New Beer Weekend #96

So, this was earlier today, Peche Mortel day at Slow Boat Tavern in the Columbia City area of Seattle. @Coronaeus wrote of his own local version of the same event.

My wife and I dropped our kids off at a birthday party, had this flight, and then went back to pick up the kids. We didn't have a ton of time to sit and savor (or try any of the other things on tap that we wanted to try).

From right to left: Bourbon barrel (B), kumquat (K), Tajumulco (T), and dulce de leche (D) versions of Peche Mortel. I was surprised (and so was the staff) that no regular Peche Mortel was available.

I basically took a comparative approach to this. Writing up from sparse notes scribbled while trying to balance between paying attention to my wife and paying attention to an exciting beer event. Good thing the lady loves me.

Up front, K stands out in appearance, with a huge, almost out-of-control head. B also has a little bit of a head, but tiny in comparison. T and L are basically identical to each other, with basically no head, just a thin ring around the edges.

B's aroma is powerful -- coffee, alcohol, chocolate, vanilla. K is way milder, mostly coffee and chocolate. T gives me a very intense coffee aroma, not nearly as much booze as B and lacking the chocolate and vanilla notes. D smells sweet, creamy, caramel-y.

B's taste is a ton of chocolate, sweet, bourbon and vanilla again. Booziness isn't as powerful in the taste. K gives me a unique note of vague fruity sweetness and citrus zest bitterness, which I assume is related to the kumquat. T is dominated by coffee, but is also sweet, but different than D, which has more of a creamy sweetness and isn't nearly as sweet as the aroma suggested, and finishes with a dark roast bitterness.

Mouthfeel of B is thick, and the others are all a pretty similar "somewhat thick" texture.

Overall, I rank bourbon barrel aged (B) as my favorite, with dulce de leche (D) as a close second. Then kumquat (K) and Tajumulco (T). My wife's rankings were B, T, D, K.

All of them are excellent beers. Kumquat was probably the most interesting.

 

It is funny you say this part, I’ve used this exact point as another reason I love them. I wouldn’t say they’re anti marketing, obviously they are a business, but they never creat hype, rarity, fancy style names, etc. just good people making great beer, they have a genuine and organic feel to them.

That beer to me would 100% fall into that Italian pils window. I had one the day after I had the Italian pils that @Coronaeus sent and they shared a lot in common.

Anyway glad you enjoyed it, I like it because the hop kick doesn’t inhibit any of its drinkability or cleanliness.

 

Jack, I've never tried a clone of Orval but I read your links and now think there's one in my future. I tried brewing with Brett early in my home brewing and wasn't pleased, but time marches on and (hopefully) experience teaches us something. Prosit!

 

Poured into a 16 oz Nordic pint glass canned on 5/10/22. Pours a very attractive hazy yellow orange with a finger sticky white head that leaves thin streaks of lace. 4.5

Aroma passionfruit, mango, a hint blueberry, and apricot. 4.25

Taste follows passionfruit, mango, a hint of blueberry, and apricot. 4.25

Mouthfeel is above medium, not sticky or dry, soft gentle carbonation, and at 7.1% pretty big flavor, but easy going down. 4.5

Overall this a little unique and not a complaint, it stands out as different and tasty. 4.25

 

Welcome one and all to New Beer Sunday #900! Going to pay homage to this great tradition with another weekend beer from Drie Fonteinen. My slight trepidation is the fact this bottle is just short of 2 years old, and never had one this fresh before.

Drie Fonteinen Hommage



Bottle Notes: Purchased 3/16/22 from Beer on the Wall for $33.01 w/ tax. 12.7 oz bottled July 1, 2020.6.3% ABV, n72 blend, 2019-2020 season. Imported by Lime Ventures Inc., Concord, California. Best before October 26, 2040.

3 Fonteinen Hommage is the slow and all-natural maceration of hand-picked whole raspberries and sour cherries on traditional lambik. Unfiltered. Unpasteurized.

For this Hommage, we blended a kriekenlambik and a frambozenlambik in a forty-sixty proportion and with a final fruit intensity of 529 grams of fruit per litre of Hommage. The weighted average maceration time was five months, and we used both jonge and two-year old lambik from seven barrels and eleven brews, This bottle was left for a year in our warm room before its release.

Appearance: Light pink head dissipates near instantly, medium carbonation, pink violet murky base, no lacing. 4.0

Aroma: Smooth mild in strength raspberries leads, vinegar, light sour cherries. 3.75

Taste: Bolder than the aroma, but restrained overall. Nice sour tart fruit leads, cherries and raspberries share equal billing. Nice funky composition, stays same strength throughout. 4.25

Mouthfeel: Light, medium tartness, slightly funky, dry. Fruit balanced, nice smooth blend. Faint carbonation, very refreshing and easy drinking. The tart/funky aspects are far more felt than the fruit flavors. 4.25

Overall: Nice subtle mellow offering. Not sure if the relatively young age or just the specific blend played a role in either aspect. Enjoying this beer. It is nice for a one time splurge, and might consider trying again in Europe, but not a value here with other offerings I enjoy more, including from Drie Fonteinen. 4.0

Thought I would have liked this more coming in than the Kriek from yesterday, but you never can tell until you try it. Still prefer their standard Geuze over the two fruit ones from this weekend, and liked the Kriek over the Hommage, but it's always nice to take the plunge and broaden my beer range.

Cheers!

Musical Selection: Emmylou Harris - C'est la vie

 

Best of luck with homebrewing your version of Orval.

Cheers!

 

New Holland Dragon's Milk White

Appearance: Hazy gold, thin head.

Smell: Very slight, finally picked up some vanilla pudding.

Taste: Vanilla and almond flavor, red cherry flavor. Kind of strange, almost tastes like a cocktail but with more body, since it's a beer.

Overall: I thought this was going to be something like DKML from Founders since I knew nothing about it. Then after closer examination of the can, it's only 6% or so. One of the more uniquely flavored beers in that it was so almond and cherry-like that it didn't really taste much like beer. It wasn't bad, and I might actually get another can or two for a curveball every once in a while.

 

Around 2002 as a distributor we were able to garner about 20 cases of Peche Mortel, only one flavor and bottling. Allocating those 20 cases to retailers across North Carolina was a delicate dance. I always wanted to take care of long time supporting customers, but also wanted to lure newer retailers to do business. No one was ever really happy with what i allocated, but it was fairly done. I cannot imagine splitting up all of these flavors and sending them statewide. I would probably have to sell them by the bottle- like wine- and spread them thinly so that the retailers would feel the exact same pressures.

 

These were on tap...and I think only 12 places in the US got them.

I know the bourbon barrel version got bottled, because @Coronaeus sent me one a while ago, but I don't know if any of the other variants did.

 

Ah. Still, picking who gets the kegs is very "political'. I do love Peche Mortel!

 

I’m certainly no expert, but I don’t believe I’ve ever seen bottled BA Peché or any of the variants sold outside of Québec. We may have had the BA version in bottles in Ontario years ago, but I don’t remember. In Québec the BA is sold in 341ml 4-packs. The annual variants are also sold with a BA bottle in a mixed 341ml 4-pack.

Kegs travel all over for Peché Day celebrations. Two spots in Toronto had it this year, Birreria Volo, one of the best local beer bars and Godspeed Brewery, the owner and brewer of which is Bim Lafontaine, the original brewer at DDC who made the first batches of Peché Mortel.

Here is a picture of the list of spots that had it yesterday (and likely still have some today):



BA Peché 4-packs aren’t too difficult to find. They release some periodically in their cellar sales. The Peché Day 4-packs are a little harder to get. My usual source was only able to grab one for me this year, but I did ask a few weeks after the release.

 

That's great. Thanks for the very clear picture. Very nice events!

 

Good afternoon NBW
I have another beer gifted to me by my boss. Chanter Scottish Export Ale by Marto Brewing Company Sioux City, Iowa. Just having a reason to dig out my thistle glass is cause for celebration.


16oz stamped CANNED ON 03/14/22 poured into a thistle glass at fridge temp 6% ABV. The beer pours mostly bright light brown with chestnut highlights and khaki colored head. The head recedes to a thin ring and single layer of bubbles. The aroma is mild with toffee and notes of sweet bread and nuts. The taste is semisweet toffee, caramel, nutty malt with just a hint of earthy mild bitterness. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with average carbonation and a semi dry finish. Never overly sweet, and really well balanced. Overall, very good to excellent Scottish Ale.

I'm probably done with new beers for the weekend. My youngest graduates high school at 4pm today, so plenty of activity around here. Cheers all and enjoy your Sunday!

 

Back home after spending the last few days in Philly. I received an excellent box of beer from @Coronaeus earlier this week, and hope to be able to enjoy a couple new beers from said box today. First up is Devil's Trill XXIX: Trilling in the Name

Appearance is a cloudy orange / yellow with loads of dense off-white colored head. Outstanding retention and good lacing. Overall and attractive beer. Aroma is relatively standard fare. Tropical hops with some piney notes. Taste follows the nose. There is a pleasant enough light bitterness up front, complemented by mango and faint grapefruit. Medium bodied with a fairly clean finish. .

Overall an enjoyable DIPA. Thanks, Peter!

 

Poured into an 8 oz straight glass with a half finger sticky white head that leaves thin streaks of lace with solid retention, a nice hazy yellow orange. 4.5

Aroma is tangerine, cantaloupe, papaya, apricot, and pink grapefruit rind. 4.5

Taste follows tangerine, papaya, cantaloupe, apricot, and a little bit grapefruit bitterness. 4.5

Mouthfeel is above medium, soft gentle carbonation, not sticky or dry, and at 8% ABV big flavor and easy going down. 4.5

Overall another excellent brew from for me, NH finest all around brewers. 4.5

 

Sonnen Hill x Volo Altro American Pils.



Pours a very light straw with moderate head that dissipates slowly leaving light lacing as the beer is consumed.

Biscuit, light floral hop notes. Fresh and inviting.

Taste follows. Very mild. Soda cracker with floral and grassy notes. Light.

This is lighter bodied and appropriate to what one would expect from the style.

Nice, easy drinking Pils that I’d gladly drink again.