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Sometimes you just get lucky. As many home owners know life is
full of ups and downs. The week before Xmas we found a little spot
of mildew on the wall by our fireplace that turned out to be a
leak that had been free flowing for atleast a couple of years.
Unbeknowst to my wife and I our wall had slowly been
turning to compost and we had to call in the proffesionals to fix
it. Here’s where the luck comes in. The General Contractor we
hired is a huge beer collector and in a moment of extreme kindness
he invited my wife and I over to his house to check out his cellar
and relax in a place that didn’t reak of wet wood.
The night quickly turned into a blur but from what I can recall,
I tried to take notes, it was kinda amazing. Here is what we
tasted:
Ballast Point-Big Eye IPA-San Diego, CA. 6%
ABV. American Centennial hops are used
to bitter, flavor, finish, and dry hop the Big Eye. Its full hop
flavor is guaranteed to please the palate of the true hop
head. That”s the commercial description, we found it to have
a rush of floral, citrus notes, big clean and flavorful without
being boozy. If I were to give it a comparison to something that is
readily available in this market I would say its more Dogfish Head
than Stone.
Hales-Rudyards Rare-2003 Vintage-Seattle, WA. 9.2% ABV
supposedly. Couldn’t find a commercial description so
you’ll just have to live with ours. Some of these aged beers go so
bad so fast but not in this case. This still had some serious legs.
to say it was roasty was an understatement. The nose was sweet and
carmelly and it had a massive burst of fig and dried fruit. The
only problem this beer had was that it was a little thin for our
tastes but all in all it was amazing.
Brewdog-Paradox Port Dundas-2008 Vintage-Fraserburgh,
Scottland 10%ABV. This again is a vintage beer that
I couldn’t find a commercial descriptin for since they have changed
casks. A stout aged in 1966 Port Dundas Whiskey casks. The nose was
filled with peaty, earthy, whiskey aromas (yum). The problem is it
tasted washed out. the nose left us anticipating something amazing
and it didn’t follow through. The saving grace was the pairing with
a Dubliner Stout Cheese, fantastic.
Brewery Ommegang-Ommegedon-2007 Vintage-Cooperstown, NY
8%ABV. The commercial description is as follows:
Belgian-style ale with a wild twist , a dose of Brettanomyces yeast
and a blast of dry hopping. It’s a strong blonde ale with a sharp
citrus flavor that, like the other Ommegang ales, has a dry finish.
Its dryness and funkiness begat the name of Ommegeddon. for the
time when the forces of light and dark battle for world dominion.
It’s time for you to pick your side. Well we decided that this beer
gets the thumbs up. To say it is funky is an understatement, a
slight sourness and a crispness from champagne like bubbles. The
hotness of this beer didn’t detract from its all around flavor in
the least, the commercial description was spot on.
Now this is where it starts getting a little fuzzy……
Stone Brewing Co.-Double Bastard-2001 Vintage-San Diego,
CA-10.5% ABV. As with most Stone products, we are not
worthy of knowing what hops they use, the malts or even the IBU’s
because apperently we are morons. Thats fine as long as they keep
doing what they do so well. This beer is history in a glass, so
beautiful on the nose with a malty sweetness and a slight sticky
hop scent. This has changed from a Bastard into what can
best be described as the Jerry Garcia of beers. Super mellow, a
long, long finish and slightly out of tune. Balanced it was
not but the sum of its parts definetly made for a great trip.
Avery Brewing-The Czar-2006 Vintage-Boulder, CO-11.3%
ABV. Behold the stunning crimson hues through the inky
blackness. Inhale the noble Hallertau hops, spicy and floral. Savor
the flavors redolent of English toffee, rich mocha, sweet molasses,
candied currants and a hint of anise. These are the words of
brewing rockstar Adam Avery. If you aren’t drinking his beers, you
should be. Why drink stouts? This is why. Dark as night, huge and
flavorful with a deep chocolaty sweetness and a very pleasant
warming finish.
Finally before my wife could wisk me away we cracked open…..
De Dolle-Still Nacht-2003 Vintage-Esen,
Belgium-????ABV. I am ashamed to say we don’t
remember this beer but this is what the brewers have to
say: Stille Nacht (Silent Night) is a prestige beer from De
Dolle Brouwers, brewed for Christmas. It has the highest density of
any Belgian beer (27°Pl). It has been boiling for many hours,
brewed with pale malt with white candy sugar in the kettle. The
Nugget hops gives an extra bitterness to balance the extreme
sweetness due to the density. The taste triangle is completed with
some acidity of the fermentation. It is a very interesting beer to
age. We have samples of every bottling we have done so far and
aging hasn’t decreased the quality of this beer. Keep some samples
at 10°C and mark the year on the cap with an alcohol marker.
Cheers!! Umm yeah, ok we’ll go with that.
Please leave tastings like this to the proffesionals because I
definetly felt like my luck had run out the next morning. And if
you are looking for a good contractor I recommend Simcoe
Construction and All Construction out of Purdy. They do good work
and they know how to woo new customers.
If you want to be part of one of our tastings of insane beers or
offer up your pub, bottleshop or restauraunt as a location we can
hold a weekly beer panel meeting to taste, review and rate
new and exciting beers from around the world. Drop me a line at
beerspotting@hotmail.com and
I will put you on the list. These are free to you, everyone that
participates needs to bring one 22oz or 750ml bottle or two 12 oz
bottles of something that we haven’t posted on Beer Spotting. The
location rotates between the establishments that want to sponsor
us.
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