NEW! Now you can tune in here for your very own culinary tips, news, insights and thoughts direct from our kitchen. Learn more about some of your favorites and soon to be favorites on our menu, discover new recipes and stories we'll share and more in this fun, brand new featured section we call Notes from The Kitchen. Only at www.theoschophouse.com
Beer Quest: First Picks On Tap This Month at Theo's
Post #15 | 3-11-10
Page 1, 2
Here at Theo's though we've got a wonderful selection of wines and cocktails to order upon each visit, sometimes all you really want is a 'cold one'. True beer lovers are passionate about their brews. We like that, and we've got you covered here. For you, along with the domestic & imported bottled stuff, we always feature several hand picked special things on tap. The choices will rotate as well so you'll get a chance to check out new discoveries.
On the tap side of things, once again we've got some new stuff, it's time to shine the spotlight on what you can find here this month. Chimay, Stella, Dogfish Head, Guinness, Fat Tire; for this installment of our kitchen notes segment we'll take a closer look at five of the favorites we've got on tap. We'll follow that up with a few thoughts on pairing beer with food. So to all our beer lovers, this one's for you! This is a Beer Issue, it's time to get to it.
1. Chimay Tripple / Chimay Trappist Brewery / Forges, Belgium
Style: Tripel | 8.00% ABV | Website
Our first selection is a special one in a few ways, to start with, this is a beer produced by monks. Yes, monks; and they've got it perfected. The Chimay Trappist Brewery, in Belgium, which is within the Abbaye Notre Dame de Scourmont (La Trappe de Chimay), in Forges, in Hainaut Province, produces some of the most famous Belgian Beers: Trappist Beers. Founded in 1862, the brewery produces three widely distributed ales (Red, White, Blue) and a patersbier exclusively for the monks;
For an interesting and fairly detailed look at ingredients and production methods click here.
Currently, we've got the Triple(White) here, and it's on tap. This crisp beer bears a light orange color, and is the most hopped and driest of the three.
Look: Pours a clear golden color with a very creamy but delicate 3 finger white head of meringue like foam composed of small, tightly packed bubbles. Retention is good, lacing is up to snuff. Energetic bubbling lasts throughout the whole drink.
Smell: Ripe red fruit and phenolic spice notes, in perfect balance lay over a rich pils malt backdrop expressing candied bread. Floral hop aroma adds some background noise to round out the aroma. This tripel smells like a triple should, very yeasty and a bit of citrus.
Taste: Initially tart / zingy with a bready / grainy interlude - light hop bitterness follows to close up the crispy finish. The alcohol was hardly noticeable for the higher ABV. The taste mirrors the aroma, though the hops are a little bit higher in the mix, expressing citrus and flowers. Not overly complex.
Feel: Light to medium bodied feel, lively and crisp from the high carbonation. The carbonation lends a feel to the beer somewhere on the line between creamy and crisp with a a rich velvety mouthfeel. Finish is just so crisp and refreshing with warm spicy bitterness. The beer feels light and airy on the tongue, almost like a wheat beer.
Drinkability: Very easy to drink for 8% ABV. A great beer, solid all around. This is a classic example of a Tripel. A very drinkable beer.
2. 90 Minute IPA / Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales / Dogfish Brewery / Milton, Delaware USA
Style:American Double / Imperial IPA | 9.00% ABV | Website
Dogfish Head's signature product is its line of India Pale Ales (IPAs), which are offered in three varieties: 60 Minute, 90 Minute, and 120 Minute IPA. Their names refer to the length of the boil time of the wort in which the hops are continuously added. The longer hops are boiled, the more hop isomerization takes place, and the more bitterness is imparted to the beer.
Esquire Magazine has called this 90 Minute IPA "perhaps the best I.P.A. in America."
Look: A beautiful medium clear amber color with a pillowy white head. Leaves an incredible amount of lacing. Slightly hazy from the amount of hops in there.
Smell: Floral scents and piney/earthly scents, cookie dough, lots of peppery hop some nuts and toffee too. Citrus is also present. Luscious caramel malt, honey, dried fruit, perfumed with hops and a hint of oakiness? Smell is nothing like a typical IPA. Very malty in aroma, with some hops coming through ever so slightly.
Taste: Balanced sweet malts with pronounced American hops, the complex layering of hops is astounding. Hops up front followed by malts and honey that blends nicely with the bitterness of the hops. Taste is of sweet caramel and bready malts, some grapefruit hops coming through as well. There is alcohol present, however, it's not over the top. The citrus rounds this one out, the taste is perfect for an American IPA.
Feel: Smooth and almost creamy believe it or not. Carbonation is dead on. Great finish with no unpleasant side notes. Mouthfeel is thicker for an IPA, medium/high carbonation with a big finish.
Drinkability: Really good! Really potent! Ridiculously drinkable. A real pleasure.
Style:American Double / Imperial IPA | 9.00% ABV | Website
Dogfish Head's signature product is its line of India Pale Ales (IPAs), which are offered in three varieties: 60 Minute, 90 Minute, and 120 Minute IPA. Their names refer to the length of the boil time of the wort in which the hops are continuously added. The longer hops are boiled, the more hop isomerization takes place, and the more bitterness is imparted to the beer.
Esquire Magazine has called this 90 Minute IPA "perhaps the best I.P.A. in America."
Look: A beautiful medium clear amber color with a pillowy white head. Leaves an incredible amount of lacing. Slightly hazy from the amount of hops in there.
Smell: Floral scents and piney/earthly scents, cookie dough, lots of peppery hop some nuts and toffee too. Citrus is also present. Luscious caramel malt, honey, dried fruit, perfumed with hops and a hint of oakiness? Smell is nothing like a typical IPA. Very malty in aroma, with some hops coming through ever so slightly.
Taste: Balanced sweet malts with pronounced American hops, the complex layering of hops is astounding. Hops up front followed by malts and honey that blends nicely with the bitterness of the hops. Taste is of sweet caramel and bready malts, some grapefruit hops coming through as well. There is alcohol present, however, it's not over the top. The citrus rounds this one out, the taste is perfect for an American IPA.
Feel: Smooth and almost creamy believe it or not. Carbonation is dead on. Great finish with no unpleasant side notes. Mouthfeel is thicker for an IPA, medium/high carbonation with a big finish.
Drinkability: Really good! Really potent! Ridiculously drinkable. A real pleasure.
3. Fat Tire Amber Ale / Brewed by New Belgium Brewing in Fort Collins, CO.
Style: American Amber / Red Ale | 5.20% ABV | Website
Inspired by founder Jeff Lebesch's bicycle trip through Belgium from brewery to brewery, an idea formed based on the fact that Belgian beers use a far broader palette of ingredients (fruits, spices, esoteric yeast strains) than German or English styles. Jeff found the Belgian approach freeing. A period of home brewing experimentation and market testing followed. One thing leads to another. Enter a brewery named New Belgium Brewing, it opened in 1991 after he then took his home-brewing passion commercial. Fat Tire, an amber ale, is the company's flagship beer.
Look: Medium to fuller in body, moderate to high carbonation. Pours a bright orange amber, with not much of a head but very fine lacing.
Smell: Aroma of biscuit malts and some earthy, straw hoppiness. big and biscuity, slighty toasty and nutty with a touch of fruit. It brings to mind baked goods. At first, heavy on the floral & citrus notes but then fades to a woodsy, earthy smell
Taste/Flavor: Tastes of toasty malts primarily with an earthy hop balance and some nice estery elements. Nice clean flavors, very palatable. Tastes of citrus hops, as well as sweet and bready malts; the flavor is very malt-driven, slightly earthy. A taste well balanced with solid malt base, accented by more floral hops.
Feel: Mouthfeel is creamy - very nice.
Drinkability: Drinks solidly, but said to be more of a sippin' beer rather than a drinkin' beer by some. It's strength may be it's ability to shine when paired with food rather than a longer session drinking choice, still comes to drinker's preference really.
4. Stella Artois /
Brewed by:
Stella Artois
Belgium
Style: Euro Pale Lager | 5.00% ABV | Website
Stella Artois is a lager first brewed in Leuven, Belgium. In 1926, Stella Artois was launched initially as a seasonal beer especially for the Christmas holiday market. It was first sold in Canada and it was such a commercial success that the brand became available year round and, apart from the duration of the Second World War, has been produced ever since.
Although Belgium is best known internationally for its ales, the so-called "table beers," the bottom-fermented pilsner lagers such as Stella Artois head the list for domestic consumption, making up almost 75% of Belgian beer production. Since 2009, Stella Artois has been brewed to be suitable for vegetarians after over 200 years of treating with isinglass (made from fish) to clear the yeast from the brewed beer.
Look: Very light pale color. The color is golden with a mediumlarge white light foamy head that dissipates into nice lacings. The beer is exceptionally clear.
Smell: Light and clean with most of the smell being the grainy and grassy slightly sweet Euro Pale Lager smell. Nice pilsenermalt, with bitterhops. Some citric and grainy notes.
Taste/Flavor: Mostly a grainy sweetness along with a bit of grassy flavor. Has a slight hint of tea like bitterness. Flavor is a more refined version of the typical continental lager: grains, light noble hops, not much else. Sweet pilsenermalt, some faint bitterhops.
Feel: Smooth and mediumbodied beer with balanced carbonation. Short aftertaste, that is both sweet and bitter.
Drinkability: Light and easy to drink, like most of the style. A 'regular' beer with nothing upsetting present. Decent option overall.
5. Guinness / Dry Irish Stout / Brewed in Dublin, Ireland
Style: Irish Dry Stout | 4.20% ABV | Website
Does this classic even need much of an introduction? We've got it fresh on tap which is the best way to find it. Guinness is based on the porter style that originated in London in the early 18th century and is one of the most successful beer brands worldwide. A distinctive feature is the burnt flavour which is derived from the use of roasted barley.
Look:Beautiful dark body blackish brown with little reddish tints if held up to light. Good sized beige creamy and foamy head.
Smell:That very coffee and hoppy aroma with a touch of breadiness and slight malt The aroma is light and almost like creamy chocolate milk with a hint of roastedness. Dark coffee, espresso, dark malts, etc.
Taste: The taste hints at some roastiness with a slightly bitter finish. The taste is on the lighter side but still pretty good. A watery taste and composition are the first things most drinkers are likely to notice.
Feel: Mouthfeel is silky and creamy, very thin bodied and watery, and very little carbonation. The body is watery, to be sure, but the head is creamy and a bit sweet. Velvety smooth finish.
Drinkability: The thin feel does enhance drinkability, a session beer if ever there was one. Guinness is a solid beer, its all about where you get it, you need to get it on tap, and it needs to be fresh.
Page 1, 2