Chat Thread - Official BotRH Beer Club

[Nikonis]

Not much of a beer person but I had to ask if any of you have tried any of the Game of Thrones beers.

One of my friends bought a few bottles of Valar Morghulis and I thought it was pretty good.

[Yates]

Not much of a beer person but I had to ask if any of you have tried any of the Game of Thrones beers.

Yup. I probably should have taken a picture.

 

A lot of people didn't like the Fire and Blood. I thought it was pretty decent. The heat of the hot pepper was very nicely subdued by a fairly malty red ale base beer. It wasn't amazing or anything but worked for what it was.

 

I'm sitting on my Valar Morghulis until premiere night!

[Thane Vakarian]

recent tryouts:

[Yates]

recent tryouts...

I wasn't a huge fan of the Peche Mel, but I think I'm just a guy that isn't a huge fan of overly fruity beers.

 

How did you like the Delirium?? I'm a fan. I will probably have a bottle or two of Tremens every year.

 

I've never see the third beer pictured...

[Krakalakachkn]

I've been sort of avoiding this thread so as not to be a braggart but damn if this isn't too good to mention!

 

I'll take some pics when I get home but I just picked up my annual case of Bourbon County Stout [now have a 4 year vertical!] when the guy behind the counter told me he had two special bottles set aside for me.

 

1. Bourbon County Coffee Stout

2. Bourbon County Barleywine

 

SQUEE!

 

My beer store loves me more than my wife right now [i *may* have gone slightly over my beer budget   ].

I only got two bottles of BC Stout and one of the Barleywine - it's pretty limited distribution in Georgia. Probably going to cellar all three.

 

 

That coffee stout is awesome. I have to say I'm really glad I have the untapped app for my phone so I can remember all the beers I've tried.

 

 

We got some Prairie Christmas Bomb! in as well but unless someone tells me it's worth $7 for a 12oz then I'm gonna skip it.

[Yates]

Yeah. Those Limited BCS bottles were like $7 or $8 each, too. It isn't cheap.

[Thane Vakarian]

 

recent tryouts...

I wasn't a huge fan of the Peche Mel, but I think I'm just a guy that isn't a huge fan of overly fruity beers.

 

How did you like the Delirium?? I'm a fan. I will probably have a bottle or two of Tremens every year.

 

I've never see the third beer pictured...

 

Peche Mel is ok, as a light appetizer before dinner imo. Ofcourse, the Kriek beers (with cherry) are awesome in summer. The Delirium is excellent. You do know the Delirium Café in Brussels?

 

The third beer is kinda hard to get. There's only one brand of supermarket that actually sells them, in limited stock. But it beats the Delirium Xmas beer. The Bertinchamps triple is awesome!

 

recent tryout: Leffe Christmas beer. Very nice.

[Barmacral]

So I contacted Beer Studio on Thursday night, they are the largest of the local microbreweries (in volume, not manpower), and asked if I could volunteer with them just to learn more about the various aspects of beer. They said yes and by yesterday I was there for several hours, mostly helping with a tasting event that they hosted. I'll be coming in whenever I can to help out with whatever, be it cleaning, bottling, etc. They made no promises or commitments to future employment because they aren't in a place where they can do that (though they have hopes of heading in that direction and this'll be good for me if they do. In the meantime though they've offered to provide me with some beer and answering all the questions in exchange for labour to help them out.

 

So yeah, this is super exciting. Last night the owner who is on vacation came in just to hang out while the tasting was happening and he started cracking beer and sharing it with us which was fun, got to try a few new beers that were pretty awesome.

[Barmacral]

So I had a beer the other day that smelled and tasted like cigarette smoke. It was possibly the worst beer I've ever tried. It ended up becoming a drainpour for me.

 

http://dukeofbrew.brendanoxford.com/2014/12/advent-day-20-snowmelter/

[Yates]

Had some beers last night worth talking about...

 

1 - Jack’s Abby Barrel Aged Framinghammer Baltic Porter

This is a delicious smelling beer. Oak and bourbon dominate the bouquet but some doughy malts and vanilla sneak in there as well. It pours a cola brown with a small foamy light brown head that dissipated quickly. Flavor wise this is easily the best beer I’ve had from Jack’s. It is heavy on the oak and booze up front with some vanilla and brown sugar in the finish followed by more of that woody oak character in a dry finish. I think I would have enjoyed this beer even more if it had better mouth fell but this beer feels thin like any other lager and the juxtaposition between that thin mouth feel and those huge tasty flavors is a little unsettling and hard to comprehend. I would still say this is a very solid brew but don’t expect something BCS caliber. I was and so I might be judging this beer a little harshly.

 

2 - Jack's Abby Bride Maker Lager Wine [like a barley wine made with lager yeast]

This is a one trick pony. It’s like drinking a lager infused with honey. It is just sweet, sweet, sweet, with no interesting flavor characteristics or the mouth feel to support it. I didn't hate it but certainly wont be going out of my way to find it again.

 

3 - Jack's Abby Cascadian Schwarzbier

Aroma- mostly smoke and burnt grains. Appearance - dark porter color with a frothy off-white head. Taste - pure smoke and a salty burnt grain flavor. Another one trick pony by Jack’s Abby. Aftertaste is fairly bitter and long lasting, like burnt toast. This was the one beer of the night we didn’t finish. I get what they were going for but it was too overdone for my tastes and lacked anything with regards to subtleness.

[Krakalakachkn]

That sucks, I love a good schwarzbier.

 

 

Tried some new ones last night.

 

 

Upland Kiwi Lambik - incredible sour bomb. The belle of the ball for sure.

 

Hangar 24 Barrel Roll #s 4 and 5 - 4 is a bourbon barrel Barleywine and the guy sat it for 8 months and it turned out to be a huge bust. He was really disappointed and we all agreed it wasn't anything to ever try again. 5 was a sour with apricots aged in oak and it was delicious. Sour and fruity with a nice acidity and fruit.

 

Allagash Farm to Face - really nice peach sour, light and with a good mouth of peaches.

 

Allagash Nancy - didn't love it, glad I didn't buy it. Not enough cherry and kinda thin.

[Yates]

Allagash Nancy - didn't love it, glad I didn't buy it. Not enough cherry and kinda thin.

I done told ya, son. Could have saved you some coin because I know that bottle isn't cheap.

[Krakalakachkn]

Nah, we had a bottle share and someone else brought it.  I read ya loud and clear.

[Yates]

I shared some bottles tonight. More on this in the AM when I can share pix and thoughts.

 

Long story short; it was either the Palate Wrecker or the Christmas Eve at a New York City Hotel Room that won the night. Still trying to figure that one out. The Cigar City Madurco [brown ale] was third and the Perfect Crime Hollow Point - which is supposed to be a Westy 12 clone - was a disappointing distant last.

[Krakalakachkn]

Madurro is one of my favorite straight up browns. Up there with Bell's Best imo.

 

Christmas Eve in a NYC Hotel Room > Palate Wrecker imo, but I'm partial to a delicious, complex stout over a hop bomb.

[Krakalakachkn]

Stone's Golden stout was good.

 

 

Victory's Earth & Flame (bourbon aged smoked scotch ale) was really awesome.

[Yates]

Victory's Earth & Flame (bourbon aged smoked scotch ale) was really awesome.

Noted.

[Barmacral]

So now that it is the new year is there going to be a new list of beers to try for this?

[Thane Vakarian]

i think we can just continue the beercards and keep the discussion going

[Krakalakachkn]

 

Victory's Earth & Flame (bourbon aged smoked scotch ale) was really awesome.

Noted.

 

 

Don't expect some crazy flavor bomb.  I doubt anyone would ever call it a whale or anything, but I thought it was damn fine.

[Yates]

Had this super rare De Dolle offering called Stille Nacht Reserva 2010.  Fair warning; this bottle cost $40!!

 

It's very hard to describe what this beer is.  It tasted like a sour beer that wanted to be a bourbon barrel stout.  It was a very confusing beer.  It's like; there was a lot of brown sugar flavor but it was immediately followed by sourish wine character sort of like a Bordeaux.  I wasn't sure if I like it all that much at first but it definitely grew on me until at the end of the glass I had decided that I really liked it.  I guess I just didn't know what to expect.  Basically, it drank a lot more like a wine than like a beer.  Once I figured that out, I think this thing became way better.  With that said; it wasn't anything magical that would get me to spend $40 on a bottle of my own.

 

 

 

[Krakalakachkn]

Had this super rare De Dolle offering called Stille Nacht Reserva 2010.  Fair warning; this bottle cost $40!!

 

It's very hard to describe what this beer is.  It tasted like a sour beer that wanted to be a bourbon barrel stout.  It was a very confusing beer.  It's like; there was a lot of brown sugar flavor but it was immediately followed by sourish wine character sort of like a Bordeaux.  I wasn't sure if I like it all that much at first but it definitely grew on me until at the end of the glass I had decided that I really liked it.  I guess I just didn't know what to expect.  Basically, it drank a lot more like a wine than like a beer.  Once I figured that out, I think this thing became way better.  With that said; it wasn't anything magical that would get me to spend $40 on a bottle of my own.

 

18 months in a Bordeaux cask will do that, yo.

 

I think I've had the stille nacht before and liked it a lot, but then De Dolle is one of my favorite Belgian brewers. Their Oerbier is awesome, as is their Arabier, and their Dulle Teve as well.

[Krakalakachkn]

The only beer I've had that I could justify being around $40 are these beers from Birrificio Baladin that are barley wines that they've intentionally macro-oxidized then rested, leaving no head and no gas when poured. Similar to to a nice Madeira with dried and candied fruit, a bit of nuttiness. I've had the silver and gold versions which differ only in the amount of oxidation allowed. We drank them side by side which was pretty awesome to see what they were able to do through oxidation, releasing certain aromas and flavors.

 

 

We recently got in the Fume (Islay Barrelled) and barrel (rum barrelled), but I haven't shelled out to try those yet.

 

 

Www.baladin.it/en/productdisplay/xyauyu

[Yates]

Weird. Maybe at a bottle share...

[Yates]

Also had Keegan Ales Bourbon Aged Mothers Milk. It was okay. It was actually kind of thin and had virtually no bourbon character at all. There were some pretty strong oak notes that made you aware that it was at least a barrel aged beer. Overall it was decent enough to drink a 10 or 12 oz pour but I'm not sure I'd be interested in finishing much more than that. Maybe BCS has ruined me for all the imitators??