September 29, 2007

BeerBasics visits...

Greetings,

I would like to share this link... 

BeerBasics visits...

Beer House Brewery & Restaurant - Tallinin, Estonia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn0hE5BnY64

 

Cheers!

Peter LaFrance

( peter.lafrance@beerbasics.com )

 

Posted by Peter LaFrance at 12:35:56 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

September 27, 2007

Vintage Brewing?

Greetings,

I was just doing some “C” drive cleaning and found a collection of notes for an article, never finished, on “wet-hopping.”

The piece, published last year, was a look at the special effort many breweries were going to in using freshly harvested hops in a special seasonal brew. At the time there were eight breweries making the special brews. This year I can only guess that the number has at least quadrupled.

Now, I have sipped and quaffed many “anniversary” ales, beers, porters and lagers. Each year I look forward to the Anchor “Our Special Ale.” The celebration ales have a long history in the tradition of brewing. That will be the subject of another entry.

This time I find the essence of the subject being the use of hops harvested at the same time and, in some cases, from the same hop farms. If this means that two or three breweries are using the harvest from a specific farm and a specific year it becomes the equivalent of a “vintage” brew as well as an “anniversary” brew.

Why have the marketing possibilities of this concept not been exploited?

After further research I hope to find the beginning of an answer and post it on this site.

Comments are solicited. Cheers!

Peter LaFrance

(peter.lafrance@beerbasics.com )

 

Posted by Peter LaFrance at 09:59:27 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

September 17, 2007

A TASTE OF: Magic Hat Belgian Dubbel "Fall Mystery Beer"

Greetings,

It's been a while but here, for your consideration...

 

Magic Hat Belgian Dubbel

"Fall Mystery Beer" 

 

 

Appearance: This is a dull copper, hazy beer. The head is very rough foamy and rocky slightly tan foam.

Aroma: There is a distinct hint of banana in the nose. Neither a sweet note, nor sour note is echoed by either malt or hops.

Mouth Feel: This seems to be a light to medium bodied beer with a creamy, slightly viscous mouth feel.

Flavor: Both the sweet, and the bitter is obvious in the very first sip. The banana esters are far less in the flavor than they are in the aroma.

Finish: There is a very long finish to this beer. The brewery tells me that they use sugar candy in the process.  What I can detective that sugar is a relatively high alcohol content, which probably is the reason that the body is as light as it is.

Comments: the slightly unusual appearance, as well as the fading in and feting out of banana flavors, as well as a hefty 7.5% alcohol by volume make this a rather fun Halloween beer for adults.  I could party hearty with this beer.

VITAL STATISTICS:

Malts: Pale, Special B. and Crystal

Adjunct: Dark candy sugar

Hops: Styrian Goldings

Original Gravity: 18 plato

International Bittering Units: 30

Alcohol by Volume: 7.5%

The Brewery site:

http://www.magichat.net/

What others thought:

RateBeer:

http://www.ratebeer.com/Beer/magic-hat-belgian-dubbel/77402/

Cheers!

Peter LaFrance

( peter.lafrance@beerbasics.com )

Posted by Peter LaFrance at 13:25:42 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |