The 12 (or more) Beers of … Mid-January
by chris ~ January 12th, 2009. Filed under: Food and Drinks.
Beer Bubbles by Tambako the JaguarWhile I will always love cocktails, and the art of making them, more than any other type of alcohol, my enjoyment of things drinkable by no means begins and ends there. I like wine in all of its varieties, and I enjoy beer from time to time. Though I am not yet at a point where I could tell an ale from a pilsner by taste alone, I’ve at least reached a level where I’m beginning to identify specific flavors and types of beer that I enjoy.
On Saturday night a friend of mine decided to host a beer tasting. He’s a lot more versed in beer than I am, and has been collecting bottles from a Top 100 list. Several people (myself included) brought some bottles that we’d never had before, to complement the ones he’d been storing up, and we all had tastings. A typical tasting in this case was one or two shots worth of the beer, depending on the size of the bottle.We had snacks and water available as palate cleansers, and the entire evening took quite some time, so nobody got crazy intoxicated or anything. It was just a fun, low-key, educational evening.
In case you’re curious, here’s what the list looked like, in the order we drank them (which starts with the stuff others had brought, then at #6 switches to my friend’s bottles, which were ordered by ABV%, lowest to highest).
- Some Crazy Russian Beer
- Some Other Crazy Russian Beer
- Stone Vertical Epic 8
- Harpoon Dark Munich
- Harpoon Chocolate Stout
- Harviestoun Old Engine Oil
- Bear Republic Racer 5
- Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye
- Meantime Scotch Ale
- Private Weissbierbrauerei G. Schneider Aventinus
- Great Divide Yeti Imperial Stout
- Hair of the Dog Adam
- Great Divide Old Ruffian
- Brouwerij St. Bernadus Abt 12
- Southern Tier Choklat Imperial Stout
- Schmaltz (He’Brew) Jewbelation 12
We also had one other, but I can’t remember the name of it. You’ll have to forgive me! We left a bottle of Dogfish Head 120-minute IPA unopened, because several of us have already tried it, and we didn’t want to end the evening by whaling down a 20% ABV beer. Just seemed a bad idea!
All of those that we tasted were high-quality beer, and there wasn’t a single one I didn’t like, but some struck me more than others. My favorite of the night was the Aventinus, but I have a note – yes, I took notes – that it could definitely get overwhelming in large quantities. It’s a spicy beer that’s almost reminiscent of spiced rum, but with the malt taste of beer and a hoppy finish. Very good, but … probably not the kind of thing you want more than one bottle of in an evening.
I gave high scores – yes, I scored them – to the Racer 5 (VERY hoppy), the Adam (dark, strong and chocolaty), and the St Bernadus (also spicy, with lots of brown sugar and apple flavors). Oh, and of all the chocolate stouts I’ve ever had, and I’ve had several, the one from Southern Tier was by FAR the most chocolaty, so much so that it caused me to shout “holy shit!” after my first sip. Charlotte and the others at the tasting agreed that it was pretty amazing. So if you’re into chocolate stouts … it’s highly recommended.
Coming tomorrow: a tale of woe and sorrow that will surely make you appreciate your own life more.
