Bell's Best Brown

Today's post comes to you from a great American brewery, Bell's (Michigan). This is by no means their flagship beer. It is probably not even in the top 5 beer that they are known for. This is more of a testament to the brewery than anything else. 

It is an English Brown Ale style and has a 5.9% ABV. It has a nice medium body and good malt (as a brown should have). It is just a really pleasant beer to drink. Smooth and simple, yet really full of flavor. 

This is an example of what I like to call "everyday beers". They aren't overly fancy or complex. Straightforward and delicious is what you want on a daily basis. Don't get me wrong, there are wonderful nuances in this beer. Think about your beer or you are missing the point, but if you want something that isn't overwhelming, tastes delicious and reasonably priced, this is a great beer. 

The nice part about this beer is that it has all of the characteristics that would be expected of a brown ale, but it uses American hops, rather than English hops. In general, American hops are a little more upfront, so it is a little hoppier than standard brown ales. Sometimes I am looking for a very malty brown, but this was a pleasant change. In general I have only had good experiences with Bell's. My only issue with them is that they don't distribute to NY (Bell's, please start distributing to NY). More on them to come, I am getting my hands on some of the most sought-after beer in the Northeast: Hopslam (also a Bell's, if you didn't get that). 

Glassware: Pint Glass, Tulip, Goblet.

Synonym Beer: Brooklyn Brown (Big complement, I love Brooklyn Brown)

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. You can send me cool photos too, if you like.

La Biere De Boeile

La Biere De Beloeil is a Belgian Strong Pale Ale made by one of my favorite breweries, Brasserie Dupont. At 8.5% ABV, it is certainly strong, but still in a reasonable range. To show my bias, let me start out by saying: If you happen to see any beers from Brasserie Dupont, buy them immediately. They are all delicious. They do good work. 

The beer pours a chestnut kind of color. Like most Dupont beers, the nose is best described as the best kind of skunkiness you will ever experience. Part of this is from the green bottles that they use, part is from the yeast. The Dupont house yeast gives a farmy kind of smell and taste. It is funky and crisp. It may be weird at first, but I'm sure I could find a ton of people that will tell you: Dupont beers are fantastic. They have a Belgian White made with the house yeast (Foret Blanche), best Belgian White I have ever had. Hands down. Definitely get it if you see it. Buy me one too. 

What is different about this beer from the rest of the Dupont family (most of which are available in any decent beer store), is the maltiness. The malt is more pronounced and the body is bigger than most other Dupont beers. For the most part it is a little bit sweeter and a little bit heavier than I would have expected, but the funkiness balances it out pretty well. 

While it is categorized as a Belgian Strong Pale Ale, I wouldn't necessarily call it that. It is somewhere between a Belgian Scotch Ale and a Belgian Golden. Even if you have only the slightest interest in trying this beer, I would suggest that you do so (although you probably won't be able to find it). Even so, I highly recommend any of the Dupont beers. If you try one and don't like it, then I will politely disagree with you and finish up your bottle for you. 

To show you how serious I am: If I could only choose one brewery to drink beer from for the rest of my life, Dupont would be one of the top choices. 

Glassware: Snifter, Tulip, Chalice

Synonym Beer: Gnommegang (just a little darker, a little maltier)

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. You can send me cool photos too, if you like.

Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout

Let's be real for a second. It is still winter. For those of us in the Northeast, the weather generally teeters on the edge of spring for a while and makes sure to hammer us with some really intense cold before spring finally comes. While I am a firm believer of drinking whatever beer you like, whenever you like, I do think that certain beers are winter beers, while others are summer beers. A quick way to determine if a beer is a winter beer: if the brewery only releases it in the winter, odds are that it is a winter beer. These beers are generally heavy, strong, and usually have very malty flavors. The intention is to warm you up on a cold day and to keep you full and comfortable on a winter night. 

Today's beer is a wonderful, strong, flavorful stout made by Brooklyn Brewery: The 2011-2012 release of the Black Chocolate Stout. 

The BCS is an Imperial Stout. One thing that is common with imperial stouts is a high alcohol content. The BCS does not disappoint, sitting at 10% ABV. It is really one of those "meal in a glass" type beers. Some people steer away from chocolate stouts because they are concerned with the beer being too sweet. This isn't really an issue with the BCS. The chocolate actually provides a bitter flavor to the beer. Much like with chocolate, with dark, bitter chocolate considered to be more refined, the BCS can be considered to be a much more refined chocolate stout. This being said, it is still a dessert beer in my mind. Something to relax and drink by the fire on a winter night. Though it is high in alcohol, the alcohol isn't overly prevalent in the flavor.  

Apart from these basics, I don't want to delve too much into the flavors because they are way to complex and I could write way too much on the subject. Instead, I will leave some vague discriptors that I think show up in the flavor: nutty, dark fruit (nose), bitter chocolate, carmel, toffee. Basically, you can't really be told what this beer is like. Just go try some for yourself.

Glassware: Snifter, pint glass.

Synonym Beer: Old Rasputin Imperial Stout

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. You can send me cool photos too, if you like.

Destination: Grand Cru (Rhinebeck)

If you live near the Hudson Valley, this post is for you, if not, you can still come, it is just more of a trip. 

Rhinebeck, NY (just a train ride away from NYC) is not a terribly well known town. It is probably most well known for: 

1)The Dutchess County Fair (2nd largest fair in NY)

2)The Chelsea Clinton Wedding

3)Where a bunch of city folk/some celebrities have country homes

4) Being briefly mentioned in the romantic comedy, 27 Dresses

It is also not known for beer, but one shop (and a few restaurants) are fighting against the ignorance.

Grand Cru moved into Rhinebeck a year or two ago and the store is becoming more and more popular.   

The store has a fairly extensive selection of craft beer, with a large selection from NYS. The major brewing countries are well represented in the selection, with a lot of hard-to-find Belgian and German beers available. You can also find a lot of stuff from the UK. The beer itself is a little on the expensive side, but you can expect that from a store with a large selection, especially because Grand Cru doesn't sell the money-makers, like Budweiser. Like most stores, you can find the beer room temp, or cold. 

This brings me to one of the reasons that I love Grand Cru. You can buy a beer, sit in the store, and drink it. They pour your beer into a glass for you and you can choose from one of the several tables near the entrance, or you can stand at the counter and sip. Think of it as a bar that has most of what you could want, plus you can take stuff home with you too! Be warned, there is an additional charge for drinking in (by law), but the prices are about what you would expect at a bar. They also sell cured meats and cheeses, so you can buy a couple things and have a snack as you drink. It's a ton of fun. Grand Cru also has 5 taps, which are regularly changed. They allow you to buy growlers, pints, or samplers. I have a very hard time passing up a sampler.

  

Left to Right: Captain Lawrence Pale Ale, Brooklyn Mary's Maple Porter, Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron, Greenflash IPA.

This is a typical selection that you might see: A couple local things, maybe one that is rare, a decidedly hoppy beer, and a decidedly dark, powerful beer. Don't hold me to that, but every time I go in, I feel like the taps match that template. 

The owners of Grand Cru are wonderful people, always willing to help you if you have any questions and always happy to talk (just another reason to go in an support the business). If you like buying beer swag, they have a few different glasses (the specific ones change from week to week) at very reasonable prices. They also have some really cool tap handles for sale.  

Grand Cru is also very proactive about having events. They will have some sort of tasting, beer dinner, or something every few weeks. This a couple weekends ago I went to a Sixpoint tasting there and it was awesome. I was able to try 9 different beers, 4 of which I had never tried before, 3 of which I wouldn't have normally had a chance to. It was a great way to try more beer from a fantastic NY brewery. 

The point is: Grand Cru is not just a good place to buy beer, you can make a date out of it. I know Lindsey always enjoys a visit. 

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. You can send me cool photos too, if you like.

Aventinus

As I have talked about before, German's know how to make beer as well, if not better than anyone else in the world (your opinion of this largely depends on your taste in beer). One of my personal favorite beers, German or otherwise, is Schneider Aventinus. This is a wheat doppelbock (weizenbock) style. These are basically two different styles that Germany is well known for (Also considered a stronger dunkel weizen). Doppelbocks are a little heavy, dark, strong, and very malty. German wheat beers, usually hefeweizens, are medium strength, lighter, and dominated by the flavors from the yeast (clove, banana, vanilla). A blend of the two styles has led to Aventinus. 

Aventinus is stronger than most other German beers, sitting at 8.3% ABV. I have waited until now to do the post on this because I feel like now is the perfect time to drink one. It feels weird to say that it is getting into spring because it is February, but it is getting warmer, but is still chilly. This is exactly what you need. The yeast flavors are very refreshing, but the body of the beer will warm you up when it is a little cold. Granted, I will still drink this beer on a summer afternoon. I don't care at all. It is just so good. 

If you like German beers and you haven't had the pleasure of drinking Aventinus, go out and get it. Any beer store worth going to will have it. 

Synonym Beer: Weihenstephaner Vitus 

Glassware: Aventinus Glass, Weizen Glass

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. You can send me cool photos too, if you like.

A New Take on Old Fashioneds

An old fashioned is a classic cocktail. You may be familiar with it as what Don Draper drinks when he isn't drinking straight rye. It is delicious if you like the taste of whiskey. If you don't, it is probably not the drink for you.

A traditional old fashioned is as follows:

2 parts whiskey (Bourbon or Rye)

1 part simple syrup (sugar and water)

2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Ice (If desired)

Garnish with Lemon Peel, Orange Slice, and Maraschino Cherry. 

Stir the whiskey, simple syrup, bitters, orange slice and cherry in glass. Rub the rim with lemon peel and garnish (I add this part in). Add ice. Leave the stirrer in the glass if desired.

The result is a smooth, mildly sweet drink that retains the taste of the whiskey used, but gets rid of the burn. Sometimes I like to wear a nice shirt and pants, don a skinny tie and order up myself an old fashioned. 

This particular version was made at atavola restaurant in New Paltz, NY (Awesome place, great service, delicious food). They call it a No.1. It is basically an apricot version of an old fashioned. They make it with their own barrel-aged bitters. I loved it. Just a hint of sweetness, but still nice and boozy (I prefer cocktails that you can tell there is liquor). 

The point is, cocktails are kind of made to be tweaked. If you feel like experimenting, gather up some supplies and a couple of adventurous people and start fiddling around with a cocktail recipe. It is a ton of fun, but be wary, cocktails are easy to overdo. Just be careful. 

Glassware: Lowball or cocktail glass

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. You can send me cool photos too, if you like.

Green's Tripel

Have you ever consumed a beer and thought, "Whoa, they way over-glutened that beer!"? Or, you know, have horrible reactions to gluten. Maybe you are Novak Djokovic and your recent switch to a Gluten-Free diet is purely to make your tennis game better, yet you still want to drink beer. Who knows?

The point is, if you are intolerant of gluten, you still have some beer that you can drink. 

Behold: Green's Gluten Free Beer.

Green's is a Belgian Brewery that makes a few different beers, all of which are gluten free. This particular beer is a 8.5% ABV Tripel Blonde Ale. Basically, instead of using malted barley and wheat for the sugar, the gluten free beer uses buckwheat, rice, and millet. As a result, the beer tastes different from what you would normally expect. 

I decided to do a little experiment. Since it was the first time I have ever tried this particular beer, I thought I would try a tasting out of a tulip glass (above) and a goblet (lower in the post). By using the two different glasses, which are both appropriate for the style, I could see how the flavor and nose profiles change based on the glass. 

In the tulip glass, I could only smell booze. Granted, this is a fairly strong beer, but top quality strong beers are able to either cover the booze smell, or blend it into the aroma of the beer. The taste was sweet, but subtle. To me, it was hard to define the flavor. Even as the beer warmed up, the only real taste I could pick out was alcohol. 

The aroma in the goblet was, as expected, less boozy. The tulip glass gathers the nose all in one location, giving the possibility for a more pungent smell. The flavor was pretty similar. It just didn't really remind me of a Tripel. It was a little too sweet and didn't finish crisp. It wasn't bad, but it didn't knock my socks off. If it were actually bad, I wouldn't have finished the beer. 

If I didn't know that it was gluten-free, I wouldn't have guessed it. It tastes like a gluten-full(?) beer. Of course, you have to keep in mind that I have never had a gluten-free beer before, so I just may not have noticed the difference yet. This particular beer is not my cup of tea, but especially if you can't eat/drink gluten, it is worth checking out. They also make a Belgian Dubbel, which I am excited to try, but that will come in a different post. 

Synonym Beer: Victory Golden Monkey

Glassware: Tulip, Goblet, Chalice

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. You can send me cool photos too, if you like.