Versiliese

I haven't spoken poorly of an Italian beer recently, so it seems like it is about time to do so. I have already covered a couple of beers by this brand, with not so good results, so I will try not to belabor the point too much. 

Versiliese is a "Bionda Doppio Malto" which translates to "blonde double malt". Effectively, it is a strong golden ale. It is 8% ABV, so it certainly will pack a punch. I remember that it didn't really taste like booze, which for such a strong beer is a good accomplishment. Unfortunately, it didn't really taste like much at all. I don't really know what it was. It was just kind of light in general. The flavor started out ok, light and grainy. Not the best for such a strong beer, but ok nonetheless. In no time, the flavor dropped away, leaving virtually nothing behind. Simple beer, with a simple flavor. Nothing special. Certainly won't be trying it again soon. Eventually I might, but not soon. 

Glassware: Tulip, Mug

Synonym Beer: I don't want to compare this beer to another. 

If you want me to look at a particular beer, drink, place, or have anything to say to me, email me at monksandmalts@gmail.com. Buy my pictures here: http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/robert-rizzolo.html. You can send me cool photos too, if you like and I will make a post up for you. 

Hofbrau Original and Appreciating the Lager

Ok, back to the basics for this post. Today's beer is the people's beer of Munich, so to speak. It is simple, refreshing, classic, and most of all, comes in 2 liter steins. 

Hofbrau Original is obviously made by Hofbrau Munchen, or Munich. Since I can't get umlauts (the two dots above vowels) to show up, I will just use Munich. Hofbrau is credited with being the first brewery to follow the Reinheitsgebot, which is known in the non-German-speaking world as the German Beer Purity Law. This states that beer can only be made with water, hops, malted grain, and yeast. This means no additional spices, fruits, sugars, etc. Bayern (Bavaria) still has this law in effect. While certain beers, such as a hefeweizen might make you think that they added fruit (particularly bananas), but that is just esters from the yeast. Some people might say that these regulations might make the beer boring. I say that it makes it pure and delicious. With is law, it prevents one of my pet peeves in beer: Throwing a bunch of stuff into the beer and saying it tastes good. 

Hofbrau Original is a Munich Helles style, which is the German way of saying a light lager. Now, you shouldn't think that by "light lager" I am saying it is in the same category as American light lagers. The  "light" does not refer to the caloric content, taste, or ABV, but rather the color. It sits at a relatively normal 5.1% ABV, so it wouldn't normally knock you on your ass, except that it is generally served by the liter. In personal experience, especially if it is hot, the first liter goes down really easy and really quickly. About halfway through the second, you will probably realize that you are drinking a ton of beer and it is really really good. You might not realize that you are drunk until you stand up. The beer is light in body, but has a somewhat complex flavor (if you are drinking slow enough to pay attention). It is overall very pleasant, with a light biscuit sweetness, light lemon zest flavor, and finishes with a pleasant hop bitterness. I could drink this all day long.

The simple light lager is a lost style in the US. There are select breweries that make fantastic lagers, but especially among beer connoisseurs or emerging enthusiasts, the light lager is often looked down upon. This is probably due to the bastadardization of the German and Czech styles by the larger American breweries. Still, a beer does not need to overwhelm the palate with flavors. Beer does not need to be as dark as oil or crammed full of hops to be delicious. The light, refreshing beers have their own place in the world of beer and it might even be more difficult to create a great one. If you don't believe me, try some German light lagers. If you tell me that they have no redeeming value, I will show you a person who doesn't know beer.  

Not that it really needs to be said, but Hofbrau really knows what they are doing. During the 30 years war, when the Swedish were ready to attack Munich, they made a deal with the city: If the city would return some of the Swedish prisoners and give the Swedes something like 600,000 barrels of Hofbrau beer, they would leave the city alone. It is the beer that saved the city. You know it is good because even the foreign kings wanted it. Hell, the Swedes probably wanted the war so that they could get their hands on the beer (citation needed). 

If you want me to look at a particular beer, drink, place, or have anything to say to me, email me at monksandmalts@gmail.com. Buy my pictures here: http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/robert-rizzolo.html. You can send me cool photos too, if you like and I will make a post up for you. 

Obolon Premium

Today's beer was purchased on a whim because I don't see beers from the Ukraine on a daily basis and I was curious. Curiosity satisfied. 

Well, many things about this beer are kind of interesting. When you take a trip to the Obolon website, it says, "Not just a beer, but a sence of freedom". Understandable translation spelling error aside, the story behind the "sense of freedom" is pretty interesting. They were the first privatized company to exist in the new, independent Ukraine. Now, well, at least in 2008, Obolon's main plant is Europe's largest beer manufacturing plant. Apparently the company has been very good to the Ukraine, starting youth soccer leagues and sponsoring the Ukraine's senior football club. 

History aside now, let's get to the beer that does so much good. First of all, it is in a green bottle, but does not have a cork in it. Strike one. Understandably so, the beer smelled very skunky was it was poured out of the bottle. Obolon Premium is a Euro pale lager, despite the fact that it says Ale Obolon Premium on the bottle. I think it is probably another one of those translation errors. It is 5.2% ABV, which is about normal for the style. The color was something like a slightly hazy light amber color. The taste was actually quite enjoyable. It reminded me a lot of Pilsner Urquell. Light, slightly hoppy, a little bit of honey flavor, but then it just stopped. The flavor fell off unexpectedly in about 2 seconds. Not that it was a bad beer, I just think that it probably doesn't travel well. If I ever find myself in the Ukraine, I might go and grab one.

Glassware: Mug, Pint, Pilsner Glass

Synonym Beer: Pilsner Urquell (only with less flavor)

If you want me to look at a particular beer, drink, place, or have anything to say to me, email me at monksandmalts@gmail.com. Buy my pictures here: http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/robert-rizzolo.html. You can send me cool photos too, if you like and I will make a post up for you. 

No Sleep Till...

I have lived in Upstate NY for my whole life and I visit the City frequently. This is why it was weird that I have never visited Brooklyn before. It is especially shocking considering how much I enjoy Brooklyn Brewery beers. This Spring, I decided to rectify the situation. 

After wading through a sea of flannel and wool hats despite the warm weather, we came upon the image above. Not necessarily an oasis, because Williamsburg has more than enough great places, but for me, it was certainly where I wanted to be. We arrived just after noon on a Saturday and it was like a club at midnight, meaning that we had to wait outside for a bit because they were too close to capacity. We only had to wait for a couple minutes, and soon we had our tokens and waiting to get ourselves some beer. 

We didn't have enough time to wait to get beer before the tour started, which was unfortunate but acceptable. I would say that the tour, at least while I was there, was about half tour, half lecture. There was some construction being done, so we were unable to see all of the rooms, so they just chatted with us for a while, going over history of the brewery and talking about the production. I find that stuff really interesting, so I had a great time. I won't go out of my way to give anything away. I will just let you go and hear it for yourself. The guide was extremely friendly, hanging out afterwards to just chat. While I was excited to do the tour, because each brewery has its own charm, part of Brooklyn's charm is the tasting. 

Brooklyn's tasting is not your standard brewery tasting. First, you have to buy tokens, which go for $5 a piece or 5 for $20. $4 for a Brooklyn? Hell yeah! This is particularly awesome because they have beer at the brewery that is extremely rare. I drank beer there that I didn't even know existed. If you are trustworthy of your friends, I would say that the best method might be to share a few different beers so that you can try a bunch of beers without committing. On the other hand, you could just get a bunch of beers. Take your time and enjoy your beers. Don't go with teetotalers because you will feel rushed. 

The beers that we decided to go with were: Gold Standard, Ama Bionda, Oishi, Radius, and East India Pale Ale. If you asked me what they tasted like right now, I would probably be hard pressed to remember. I do remember that the Radius and the Oishi were my two favorite. They are session beers and I have been really into those as of late. The EIPA is a very solid English style IPA, having a more reasonable (subtle?) hop balance than most American IPAs. The Gold Standard is a malty kellerbier, which is a medium body German lager. The Ama Bionda is a beer designed by Garrett Oliver, but brewed by Amarcord Brewery in Italy. It is a blonde beer with some fruitiness and a malt backbone. The Radius was the one I wanted to try the most when I heard about it. It is a Belgian-inspired session saison, which in itself reminds me of one of my favorite beers. It is flavorful, dry, and wonderfully refreshing. 

Go hang out at Brooklyn with friends. That's what I did and it was a great time.  

Florenzia!

Today's beer is the first one that I tried from my variety four pack from La Petrognola. It also happened to be my favorite one.

Florenzia is a bionda style beer, which means that it is a blonde ale. Now, an Italian blonde is another term for a lager or pilsner which is very different from, say, a Belgian blonde. This was very light, but still had a nice body to it. It was malty, but certainly had some very different flavors to it. Florenzia was only 5.3% and it showed. The beer was extremely easy to drink. Florenzia had a kind of soda like carbonation, which you can tell by looking at the pictures. This is a little weird for a pilsner, which generally have a more champagne-like carbonation level. This made the beer have a smoother taste. 

I really enjoyed this beer. I also really enjoyed the atmosphere in which I drank it. We had this in our apartment in Florence, which was on the top floor of an older building, with beautiful views across the city and over to the Duomo. It was a perfect way to relax after walking around. I would probably get this one again. 

Glassware: Pilsner glass, mug, flute

Synonym Beer: Peroni Grand Reserva 

If you want me to look at a particular beer, drink, place, or have anything to say to me, email me at monksandmalts@gmail.com. Buy my pictures here: http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/robert-rizzolo.html. You can send me cool photos too, if you like and I will make a post up for you. 

'Na Biretta Rossa

Another in the line of Italian beers that I tried while over there: 'na biretta rossa. 

I drank this one alongside a nice prosciutto focaccia, which was pretty much my go-to lunch while in Italy. I drank it in a nice little cafe that was virtually a stone's throw from the Colosseum. It was probably a little bit more touristy than I would have wanted, but the food was tasty and they had more Italian beer than Peroni and Moretti, so I was happy. 

I liked the beer almost immediately, not because of the taste, but because I really like the label and the bottle. It is almost, but not quite a snub nose bottle. It is more like an old timey medicine bottle. I also really like the label. It is simple and crisp. Really eye catching too, because the red and silver stand out so clearly from the black background. I kind of like the cap too. 

In case you were wondering, I didn't do anything to the photo. The beer really is that red. The beer is a doppelbock style, which is actually really common in Italy, and I would have to say, one of the styles that they do pretty well. It is 6.3% ABV, which might even be a little low for a doppelbock. It has little to no hops present in both the nose and the taste. Everything about this beer was dominated by the malt. It is a little sweet, tasting a bit like caramel, toffee, and sweet bread. Overall, everything about this beer was subtle. The flavors, while they exist, are not overwhelming in the slightest. They might not even be whelming at all. The booze was pretty much impossible to taste. This was really helpful in keeping the beer nice and refreshing, more so than most doppelbocks. 

To sum up my opinions about this beer: Good, not great. Really refreshing. The presentation may be better than the beer itself though. 

Glassware: Pint, Mug, Stein

Synonym Beer: Moretti La Rossa (but with a bit less flavor)

If you want me to look at a particular beer, drink, place, or have anything to say to me, email me at monksandmalts@gmail.com. Buy my pictures here: http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/robert-rizzolo.html. You can send me cool photos too, if you like and I will make a post up for you. 

Extraomnes Zest

Today I'm going to cover the hoppiest beer that I tried while in Italy, Extraomnes Zest. I picked it up at a delicious, yet moderately expensive pizza place just outside the Vatican, called Pizzarium. You may be able to tell by the picture, but we ate the pizza and drank our beers on a graffittied bench just outside of a metro stop. If that isn't Roman, I don't know what is. 

Zest is listed as a Belgian Ale, probably more of a Belgian Pale Ale. Personally, I don't think that this is all that accurate. First of all, it is only 5.3% ABV. This doesn't really match up well with the Belgian Pale Ale style, which are generally more in the 6-7% ABV range. This alone wouldn't really be an issue, but the beer in itself is way too hoppy for the style. 

It is a hazy, medium golden color with really nice head retention. The nose was nice and hoppy, with some general citrus/fruity notes and a bit of yeast. The taste was very hoppy, but definitely has a nice maltiness to it, so the hops didn't make the beer too bitter. There is some body to the beer, but it wasn't overwhelming or too heavy. The hops gave the beer a kind of freshness that was perfect for a warm spring day in Italy.

Personally, I think that Zest is a great candidate for importing into the States. A lot of American craft beer consumers love themselves some hops. This beer can certainly stand up to that desire. It also would allow American consumers to see some of the good stuff that Italy is working on in terms of beer. 

Glassware: Tulip, Goblet (not a plastic cup)

Synonym Beer: Ommegang BPA

If you want me to look at a particular beer, drink, place, or have anything to say to me, email me at monksandmalts@gmail.com. Buy my pictures here: http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/robert-rizzolo.html. You can send me cool photos too, if you like and I will make a post up for you.