Beer, Dutch, Review, Would Drink Again

Brouwerij ’t IJ Columbus

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Brouwerij ’t IJ hails from Amsterdam, and brews many types of beer. All of them are top fermented, and a few of them, including the Columbus, is 100% organic. If you ever get a chance to visit Amsterdam, you would do well to stop in at this brewery, not only for fine beer, but to view the impressive windmill that houses Brouwerij ’t IJ.

Columbus, aside from being 100% organic, hits your glass at 9%, pours golden and cloudy. I smell a bit of sourness and hops, as well as some spice. The flavour is complex, but it drinks much brighter than I expected based on the smell. I don’t taste much alcohol for the high percentage. There is a creaminess that balances the sourness of the hops.

I don’t think I could session this beer, but I’ll definitely drink it again whenever I get the chance!

Thanks again to Scott for the recommendation, the bottle of beer, and delivery!

Ginger Beer, Wouldn't Drink Again

Royal Jamaican Alcoholic Ginger Beer

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A few months ago Blu brought a 6 pack of this to gaming. I tried it, I hated it. At the end of the night Blu gave me the last bottle to take home. I took it, of course, I never turn down a free drink. It sat in my “beer cellar” (cardboard box in the basement) until today when I decided to dump it to make some room. I couldn’t just dump it without trying it again though. I had it wrong the first time. I was expecting a beer with ginger but this is a ginger beer, if that makes any sense. It’s like a Stewart’s ginger beer with alcohol, an alcoholic ginger beer like the label says. With that in mind it’s not too bad but it’s too much like an alco-pop for me. I don’t like pop so I won’t be drinking this again.

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Beer, Canadian, Would Drink Again

Raftman

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750ml bottle caged and corked.
5.5%
Smell: cloves, belgian yeast, soapy
Pour: copper amber with thick head of foam leaving lacing that lasted the entire glass
Taste: cloves, apple, acidic, carbonated, made with a smoked malt however I didn’t taste any smoke. A Belgian style ale. Not my favorite Unibroue beer but I would drink it again.

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Witbier, Would Drink Again

Blanche de Chambly

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I love the Sugarbowl. Love it. So many great beers. Sometimes I can’t remember which ones I’ve tried. So I decided to try them all. Not all at once but eventually. The easiest way is to start at the top of the list and work my way down! It’s a tough job but someone has to do it!

At the top of the beer list is Blanche de Chambly. It is a white beer from Unibroue in Chambly, Quebec. It’s nice and light at 5%. Has the banana and spice taste you’d expect from a witbier. I like it and would drink it again. In fact I will soon, I bought a 750ml bottle and will give it a shot!

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Beer, German, Review, Witbier, Would Drink Again

Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier

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Weihenstephaner. The worlds oldest brewery. It started as a monastery brewery of the benedictine monks, and thankfully for all of us, it’s still brewing today as the Royal Bavarian State Brewery. I’ll cut the history lesson short.

If you like weiss bier, or wheat beer, you owe it to yourself to pick some of this up. Their class, not mass approach results in a very refreshing beer. As you might expect, it pours golden and cloudy. What sets it apart from other weiss bier for me is the incredible balance. You can probably smell or taste citrus, banana, cloves, wheat and some yeast. I also pick up a bit of coriander, as you’ll tasted in some other notable weiss bier. However, none of the others you’ll have tasted will balance it nearly as well as Weihenstephaner.

I will certainly be drinking this again, rather than my typical Hoegaarden.

Thanks for Scott for both the history lesson and the introduction to this great beer!

Beer, IPA, Would Drink Again

Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA (2012)

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Dogfish Head describes this beer as “boiled for a full two hours while being continuously hopped with high-alpha American hops, then dry-hopped daily in the fermenter for a month and aged for another month on whole-leaf hops!”

Given that, what’s amazing is that it is almost completely lacking in bitterness. It’s smooth, immensely strong, and flavorful. The flavour is unlike any other beer. So hoppy it’s … sweet? Almost malty, even.

Yes.

A thousand times yes.

Or, at least, two more times for the two bottles I’ve laid down to age until 2013. Whereupon I’ll probably write about them, too.

Austrian, Beer, Review, Witbier, Would Drink Again

Rieder Helle Weisse

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It’s summer. It’s hot. And so we put away our stouts and whisky cask aged beers, and raise a glass of beer that light will almost certainly pass through.

One of the standout types of summer beer for me has long been wheat beer, which is broken down into weissbier, witbier, and the sour varieties, such as lambic, Berliner Weisse and gose. The basic translation from German or Dutch (still the unrivaled masters of this top-fermented beer) is white beer. You might also have noticed hefeweizen, which is simply an unfiltered white beer which will appear cloudy when poured.

The selection tonight is Rieder Helle Weisse, out of Austria.

It pours nicely with minimal head and decent aroma. It’s a bit cloudy, and a brilliant golden wheat colour. The flavour is smooth, with a hint of citrus and banana, and a very clean finish. Not an astounding wheat beer, but certainly a very good one.

I’ll be drinking it again!

Would you drink it again?