What beer are you drinking now? #1586

Brasserie d’Orval • Trappist Ale

 

Ran out of orange juice so I figured, why not . . .



Score 3.66
look: 3.25 | aroma: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Hazy light color with white cap and decent lacing.

Rather nice aroma of orange backed by vibrant fruit. I don't find malt or hops but do notice a melange of berry scents.

Taste is uncomplicated but rich. Orange leads followed by berries. I know it's blueberry (according to the brewer) but to me tastes more like raspberry-blackberry-dark cherry. The brewer doesn't list all that stuff but they don't define what "beer with natural flavors" means either. The underlying wheat beer is sufficiently mild to remain in the background letting the fruit dominate. A bit of tartness emerges just before the finish and lasts into the aftertaste.

Light medium texture.

It's a light, clean, refreshing wheat beer with lots of fruit/berry flavors. Undemanding but good company. Fruity enough that I don't really see it as a food beer but it could substitute for morning orange juice.

 

Figure if I have a Fat Head in the morning, the swelling might go down by the afternoon.

 

Some juice and a breakfast sandwich.

 

Good Moring and Happy Hump Day BA! This is another great beer from Tited Hands..Eviscerated Pathway of Beauty
Cheers!

 

Starting with something stronger than what is customary for an opener.

 

@Hoppy_Time @dee4maine The Orono and Bangor taprooms have slightly different tap lists depending on what kicks when, Bangor must not have put Lightning Tree on yet Sorry, Dee!

 

That's totally understandable. What I had at Bangor was very good any ways. Now that Marc has put Lightning tree over Focal Banger, I will most certainly seek it out

 

Post nightshift, pre nap beer

This is the first one of these that I have had aged. Bottled 9/30/14. About an inch of short lived head on a hard pour. No lacing. Color is murky amber. At 50 degrees, straight from the "cellar " fridge, taste is a little oxidized, suprisingly hot for the age. Hops are gone with the sweet smooth malt taking over. This was an experiment when I first started putting beers back to age. This is still mildly enjoyable, but I will have to buy some fresh. I remember liking it a lot more fresh, cold, bitter and uncomplicated. Cheers day drinkers.

 

Good morning BAs! Today's New Breakfast Beer is Victory's 21st Birthday IPA. I bought this off the shelf at Adamstown Beverage in Adamstown, PA, Saturday. This illustrates my second pet peeve about buying beer (After undated bottles) - unitemized receipts. I got out of there with two mixed sixers for $ 25 so I know I didn't pay much, but still... That riles my OCD (or CDO on bad days). Anyway, it's pretty good - definitely bitter. I'll buy a case if I can find one.

 

Cut a load of firewood yesterday.
Now I get to unload, split and stack.
Hydration is key.



Have a good one everyone.

 

Chicago Hero beer #1

Chicago Hero artist #1

 

Death by Coconut. First taste and I like this coconut porter combination much better than I was expecting.
Cheers!

 

After a breakfast pizza and coffee, Chicago Hero beer #2.

Chicago Hero artist #2, a very underrated early 90's band who were the opening act at the Replacements' "last" concert (at the July 4, 1991 Taste of Chicago show) and actually have a worldwide music fest named after their first album, International Pop Overthrow. This is from their last studio album before their lead singer Jim Ellison committed suicide.

 

Something dryer than my breakfast brew with lunch . . .



Score 3.65
look: 3.5 | aroma: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75

Color is clear light amber with nice white cap and good lacing. After settling I saw some particulate haze which is probably due to the wheat and is not off putting. I doubt most folks would even notice.

Aroma is citrus essential oils and some hop spice with a bit of conifer.

Taste is hop driven with the grapefruit/floral hop engine pulling the train. Malt and wheat are present in the baggage cars but they're just following along and noticeable only as a presence in the body of the brew. Grapefruit is the first flavor sensation noted followed by hops then more of the same to the end of the line. That's where everybody gets off leaving only a mild touch (more of a ghost image) of hops in the aftertaste.

Yep, it's got grapefruit in it. The malt plus wheat grain bill with five varieties of hops make for an interesting mix. Tastes good for what it is, a lightish style IPA with citrus high notes but I'm not entirely clear where it fits in. Granted, use of wheat instead of all malt is a concession to something though I'm not sure where the brewer was going. I mean, did the brewers develop ideas of their own or did marketing issue some sale points (make a brew with wheat and grapefruit cause that stuff sells), or is it simply a practical way of keeping up with current marketing trends.

Anyhoo, it's well crafted, easily drinkable and unchallenging in the way fruited wheat beers are (I know, I know, but you can call anything an IPA now days) which is to say there isn't a darn thing wrong with it. Unprepossessing as these things are it still seems ready to shout at a stout in the way a kitten will swat at the big dog's nose.