Don't go chugging that $20 corked bottle - beer deserves to be savored. The following are some general guidelines for optimum specialty beer enjoyment!
Temperature (Some Like It Too Cold)-
Americans like their beer cold, but frigid temps chill your taste buds and prevent you from appreciating the complex flavors of many ales and lagers. Typically, ales should be served around 50*f and even closer to 60*f for barleywine and strong ale. Let your bottle sit for about a half hour after you pull it out of the fridge, so that it has a little time to warm up. If your beer hasn't been cooled yet, stick it in a bucket with ice water for 15-20 minutes.
Pouring (Foam Is Good)-
Beer was meant to foam! If you pour it all down the side of the glass, its carbonation won't be properly released and you'll end up swallowing all of the gas *buuurp*. Hold the glass at a 45-degree angle and slowly pour down the side. After the glass is 1/3 full, straighten the glass and pour your beer into the middle, rising the bottle smoothly away from the glass.
A Belgian golden ale or saison will often produce a massive, pillowy head. That's part of its character.
Unfiltered beer often has a yeast bed at the bottom of the bottle. It's perfectly fine to drink, but if you want to avoid pouring it into your glass, leave an ounce of beer in the bottle.
Tasting (Just Like A First Date, Ok, Maybe The Third)-
Slow down and enjoy your beer. Use your eyes to examine the color, the body, the head. Use your nose to appreciate the aroma. Remember, much of your sense of taste is enhanced through your sense of smell.
Use your palate to savor the flavor. Sip and let the beer flood every part of your mouth. Consider how it tastes on each section of your tongue (Remember learning about which part of the tongue tastes what flavor? Use that knowledge, make your third-grade teacher proud!), consider how it feels against your cheeks. Breathe out and detect more flavors.
Don't forget to swallow (that'swhatshesaid!) because this is beer after all, not wine.
Adapted from the Serving section of Christmas Beer by Don Russell
So, tell me what you think so far? What is helping you? What is making you cringe? Give me some feedback so I can make this pleasurable for the both of us! *snicker snicker* But really, leave me some comments.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Sunday, January 11, 2009
New Year's Eve Part Deux
**Sorry for the never ending paragraphs, the format is not doing what I tell it to :( **
So... here it is, the 11th of January already and I have yet to post part two of our New Year's beer selection. I'm such a slacker!
Once we finshed Terror Firmer (to the glee of Wil, he's not a fan) we decided to try another seasonal beer out of the book. We went with Old Jubilation from Avery. After many giggles and the sexy-bitch-in-a-bottle, the Old Jubilation didn't get much love. I only took two pictures of it (both of the bottle lable) and served it as is. If you've ever asked me if I wanted a glass for my beer, then you know that my response will usually be "It comes in it's own glass!". So that's how I served it, in it's own glass. I like Colorado beers. I don't think I'll ever be able to move out of CO just because we have so many great breweries. Avery is a Boulder beer but it doesn't taste like hippies. Old Jubilation is a seasonal beer, brewed as an English Strong Ale. It was another nutty beer, this time it was a hint of hazelnut. There were also undertones of mocha and chocolate. This is a tasty beer and if you can still find it, you should grab a sixer. With an 8% abv., it goes down nicely and would compliment a chocolaty dessert. Overall, I think I'd give it a 7ish out of 10.
So... here it is, the 11th of January already and I have yet to post part two of our New Year's beer selection. I'm such a slacker!
We had a pretty realxing night. Ventured over to the new ramen restaurant for dinner... I won't be going back there. Everything was pre-cooked (even though we were the only customers there) and slimey. Honestly, how hard is it to fry up a fresh dumpling?! Anyways, after dinner we went on an excursion to find cigars to complement our beer for the evening. One closed shop (complete with Panama hats), one head shop and one hilarious mispronunciation of "Devon's" later, we acquire some semi-cheap but very smokable cigars. Oh, we also picked up a Dirty 30 of PBR. I know! What can I say, I'm a good girlfriend. D had a good point, "Why do we want to waste good beer on drunk taste buds?". Now armed with the PBR and cigars, we head home to indulge in some Z-rate movies on Netflix and good beer (to start with).
I chose to start our evening with La Fin Du Monde by Unibroue. Translated, it 
means "The end of the world". Well, I thought it was fitting. I also kept pronouncing the brewer as "unibrow" (I know... I'm weird) This beer has been patiently sitting in my refrigerator since September, just waiting for the perfect moment to expose it's world-ending flavor. On new year's eve, it struck. Oh my. This was a sexy beer. Rawr. Who would have expected a blond triple temptress to come in such a unsuspecting bottle? Not me, that's for certain. She was also a knockout at 9% abv. which will explain some choices later on in the post. The 
beer takes on champagne like qualities; very tiny bubbles with a tart taste and a dry mouth-feel. I would rather serve this at a dinner party than any wine. It's just that good. I'd even go as far as a solid 9.7 out of 10. If you see this in the liquor store, (probably on a shelf, since it's refermented in the bottle) then buy it. Never mind the price tag, it is worth every penny. About 900 pennies, give or take.
means "The end of the world". Well, I thought it was fitting. I also kept pronouncing the brewer as "unibrow" (I know... I'm weird) This beer has been patiently sitting in my refrigerator since September, just waiting for the perfect moment to expose it's world-ending flavor. On new year's eve, it struck. Oh my. This was a sexy beer. Rawr. Who would have expected a blond triple temptress to come in such a unsuspecting bottle? Not me, that's for certain. She was also a knockout at 9% abv. which will explain some choices later on in the post. The 
beer takes on champagne like qualities; very tiny bubbles with a tart taste and a dry mouth-feel. I would rather serve this at a dinner party than any wine. It's just that good. I'd even go as far as a solid 9.7 out of 10. If you see this in the liquor store, (probably on a shelf, since it's refermented in the bottle) then buy it. Never mind the price tag, it is worth every penny. About 900 pennies, give or take. Let me just say that subscribing to Netflix was the greatest idea ever. We watched a couple of things that night. Some stand-up and a couple of movies. The most notable movie would have been Terror Firmer. Its pretty much a Troma movie within a making of a Troma movie. Horribly campy and filled with blood, Ron Jeremy and pickles. Oh the pickles!!! This set us off on a search to watch the worst movies ever made, which naturally include Plan 9 From Outer Space. *Sigh* How can you not love Ed Wood?! And Vampira!! I digress, check them out for yourself. I promise you'll at least laugh, if not fall in love with classically crappy movies.
Once we finshed Terror Firmer (to the glee of Wil, he's not a fan) we decided to try another seasonal beer out of the book. We went with Old Jubilation from Avery. After many giggles and the sexy-bitch-in-a-bottle, the Old Jubilation didn't get much love. I only took two pictures of it (both of the bottle lable) and served it as is. If you've ever asked me if I wanted a glass for my beer, then you know that my response will usually be "It comes in it's own glass!". So that's how I served it, in it's own glass. I like Colorado beers. I don't think I'll ever be able to move out of CO just because we have so many great breweries. Avery is a Boulder beer but it doesn't taste like hippies. Old Jubilation is a seasonal beer, brewed as an English Strong Ale. It was another nutty beer, this time it was a hint of hazelnut. There were also undertones of mocha and chocolate. This is a tasty beer and if you can still find it, you should grab a sixer. With an 8% abv., it goes down nicely and would compliment a chocolaty dessert. Overall, I think I'd give it a 7ish out of 10.After our "good" beers, we devolved to PBR and a honey'd tobacco cigar to actually ring in the new year. I must be getting old when a grand total of 4 beers makes me fall asleep during the greatest show ever: The Office. Yes, the American version. Yes, it was on Netflix. I would never fall asleep at 8 o'clock on a Thursday night!!
I hope the beginning of 2009 was good for you and that you were surrounded by people you love doing questionable things!
Sunday, January 4, 2009
New Year's Eve - Part 1
D and I headed out west to Idaho Springs to have lunch at the Tommyknocker Brewery. I love Tommyknocker. Sitting right next to the brew tanks, smelling the hops and consuming the most awesome pesto and mozzarella buffalo burger ever was the best way to start ringing in the new year. TK had some special beers on tap; Spleen Cleaver and an oak aged Butt Head. We ordered a Spleen Cleaver to start with while we contemplated our lunch choices.
Pardon the cell phone pic. I forgot to grab the camera on the way out of the house. Luckily, someone (not me) has a spiffy phone with a decent camera built in. The Spleen Cleaver arrived and boy was I shocked! When you pick a beer solely based on the name written on a whiteboard, you never know what you're gonna get. It was dark. Really dark. Can't-see-through-it dark. A Scottish ale if I've ever seen one. I was in love after the first sip. Slightly smoky, with a touch of caramel-y goodness and a hint of coffee on the finish. It complimented my lunch like a true Scottish gentleman- leaving me full and satisfied. Definitely a 9.10001 out of 10.
After we digested for a bit, D and I picked another brew off of the whiteboard. Oak-aged Butt Head Bock was next on our agenda. I was a taken back a bit when the Butt Head came out in 10 oz glasses, which just screams "tasty beer!! drink me!!". Trust me, I was there. I heard it.
Again, the cell phone saves the day. This was beautiful: full of oak undertones, highly carbonated, slightly citrus-y and briming of hops. The doppelbock was full of flavor and alcohol, 8.1% to be exact. It's probably a good thing that they don't sever this as a full pint or we would have had to walk it off. Absolutely delicious, I would give it an 8.9 out of 10.
We decided to grab some growlers. You know, those 64 oz jugs? We filled one with Spleen Cleaver and one with regular Butt Head. We went for a little walk anyways once we left the brewery because I was full.
Stay tuned for part deux of the New Year's Eve festivities!
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