Category: review

Beer of the Week #14 Duchesse de Bourgogne

Brouwerij Verhaeghe’s Duchesse De Bourgogne

Before we get to the beer a little story. Davis was lucky enough to have a Beer Shoppe open up last year. I am somewhat surprised one did not exist before… Considering the univeristy and students’ penchant for drinking. Anyway, the Beer Shoppe does tasting and has a very large (over 500 I think) selection of beers available. I still haven’t found or made time to go into the Shoppe but D and some friends did late last year. At the time the Shoppe happened to be taste testing some sour beers. D found the Duchesse De Bourgogne to be the most enjoyable and thought I’d like to give it a try seeing as I have this here blog and a series of entries on beers. She picked up a bottle ($8?!) and brought it home for me.

A few weeks later while doing our grocery shopping at our Food Co-op I noticed that they too were now selling this beer. The cost? Just over $4… Anyway, to the beer.

From the label:

Belgian top-fermented reddish-brown ale, a blend of 8 and 18 months old beers following the careful maturation in oak casks

From my notes:

A dark cherry color with large bubbled head that quickly dissipates, leaving a foam ring. Smells sour, reminds me of sour candies maybe a hint of vinegar? Taste tart and sweet, Green apples and almost ripe cherries, hints of berries as well. Reminds me of lambics and strong ciders. No hops in the finish. No bitterness at all. Slight sticky feel in the mouth from the sweetness. This would be a good dessert beer. Perhaps good with a good cut of beef, better I imagine with venison or lamb.

 This was my first sour beer. I’d had Lambics before and was immediately reminded of them with this. Which isn’t all that surprising as the process for both appears to be the same. This was an interesting beer. I don’t see myself drinking it regularly but I can see pairing it up with foods that have strong flavors that can match the flavor of this beer. As I said in my notes. I think this would pair nicely with venison or lamb. Such meats have a robust flavor profile that I feel this beer would complement nicely. Or you could use this as a dessert beer?

Rating (out of five):


Beer of the Week #13 Festbier

Weihenstephaner's Festbier

From their website:

Saisonale, eigen eigenbraute Bierspezialität. Die lange lagerzeit macht unser Festbier zu einem ausgereiften, vollmundigen Genuss. Ein köstliches, süffiges Geschmackserlebnis zur festbierzeit

Got that? No, roughly translated it means:

Seasonal, intrinsically self-brewed specialty beer . The long storage time brings our festival beer to a mature, full-bodied pleasure. A delicious, light and sweet taste to be beer time.

Yeah, I’m not quite sure how that last sentence is supposed to be read.

From my notes:

floral, citrusy smell, delicate, thick head with large bubbles that quickly dissipates. Looks like ripe grain. Citrusy taste with wheat, malt  highlights. Hint of hops at the finish. Slight bitterness. Delicious.

Like amber waves of grain...

I really enjoyed this beer! Perfect light beer with wonderful finish when you’re celebrating the Winter holidays.

Rating (out of five):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2011 Goals: A Review

Polar bear is cr? ying because his habitat is being destroyed and I didn’t accomplish many of my goals this year…

Before we get started here why don’t you click these two links first. They’re my original goal post written just about a year ago and my half-year review.  I’ll wait…

Back? Good. So, you already know that I wasn’t doing so well this year meeting my goals. I’m sorry to say that things haven’t really improved much. No use being gentle though, let’s tear this bandaid off.

1. Submit writing every month to a publication – I submitted some poems back in January and February. I never heard back and I never followed through. Worse, I haven’t even been writing. I do write book reviews almost every month and those do get published in either the San Francisco, Sacramento, or Portland Book Review but I don’t think that counts at this point. FAILED

2. Develop, outline, draft and write two short stories – I failed to write a single short story. FAILED

3. Participate in NaNoWriMo – Didn’t even sign up this year. FAILED

4. Review Latin – FAILED

5. Learn algebra – I was doing quite well with Khan Academy but I stalled out linear equations and fractions. FAILED

6. Do the Lake Berryessa two mile swim – Cancelled due to freakish weather. I didn’t sign up though so, this counts against me. FAILED

7. Bike a century – Didn’t do nearly enough training and never picked a day to do this. FAILED

8. Buy as few new things as possible – I was really good this year when it came to purchasing stuff. I got the Ipod and the cell phone and a couple of video games. SUCCESS

9. Do more with my hobbies (besides gaming) – I’ve continued to sell off the models and hobby stuff I no longer use. This goal sort of morphed from do hobbies into get rid of stuff I don’t use anymore. I’ve sold off a number of models that I hadn’t put together or painted, including all my Chaos Space Marine stuff. I’m in the process of selling my Necron and Ultramarine armies and will be putting up my Horde models for sale as well. That leaves just the Battlefleet Gothic, and Mordheim materials to get rid of. My main hobby has become book reading with fifty read this year. SUCCESS

10. Jump out of a plane – This joke goal stayed a joke goal. FAILED

11.  Meditate everyday – I did this for the first four months of the year and the last three months of the year. I’m going to round up and call this a win. SUCCESS

Three out of eleven isn’t that great. I’m thinking about my goals for next year right now and after doing this for two years (writing done my goals and keeping track of things periodically) I have some ideas on how to improve my performance. First, focus on a few important things. Second, break your goals down into action plans with simple do-able steps. Third, don’t put on your list of goals things you’d like to do someday. Only put down things you know you will do. Fourth, work on the actions plans every week if not every day.

I’ll have my goals for next year up next week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beer of the Week #12 Route des Épices

Brasserie Dieu Du Ciel!'s Route des Epices

From the bottle:

Routes des  épices (French for “spice route”) is a rye beer brewed with botch black and green peppercorns. Initially the beer reveals flavours of fresh grain and malt, which give it noes of chocolate, caramel, and fruit. The pepper flavour and aroma is fully revealed in the finish, which leaves a pleasant, spicy, tingling sensation on the tongue

From my notes:

nice thick head, nearly two inches. Beer is a cloudy red color. Smells of pepper. Flavor: hint of caramel and fruit with a spicy, peppery finish. Lightly carbonated. Fascinating test using peppercorns. You can taste and feel the peppercorns in this brew. Complex

depp, cloud, red coloring to this beer

I picked this beer up on a whim. I was intrigued by the idea of using peppercorns in a beer. I love spicy food and if the peppery feel and taste could be imparted to a good beer, well I thought that would taste good. And it does! Every sip of this beer I was surprised at the complex, balance, and richness of the flavor. I kept telling my wife and roommate to take a sip and tell me what they thought. Wanting them to share in the uniqueness of the beer! This isn’t a beer you would want to drink every day but it is one you’d want to share with friends! I imagine it’d go great with a nice pepper steak.

Rating (out of five):


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