So how is this beer a beast?

The term “kelpie” actually is derived from a mythological creature of Celtic folklore–a monster–said to haunt the rivers and locks of Scotland.  The mythological Kelpie was said to lure victims (it favored children) into the water where it would drown and then devour them.  Yikes!  At 4.4% ABV there’s little chance that consuming a couple bottles of Kelpie Ale will be so cruel to you.

So how does the beast reveal itself in the drinking experience?

There are few beers that REALLY intrigue me prior to drinking.  No matter how crazy a name a brewery decides to name its pale ale, I usually cannot muster up any intrigue…I mean…it’s a pale ale, hardly a white buffalo.  But a beer brewed with seaweed?  Those certainly aren’t flooding the shelf.  I was even more intrigued because my Kelpie came to me as a gift from my father, a burgeoning craft beer lover.  As intriguing as it was, I wa expecting a fairly mild beer.  After all, 4.4% does land this brewing the session range.

The beer pours and looks like an average porter, with perhaps a bit more viscosity.  I dug my nose in expecting to be bombarded with sea, fish, and salt.  Such was not the case.  Instead, the brew was pleasantly malty and grainy.  Chocolate was a noticeable aroma.  It must be noted that Kelpie Ale is not very carbonated, and you’ll be hard pressed to produce a vibrantly foamy head.

In the mouth, Kelpie is VERY smooth.  It is difficult to describe what a silky beer feels like in the mouth…it just has to be experienced.  Keplie would be a nice place for to start.  As the beer begins to impart its flavor on your taste buds, the beast comes out.  What I mean is, this beer is FULL flavored in respect to it’s ABV.  Usually in lower ABV beers with a lower IBU (bitterness from hops) the flavor is mild and subdued.  But in this case, the intense caramel and chocolate flavors.  All sorts of nutty and malty flavors are powerfully in your face.  The best way I can describe it, is by comparing it to a sweet Russian Imperial Stout…just subtract the sweetness and keep the malt flavors.

The seaweed was hardly noticeable, and came across as a moderater vegetable flavor…maybe a hint of sea. I believe the seaweed flavor had diminished in the 5 year old bottle I was drinking.  Nevertheless, in short, for a beer of such modest alcohol content, the flavor is a beast.

This is a good brew, and worth a try.  In fact, I’ll buy it again if I ever see it.  The fact that my dad, who considered Molson Ice a great beer just a few years ago (sorry for ratting you out dad) gave it to me made the drinking experience better.  Hve you had Kelpie?

Joking aside, if you ever meet a wine guy/gal who thinks beer is for the birds, give them a Lambic and they just might end up discovering the vast world of beer.

I chose to drink Lindemans Framboise out of necessity…it was the only Lambic my local beer store had in stock, and I was not in the mood to drive out of the way for a larger selection.  Besides, having sipped this beer plenty of times before, I knew it would be great.

The Pour:

The beer pours a deep purplish red that reminds me of the color of pickled beets.  It is crystal clear, highly carbonated, and thin.  A huge billowy pink head fills the space between the liquid and the top of the glass and sticks around for a while, eventually leaving very thin delicate lacing on the glass.

The Nose:

The first smell is the Framboise; the raspberry. It is so exceedingly powerful, but very fresh and natural.  There is nothing artificial about the fruity tones of the beer.  There are strong bready yeast aromas and hints of funky oaky brettanomyces.  The fact that this is a sour beer is not fairly obvious from the aroma, but there are hints of tart acidic and vinegar aromas.

The Taste:

Could a Lambic be considered a session beer?  By ABV standards and the drinkability, I’d say yes.  But when I think of session beer, $6 for a 12 ounce bottle doesn’t compute.  Regardless, for me personally, this beer drinks like a session beer.  I could easily drink Lindemans Framboise all day long.  While I normally don’t like overbearingly sweet things, the incredible sweetness of this Lambic is balanced by a profound tartness that really hits you as you swallow.  In fact, the first sip made me pucker a bit.  While raspberry is the predominate fruity flavor, there is a lemony/citrus flavor to it.  it is surprising how sour the beer really is.  Vinegar lurks behind every sip, giving it lactic quality that reminds one of red wine.

Overall Thoughts:

Besides Sam Adam’s cranberry Lambic (which isn’t really a Lambic) I have yet to meet one I don’t like.

Nate’s Rating:

Overall Satisfaction: ★★★★¼ 

Among other Lambics: ★★★★½ 

The Pour: Trust me when I tell you, that, if you get this beer, let it settle and cool for a day or so.  I imagine that perhaps too much yeast or unfermented raspberry got into the bottle we drank because the cork started coming out on its own accord.  (The only other brew I remember doing something similar was the Gueuze from Hanssens I drank; it contained Mead, so those sugars made the cork really pop.)  Once the bottle was open (good thing it was thick), it was too late.  The Amorosa was gushing out.  Fortunately, we acted quickly and saved most of the brew (we probably lost an ounce or so).  At any rate, we gently poured our brews into a couple glasses and noted that the body was very reddish with some brown tones.  It was hazy, as the style should be.  Amorosa also had plenty of floating bits (the high co2 must have really stirred it up).  One of the lovely aspects of the brew was its prominently pink head.  My glass held the head well, but the goblet did not.  Either way, it still looked like a very drinkable beer.

The Nose: For those of us who like sour beers and sour stuff in general, this beer has the mouth-watering aroma that simply makes one begin to salivate in Pavlovian anticipation.  The prominantly tart raspberry stood beside acetic (vinegary) and lactic qualities, creating a beautiful nose.  A hint of sweetness seemed to be present and was a nice counter-balance to the woody sourness.

The Taste: As anticipated, there was a touch of residual sweetness in the brew, which almost certainly (along with the carbonation level) kept the higher than average 7% ABV in check.  Alcohol was well-hidden behind raspberries that gushed like opening bottle.  Drinking Amorosa was certainly more like eating a fresh raspeberry than a Lindemans.  (However it’s not quite as sour and tart as a Cantillion, for instance.)  Also, the seeds of the raspberry added their own distinct tones to the brew.  It seemed like raspberry through and through.  Slight bits of fresh lemon peel also graced the sour and slight bitter aspects of the brew.  The wood flavor and dryness were apparent but not over-powering.  A delectible sourness, tartness, and smaller acetic tones made this a wonderful beer.  On the back, the lambic tones really came through.  Paired with raspberries, the lambic was really emphatic.

Overall, this was a very tasty take on a framboise that seems like authentically drinking raspberries.  The sours with the touches of sweetness were harmoniously balanced.  The only flaw that I saw was the fact that the carbonation was so high.  I’ve seen that this is a problem across the board…I’m sure the next round will be spot on.  Still, like all other Lost Abbey brews, it’s good.

Mike’s Rating:

Overall Satisfaction: ★★★★¼ 

Among other Lambic Ales: ★★★★☆ 

Perhaps the most quintessential summer beverage, is the Lambic.  This beer often surprises the uninitiated by its sweetness, tartness, and fruitiness.  If one is aware of the complicated creative process that yields this brew, they would be surprised even more.  In a lambic, the wild yeasts and bacterias that are stringently avoided by brewers are given a welcome mat by Lambic brewers.  Mike wrote a down to earth article a year and a half ago describing the process. I’d encourage you to revisit it.

This weeks Sip With Us Saturday is any authentic Belgian lambic.  While some US brewers do a decent job mimicking the authentic, some fall short.

Cheers, and here’s to a refreshing Saturday.

As I’ve been exploring a new beer store (that just happens to have the widest variety of craft beer in Ohio) in search of an “island beer” to fulfill my Sip With Us Saturday tradition   I was delighted to discover Hitachino Nest XH (XH = Extra High), an ale aged in Sake barrels, brewed by Kiuchi Brewery.  Interestingly, Kiuchi traditionally is a maker of Sake; craft beer sort of evolved.

Before drinking the beer, two presuppositions occupied my thoughts.  1) This will be weird.  I mean, look what the creative (I say that in sincere admiration) country did to a pizza hut menu.  What did they do to craft beer?  2) Odds are I will not like it.  Why?  I do not like Sake.  The recollection of trying to force the stuff down my throat gives me shivers to this day even though I have not touched it in years.  Nonetheless, I was really excited to try this beer.

You can almost always judge the carbonation of a beer by the amount of “psssst” it emits upon prying the cap.  This beer is plenty carbonated.  Already my presuppositions were rumbling.  I poured the beer into my large tulip glass and was delighted to see a beautiful ruby red beer with a no nonsense three inch head that laced the glass like a traditional Belgian brew.

The aroma was packed full of sweet stuff. The first impression that my nose took away was a memory of those chocolates that are shaped like oranges that taste like citrus flavored chocolate.  But there were also woody and grassy smells, hints of nuts, chocolate, and the funkiness that I typically associate with brettanomyces.  There was not even the slightest hint of Sake in the nose.

The taste?  Holy cow.  It tastes like a fairly authentic Belgian Dubbel, or perhaps a Saison with a twist.  It is quite sweet, and candy flavored, but at the same time there is refreshingly citrus flavor.  The beer is quite complex when you push further.  I thought it had a profound almond flavor.  There is an acidic, vinegary sour flavor that really comes out after the beer sits for a while and warms, making this a tad tart.

I did not expect this beer to taste like this, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.  It was well balanced, very rooted in traditional brewing, but at the same time bold enough to remind you it’s different.  I’d pick it up if you can get your hands on it.  The lesson that I’ve been learning my entire life was reiterated by this brew:  My presuppositions aren’t always valid.

Nate’s Rating:

Overall Satisfaction: ★★★★☆ 

Among other Belgian Strong Ales: ★★★★¼ 

Side Note:

Upon moseying over to the Beer Advocate to see what others thought of the beer, I saw that BA listed as an “American Strong Ale.”  Thanks for the hearty laugh, Beer Advocate.  Also, Mike reviewed this beer a while ago too.

Having read some lively interaction over at Beer and Whiskey Bros revealing mixed feelings towards the show, we felt something “LOST’ related should serve as the Sip With Us Saturday beer this week.  Alas, Dharma Initiative beer is strictly fantasy.

Such as the case demands, in keeping with the LOST theme, our SWUS beer this week is any beer brewed on an island.  Be creative!

Cheers!

The Pour: La Divine poured with a hazy copper colored head and offered a small, finely carbonated, and only minimally retained head.  The carbonation wasn’t as high as I would normally expect a Belgian Abbey brew to be.  However, there was a touch of decent lacing the liquid level reduced.

The Nose: Sticky and sweet, that is the best way to describe the nose.  The aromas of a barley and wine were very present.  Actually, the beer reminded of half beer, half red table wine.  There was a certain youngness and freshness to the brew, like a young wine.  Of course the sweet candy sugar tones were present as well as a bit of fruitiness.

The Taste: Like the nose, the taste was very refreshing and a bit sweet.  The wine-like qualities were to the fore on the palate as well.  A fresh fruitiness, candy sugar caramel sweetness, and a barely pop all helped to hide the 9.5% ABV of the brew.  Surprisingly, La Divine really dried out at the end (again, not unlike a red wine) and left a long lasting impression.

Overall, this is my favorite Belgian beer but it’s hard to denigrate it for much.  It was balanced in its high ABV, it was satisfyingly fresh and dry, and it was a joy to drink.  If one criticism was far to make about the brew, I suppose that the level of carbonation could be bumped up a fair amount.  The pillowy head and full carbonation of Belgians was lackluster on this one.

Mike’s Rating:

Overall Satisfaction: ★★★★☆ 

Among other Belgian Ales: ★★★¾☆ 

We have our reasons.  Uncle Bud and Miller, to name a few.  But there is that sparkling gem that proves that every style can shine if cultured correctly.  For me, the quintessential example would be Boulevard’s Collaboration 1.

For this week’s Sip With Us Saturday, with the Pilsner as the choice, I picked up four different pilsners to diminish the odds for disappointment.  Two stark observations surfaced as I surfed the beer aisle searching for my beer:  1) Choice isn’t abundant in the craft beer world when it comes to Pilsners.  IPA’s and Stouts crowded the shelf, but nary a pilsner was to be found, and 2) Pilsners are comparatively inexpensive.  With a limited amount of time I was only able to find and snag four American craft Pilsners:  Heavy Seas’ (Clipper City) Small Craft Warning, Uber Pils, Stoudt’s Pils, Lagunitas’ Pils, and Brooklyn Brewery’s Brooklyn Pilsner.  While I did sample these each back to back, I split the brews with my wife so as not to guzzle four beers in a row.  The reviews below skip the typical Thank Heaven For Beer fashion for reviewing a brew in order to keep this post from irritating the Attention Deficit Disorder nature of the Interweb, and will just highlight my observations.

Heavy Seas Small Craft Warning:

The beer immediately reveals it isn’t a true pilsner with the orange hues.  I was expecting a crisp and fluid golden, but the beer is a tad sluggish entering the glass.  But I could care less if it doesn’t “look the part,” I just want it to taste good and make me happy.  It didn’t.  It was unbalanced. The brew was overly sweet and didn’t allow any punctually crisp hop flavors/aromas to shine.  In fact it smelled like corn and tasted like high fructose corn sugar.  This brew boasts a 7.25% ABV.  I’d trade ABV for great taste any day.

Stoudt’s Pils:

The beer poured thinly with golden pilsner attitude.  The aroma was great!  Very lemony and spicy hop notes greeted my nose.  I am not a fan of Stoudt beers, and was pleasantly surprised.  I took a sip and thought it tasted pretty good.  but then I realized the sip I had was actually a cleansing sip, reacting to the Heavy Seas my palate last recalled.  So I took a break and came back to the beer.  When I did, I was again let down.  The brewery nailed it hop-wise, but after swallowing, there was a sticky vanilla flavor that was exactly like the flavor of pure corn sugar.  Home brewers who use Corn sugar to prime their brews and have tasted the pre carbonate corn sugar infused wort will know what I’m talking about.

Lagunitas’ Pils:

Lagunitas is a very hit and miss brewery for me.  I had tasted their hairy eyeball just a week before trying their pilsner.  Hairy Eyeball was a huge let down.  But after pouring their pilsner, I saw potential.  The beer looked good, and smelled good.  Like the rest of Lgunitas’ brews, the focus of the Pilsners was on the hops.  In fact, but the aroma was great.  Surprisingly, the beer tasted good too.  There was a lack of artificiality that I found in the previous two brews.   Saaz hops had to be part of this brew, but I thought I picked up on some classic American hop qualities.  The brew is initially sweet on the tongue, but quickly the hops make their presence known.  There is a bit of a rustic farmhouse quality it is quite refreshing.

Brooklyn Brewery Brooklyn Pilsner:

This brew looks like a pilsner, but smells sort of “wheaty” and grassy.  There was a teeny bit of funk (not bad) in the aroma.  Hops were downplayed.  What can I say about the taste? It wasn’t bad.  There were no noticeable imperfections, but it didn’t taste like a Pilsner to me and was reminiscent of a farmhouse ale.  It was almost like a Pilsner/Saison blend, and while quality crafted it was a tad off balance and had a bit of a yeast bite.  After swallowing, I had saltine crackers on the brain.

My favorite of the four?  Surprising even myself, I’d choose Lagunitas.  The worst?  Heavy Seas.  After writing the above reviews, guess which beer had the highest rating on Beer Advocate?  Yup, Heavy Seas.  I know that beer enjoyment is privy to subjectivity, but I had to wonder if the high ABV had anything to do with an abnormally high rating?

If you’ve had these, which is your favorite?

What’s your favorite American Pilsner?

Uber Pils

brooklyn

Lagunitas

Stoudts

Here’s the deal…

A little disagreement doesn’t hurt so long as the individuals involved in the discussion maintain mutual respect and avoid personal attacks.  In fact, I cannot stand politically correct, “I don’t want to say I disagree with you even though I do because I don’t want to come off as offensive,” discussions.  To me, the lack of honesty is disrespectful.  On an old blog I used to maintain, I wrote a brief article on the perks of honesty in dialogue.

Anyway, as per the beer bout on Beer and Whiskey Bros, this week’s brew is style-centric and is zoomed in on the Pilsner.

The poor Pilsner.

Because of the corn supplemented atrocities that flow from the likes of companies like InBev, this historical and once beloved style gets a bad wrap and is overlooked more often than not.  Here in craft-beer-geek world, our senses of taste are shifting towards BIG, BOLD, MALTY, HOPPY, etc.  There’s nothing wrong with this.  I brew beers like this too.  But I also brew session beers and lighter (not in the sense of tripple hopped lightness) beers and find complexity and enjoyment in them.

The Pilsner can actually be a great beer.  It is crisp, it is refreshing.  It reeks of the earth and the water used as its source.  In my opinion, it’s much more difficult to make a mediocre Pilsner, than say…a world class Imperial Stout.  Would you agree?  Disagree?

Thus said, this weeks Sip With Us Saturday beer is ANY American Craft Brewed Pilsner. Please, join in with us this Saturday.  If you miss drinking a Pilsner on Saturday, shoot for Sunday.  If you write a review on your pilsner of choice and want to post it on Thank Heaven for Beer, we’d be happy to oblige.

What Pilsner are you choosing?

Cheers!

For those who don’t know, Sip With Us Saturday is simply a communal drinking experience.  Every week we choose a beer, beer style, or beer them and that’s what we drink on Saturday (amongst other beers occasionally) and we hope you join us an participate in the post(s) that follow.