Märican Biere Bought and Drunk...

So true. The germans, on the other hand, always say "the Americans are so oberflächig (superficial)". My response was always that I'd rather have superficial smiles than nasty looks and snarls any day. Something that you really have to get used to if you want to spend any amount of time in the Vaterland.

 

I have family and friends in Texas (New Braunfels and Austin). Maybe you have had a different experience then me but I have never had a fake friendly experience in Texas; I believe that everybody was genuinely being pleasant.

I very much hope that you have a genuinely pleasant visit back to Texas!

Cheers!

 

Ha, sounds like Germany is a bit like Britain in that respect. By contrast, customer service in France tends to be friendly and polite in my experience.

 

Having grown up (and spent 25 years) in the deep American south, I don't think it's necessarily "fake" friendliness so much as it's just so ingrained that nobody really means it anymore. It isn't maliciousness so much as something that has become a parody of itself.
Texas is a different animal on top of that. Horrible analogy, but they're almost like the Bavaria of America. The east, central, south, and western parts are culturally totally different from themselves as well as most of the rest of the country.

 

Come to Boston. We'll treat you like shit.

 

Summer releases coming - for all German forum fans I can highly recommend giving the Sprecher Czech-style Pilsner a try when it's released in a month or two. Well hopped, great Saaz aroma. I know @steveh has tried it, I can only agree with his review. Unfortunately, the low review was from end of November, meaning the beer was at least 8 months old. Everyone scream for fresh IPAs, but not many are as critical for pilsners - too bad.

 

Well, consider it progress that people are aware of it for IPAs, and that took education. It will require the same from brewers to a Pils or other bottom fermented, German/Czech/Bohemian beers. They need to scream Best By! on these bottles... maybe a marketing tool, too? I'm surprised they don't hype that, for it would move the product faster and make it a more rarity. Considering I see a mini-wave of resurgence of these styles here on BA (or is that mostly HERR Scott? ), maybe that's something that will be a trend of the future in craft beer. After all, it seems they've exhausted all the extremes in brewing, so now to gain hype, maybe they'll have to go back to the roots of beer?

 

MJT, thanks for that.

It is a shame that you were unable to have some Iron Hill brewpub beers during your recent visit.

Do you happen to know the bottling dates for Ithaca Flower Power that you bought? That beer is very, very sensitive to age. I will only purchase Ithaca Flower Power when it is only 1-2 weeks from bottling. By 4 weeks it is a different beer. I would guess that there may be other hoppy beers that are just as sensitive as Flower Power to age (Pliny the Elder?) but for me Flower Power is the poster child for a beer that needs to be bought absolutely fresh.

It would appear that you suffered from the issue of over-carbonation of Rayon Vert that many other BAs have posted about. My guess is that it is an issue of Brett still fermenting in the bottle. I have purchased Rayon Vert in the past (1-2 years ago) but I have stopped buying it since I have read about the over-carbonation issue. I have homebrewed two batches of a Orval type clone using Wyeast 3789 (a blend of Belgian Ale yeast and Brett). Both of those batches tasted very much like Rayon Vert (without the over-carbonation problem).

Cheers!

 

“I couldn't figure out the FP code, but I figured Ithaca wasn't so far away and my chances were good.” It is unlikely that you had a very old (e.g., 3 months old) Flower Power) but that beer will indeed taste very different at 4 weeks old vs. 1-2 weeks old. I once purchased a case that was only a week from bottling. Over the next 1-2 months I consumed that case. I greatly enjoyed the first month (weeks 1-4) of that case. The next month of that case (weeks 5 onwards) was still good but not nearly as good as when it was fresh. To use your scale of 1-5, the first month the beer was a 4.5 (or so) while the second month it was less than a 4 (maybe like the 3.75 you gave for this beer)..

Time does make a big difference with Flower Power.

Cheers!

 

The last time I had a Rayon Vert I had the same experience (probably about a year ago). That one really didn't do it for me- it was insanely floral/perfumy, like too much of a good thing. I haven't had it since, though, so I couldn't say if that's a regular aspect of that beer or I just got an off bottle.

I do like Anchorage Bitter Monk, though, which strikes me as similar, but made with a more deft hand.

 

This is exactly how I'd describe Rayon Vert compared to Orval: while I quite liked the beer, it very obviously lacks a deftness of touch. (Could say something similar about many U.S. "craft" versions of the European classics.)

 

Michael, for what it is worth the last batch of Rayon Vert that I drank (a 4-pack I purchased over one year ago) did not have any “floral/perfumy” flavors to it. That Rayon Vert was dominated by barnyard flavors (or “horse piss” as my wife would describe it).

Cheers!

Jack

 

Yours must have been way older than the one I got; mine was more reminiscent of a Belgian IPA, albeit with a brett undercurrent. I guess I'm game to give it another try, but maybe I'll age it a bit first.

 

The one I had was very floral and perfumy, too.

 

How did you find it?

I initially liked the one I had, but it started to get tiresome for me by the end. I just may have to find my sweet spot with it in terms of age- there seems to be some potential there.

ETA: D'oh- I just scrolled up and saw that you liked it. Never mind...

 

“Yours must have been way older than the one I got…” Michael, I very much doubt it. From memory, Green Flash had just started brewing the beer in the late fall of 201x. I purchased the 4-pack the following January/February so that beer couldn’t have been any more than 3-4 months old. The beer was funky from the get go. I actually aged one of the four bottles for a number of months (5-6 months) and the level of funk was consistent with the other 3 bottles; I noticed zero change in funk level over that time period.

I have read numerous posts by BAs discussing ‘quality’ issues with Rayon Vert. Most were complaints about the over-carbonation problem but others posted about other quality issues as well.

Victory, when they first started making Helios available in bottles, also had some over-carbonation issues. My recollection is that Victory made a process change whereby they conducted a primary fermentation using a Belgian Ale yeast, transferred the beer to a secondary where they conducted a Brett secondary fermentation, and then filtered the beer prior to bottling. In this way there would not be additional fermentation within the bottle. I really like Victory Helios beer; a tasty Saison with a bit of Brett funk in the background.

Cheers!

Jack