... but with beer I am not as convinced as I maybe should be. I can sense a grand brew under the layer of wood but it is buried too deep for me to find this grand.


Prost!
DMW

Badisch Gose - Welde

Badisch Gose
Welde

0,33l
4,6%
IBU: 10

I got 2 of the brews of this brewery, a Gose and a Bock. According to the brewery's site their Gose won a Gold Award at the International Craft Beer Award.

As it is another hot day outside I am hoping for something light, tart, summery.
As a regional speciality beer, Gose is exempt from the German Beer Purity Law as the ingredients usually include salt and coriander. The top fermented Gose originally was spontaneously fermented by wild yeast strains, much like the Lambic class of beers. It has a rocky history as it sometimes vanished for years as brewers stopped making it or lost the knowledge on how to make it, alas it has found a renaissance with the craft beer movement.

Ratebeer again is somewhere in the middle of their scoring system when it comes to this brew. (Not that I care...:P )

The bottle itself is rather standard. It holds 2 labels, both cream colored with black writing, but somehow it fits the whole design of it. It shows a salt shaker and what I guess to be coriander leaves and also has a description what it tastes like... which I didn't read because I do like to make my own assumptions and not rely on other people too much when it comes to that. The back label lists the ingredients and the useful information like IBU etc.

Glass-wise I went for an old Widmer Brothers glass I brought with me from the US... simply because I couldn't find my standard tasting glasses... I have too many and yet they constantly seem to disappear...

The brew is cloudy and unfiltered and has a rather wellllll ehmmm ...let's say the color isn't the most appetizing but hey... I don't like my beers because of their color, right. So yeah slightly diarrhea color but who cares. Not much head to speak of. Just a small layer of mediocrely sized bubbles.

The aroma rocks. Very fruity, slight hop tones which are very well hidden behind salt and berry aromas. Umami and grapefruit come to mind.

The taste, now that is something.
The carbonation is good and the taste really awesome. It starts with rich sweet-tart gooseberry tones, evolves to salty mineral aspects only to give you the hint of hops and banana in the end, leaving a pleasant floral-fruity aftertaste without being sweet.
I especially like the fruit salty mix though that is something I usually never would like. To be honest I was sceptical about salt and beer but this works quite well though I am told that this particular Gose isn't even deemed to be very salty.

Now this brew is another example on how different beers can be. If you compare this to a heavy chocolate stout, one might thing that these are two totally different kinds of beverages.

A _very_ fine piece of brew-art. Thanks to the brewery for that!

Prost!

DMW