365 different beers from 365 different breweries in 365 days with random musings on beer, food, music, sports, dogs and anything else interesting along the way
Yesterday's post wiped out my supply of reviews from Troegsso we're now switching gears and heading across the pond to France.
Brasserie La ChouletteAmbree is a biere de
garde--a traditional French ale--brewed in France. It pours a ruby-hued brown ale with a light tan head. It smells of earthy honey, marmalade and pepper. The flavor is on the sweeter side with notes of caramel apples. It has a bite that is
peppery at the finish. The mouthfeel is full and the finish is refreshing.
This biere de garde is definitely at the bolder, fuller end of the spectrum and it actually reminds me of an abbey ale.
Beer stats
Style: Biere de garde
ABV: 8%
IBUs: Unknown
Rating: Good
Previously reviewed from La Choulette
Mr. Blog Named Brew's review of La Choulette
Sans Culottes reviews from me and Mr.
Day #564 La Choulette Ambrée / Brasserie La Choulette, Hordain, France
Previously from this brewery: Sans Culottes and more Sans Culottes
Important points for you to know:
1. I'm hungry for Mexican food
2. My iPod played Sabotage by the Beastie Boys not once but a respectable twice today
3. Point #2 is important as this is the greatest song ever made by the Beastie Boys
4. I will entertain arguments on point #3, but it better be a damn good argument
5. I'm officially tired of the 'chance of severe thunderstorms' weather pattern that we have every single day
6. If you put a laundry basket down in my house (clean or dirty), turn around, count to two, and then turn around again, it's guaranteed that there will be a dog snuggled up in the laundry basket
7. I spent four hours today in a windowless room - not good for the soul
With those important points now committed to your memory, we move to our beer review. Tonight is a bottle of La Choulette Ambrée from Brasserie La Choulette in France. This Biere de Garde pours with
an amber color and dissipating white head. The main aromas are malt, bread, and apple, and when you drink it down you find a caramel sweetness, yeast, dark fruits, and a touch of lemon. A solid beer, but this isn't your typical Biere de Garde. In fact, it was more Belgian dark ale than anything. If you're looking for something lighter with more peppery spice and possibly more easily accessible, may I recommend something like Garde Dog from Flying Dog Brewery.
Summer shines in
Thing to Think About Today:
Your thing to think about today is whether or not Blurred Lines is officially "the" song of the summer. Every year, there's something that hits the airwaves in June or so and instantly gets played to death by people both young and old in a celebration of warm weather, pool parties, fun memories, and cold drinks. This Robin Thicke song, featuring Pharrell and T.I., has all of the ingredients: Catchy beat, repeatable lyrics (Hey, hey hey!), there's a dance you can do to this song, it sounds 47% better if played with your car windows down and sound turned up, and you're 32% more embarrassed to admit you like it during the winter months. Check it for yourself and tell me if you agree.... hey, hey, HEY!
p.s. there is a topless version of this same video on vimeo. Why? Because it's THE song of the summer, I believe. And because people like topless models. But you'll have to find that one yourselves.
Today's review is the dry cider (cidre bouche) from Domaine Dupont, makers of calvados and cider in Normandy, France.
It poured a not quite crystal golden color without any head. It tastes like green apples and vaguely of bleu cheese. It's sweet but mostly dry. It's one of the most unusual ciders I've encountered.
I'm practicing yoga at a new studio. It is decidedly more laid back and mom-oriented than my last studio. First class was basic. Like so basic I didn't come close to breaking a sweat and was bored out of my mind. This morning's class was much better. How do I know? The shoulder and arm work has rendered my arms nearly useless. That's how.
I'm hoping my arms hold out until after the PSU game tonight. I have some beers to drink. In the meantime I'll tell you about an interesting saison.
It's the Saison Cazeau aux fleurs de sureau. That last part means with elder flowers. This one is brewed at Brasserie de Cazeau in France. The brewery began in 1753, took a hiatus in 1969 and came back to life again in 2004.
It poured a hazy dark lemonade color with a loose white head. it smelled a bit like a sour ale, yeasty and lemony. The taste had a lot going on. Spices, yeasty twang, buttery and a hint of mint. The only thing didn't care for was some metallic taste every so often. Overall it was nice and crisp with lots of flavor. I'll rate it a good.
Tonight's beer is a collaboration between Two Brothers Brewing Company (Illinois) and Brasserie Castelain (France). It is the Diversey and Lill(E), a biere de garde with an ABV of 6.5%. The credit on this collaboration between Jason Ebel and Nicholas Castelain goes to Castelain/France where the beer is actually brewed.
It poured with a big fluffy and sticky ecru head. It smells really good with a little fruit in the nose. The taste is ripe fruit and spice. My notes indicate that I thought it was a crazy biere de garde. It's been awhile since I drank this one and I'm now wondering what brought on that note.
From the Vanberg & DeWulf site: It is a little known fact that Chicago’s first brewery, Diversey and Lill, had a French connection. Diversey, a Frenchman, and Lill ran the largest brewery in the West in the mid-19th century. The brewery was lost in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
Now how many years later, the name Diversey and Lill(e) is back on the beer scene.
As fleeting as it is, I think this was a good beer. Cheers!
Beer #299 Diversey & Lille / Brasserie Castelain, Benifontaine, France
I need to get some hustle on tonight - basketball game, dinner, blogging, and preparation for the weekend need to happen between now and bedtime. I'm getting right down to business here.
On deck today is a bottle of Diversey & Lille, which is a collaboration between Brasserie Castelain in France and Two Brothers Brewing Company out of Illinois. Credit goes to our friends across the pond, as it was actually brewed in France. For anyone keeping score at home, this is the second Franco-American beer collaboration I'm reviewing in just over a week. In the glass, this beer shows off a clear, beautiful deep amber color. Some beers just look good, and this one definitely falls into that category. The aroma is of malt and candied fruits, and the taste brings more malt, with toffee and honey, and a dry, nutty finish. Not a bad choice at all.
The international language. You know, love.
The name for this beer comes right out of the history books - Diversey & Lill was the first brewery in Chicago. It opened all the way back in 1833, but was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. No connection to the current breweries in the collaboration, but a nice tip of the hat to a brewing legacy in Chicago.
Thing to Think About Today:
Every spring, my fraternity would throw a twothreefour five day riotnuclear disaster party to celebrate spring. In true Greek life fashion, t-shirts were made up with a slogan each year; typically some form of inside joke from daily life in the house. I distinctly remember the slogan for one of the years (although admittedly I don't recall which one): "We're Not Here to Make Friends." The shirt may have also involved a drawing of a Pacific Islander controlling by chain a harem of ladies wearing dog collars around their necks, but then again maybe it didn't or maybe I just shouldn't talk about these things in public.
Thankfully, times have changed and having friends is cool once again, as evidenced by this beer being one of many, many collaborations reviewed this year. You know what; I think we're now here to make friends. So, I'll let the positive vibes of the 70's smooth things out tonight, and drop some War and their super friendly song Why Can't We Be Friends to close out today.
In this space yesterday, I mentioned my belief that the 80's were insane. I stand corrected, as the 70's were clearly from another galaxy - a galaxy populated by funk and crazy huge amounts of drugs. The 70's in fact make the 80's seem completely, perfectly normal in comparison.
Beer #229 3 Monts Grande Réserve / Brasserie de Saint Sylvestre, Saint Sylvestre Cappel, France
As I write this, a vicious storm appears to be moving in. Time to batten down the hatches and keep this quick, as houses on our street tend to lose power when storms like this blow through.
Today, I'm going with the 3 Monts Grande Réserve, a biere de garde from Saint Sylvestre. I'm a big fan of biere de gardes, and this one does not disappoint. I had to wrestle with this one for a bit, as instead of a traditional wire cage, its cork is held in place with a giant staple. Yes, a big old, industrial, metal staple. Once I won the wrestling match and cracked it open, I was rewarded with a light amber hued beer with a lingering, fluffy white marshmallow-esque head. Threre's a floral, sweet aroma, and the taste has a creamy feel, with apple, pear candi sugar, bread, and honey, with very little hop bitterness. Tastes a bit boozy, and it somewhat is, with an 8.3% ABV. Really nice beer, and well worth your hard earned dollars should you see it available somewhere.
Even without any help, you can probably translate the name of this beer to 'Three Mountains,' which refers to a mountainous area in Flanders, which originally was an obstacle for this brewery to get their beer to other neighboring towns. This brewery doesn't know the original date when operations started, but it has been in operation since at least the 1860's, if not earlier.
Thing to Think About Today:
In the spirit of three, I give you two choices: Which is the better take on the notion that three, is in fact the magic number?
Apologies that youtube doesn't have the original version of this song available in a video that wasn't shot on someone's iPhone at a concert. However, whichever one you choose it's clear that three is the magic number.
I am 100% addicted to Breaking Bad. All this week it's been my singular focus. Well that and beer, of course. It's been all come home, eat dinner, write a post and glue myself to the television. I imagine that season 4 will be in the bag in another couple of days and then it's a torturous year waiting for season 5 to be released on DVD or Netflix. So with that in mind, here is your beer update for day 222.
We're visiting France on this review -- a country that doesn't scream beer to me. The 3 Monts Grande Reserve from Brasserie de Saint Sylvestre is a biere de garde. It's a style that is becoming one of my favorites. But this was no ordinary biere de garde...
Check out that set up. I've never seen anything like that. It was a giant, and I mean GIANT, staple/hinge hybrid craziness. It had dented the cork and I'm not sure if that was intentional or unintentional. Lucky for everyone involved no one lost an eye loosening that contraption.
The 3 Monts Grande Reserve poured a not quite
clear but not fully hazy amber liquid. It had a very loose, slightly off white
head and remnants of the head clung in puffy chunks all around the glass. It smelled of sugar and malt and biscuits. The taste was a bit peppery. It morphed into creamy malt with a bite at the end. It also had some tart fruit notes and was just a tiny bit musty. After all that it did manage to finish surprisingly crisp.
Realizing that my top 25 is now a top 35, I hesitate to add it to the list. But I really, really enjoyed this beer. In it goes!
Beer #131 Pietra / Brasserie Pietra, Furiani , France
Today is a day for getting my hustle on, so we'll keep it simple and stick to the facts. Tonight's is the Pietra from Brasserie Pietra, and comes courtesy of Teresa's Next Door. Well, maybe courtesy isn't exactly the right word, as I did pay for the beer. In the pint glass, this lager poured an amber color with no noticeable head. It gave off a sweet aroma, and had flavors of honey and malt, with a bit of a nutty, earthy taste. Maybe a little lemon sneaking in there somewhere with some hops. In all, not a bad beer. Probably not one I'm going to go out of my way to find again, but worth a try.
I did take a picture of this beer, but I've come to realize that when my battery is low, the camera app switches into 'save energy by taking shitty pictures' mode, so I won't even bother posting that nonsense today. Marci has also crossed this beer/brewery from her list, and her take on the matter (and a photo!) can be found here.
Thing to Think About Today:
If I'm working hard at work today, then we need to stop and think about this amazing scene from Glengarry Glen Ross, as Alec Baldwin works to motivate the gang in an unusual (and completely not safe for work) way. I felt a little like Alec today.... confident. Good at what I do. Now put that coffee down while you watch this video. Coffee is for closers ONLY.
55 MPH is not an acceptable speed for the left lane. Especially not the left lane on the Schuylkill Expressway at 7pm. I should not be forced to pass you in the right lane at 70 MPH with all the other commuters. A little advice -- we all want to pound the living crap out of you. Move over.
A little warning -- we really want to pound the crap out of you after seeing the baby pink eyelashes on the headlights of your white Volkswagen Beetle. Thank your lucky stars I didn’t stop my car and rip them off for the sake of humanity.
Love,
Me
***
Lucky for me tonight’s beer went a bit better than the drive home. Tonight I’m drinking a Pietra from Corsica, France. It is a Euro-dark lager made with sweet chestnut flour. The chestnut flour isn’t intended to flavor strongly, but rather to give a nutty flavor to the malt during mashing. I don’t quite get that…maybe you do. Wouldn’t it flavor it either way?
You would think this was my 9th beer of the night based on this photo.
I had this Pietra on draught at Teresa’s Next Door. It poured a deep honey color with a very thin head. It had a sweet malt smell. I thought it was well balanced - lots of hop bite during the finish. My notes include “good” but I don’t remember anything particularly outstanding about Pietra. It’s described on the brewery’s website as strong but delicate, soft with a touch of bitterness. That pretty much sums it up in my book.
Beer #107 Jenlain Ambrée / Brasserie Duyck, Jenlain, France
A windy day here in the suburbs meant I had to track my trash can down from four houses away. In the process, I noticed my neighbor had her Christmas tree lit at 6:30pm. On March 26, mind you. For those unfamiliar, this isn't an unusual circumstance - she more or less keeps the tree up all year, and frequently turns the multi-colored lights on throughout the year.
It drives me insane, but I'm working on that.
I guess in my simple mind, the fake pine tree with plug-in lights is specific to a certain holiday, which comes at a certain time every year. There is an acceptable period to erect and light your tree, and there's an acceptable period for you to keep the tree up before taking down all of your decorations and storing them for another eleven months or so. Does this woman not understand that social convention? Is she some form of Christmas anarchist? Or maybe she's just an old lady who likes Christmas, and I should just mind my own business.
My goal for the year is to stop letting nonsense like this bother me. Whether or not a little old lady in my neighborhood loves Christmas to an unusual degree really doesn't impact my life, and certainly there's little I can do to change her behavior. So, while I'm trying to let all of this just slide by, I admit some days it makes me want to call in the Delta Force and cut the power to her house.
Perhaps a beer will mellow me out, so tonight we're both sampling the Jenlain Ambrée, a farmhouse ale from Brasserie Duyck in France. The brewery dates back to 1922 or so, and originally sold their product in recycled champagne bottles. Out of a 750ml bottle, this ale pours a hazy dark
copper with little head. The beer gives off aromas of apple, honey, and tea and has flavors of malt, apple, caramel, subdued hops, and brewed tea. There's a sweetness to this beer, although it has a dry finish. Very enjoyable, and I can see myself drinking one of these in the warmer months. You know, with my Christmas tree lit and stockings hung off my patio furniture. Or... perhaps not....
Bling, bling!
Thing to Think About Today:
Clearly, leaving your Christmas tree up year-round is overkill. So, with that in mind, let's all take time to think about Overkill, this one courtesy of Men At Work frontman Colin Hay. Just a fantastic song by any measure.
One of the unexpected outcomes of getting rid of cable is the inability to put the television on for background noise. I never enjoyed being in a quiet space before -- something about it set me on edge. I’d listen for the most minute noises and become convinced of imminent disaster. Having the television babbling on in the room rid me of those fears.
And then I rid myself of cable and learned to appreciate a quiet room. I could hear myself think -- granted I didn’t always like the thoughts rattling around in there. But there I was, left to my own devices, thinking -- mulling things over, if you will -- and it wasn’t as scary as I originally suspected. I feel calmer and more focused. And the silence has spilled over into other areas -- my commute home, for example.
I’ve had several mind-bendingly frenetic weeks at work and it’s not going to let up until at least mid-May. Today on the drive home, the radio was turned off and the window was opened up a bit. The sound of the road under my tires and the wind rushing past was therapeutic. I think I’ll make it after all now that my head’s clear.
***
Speaking of clearing things out, we’ve had some beer hanging around the fridge for a while. Tonight’s beer is a great example. It showed up weeks and weeks ago and has moved around the fridge like a vagrant in a public park. I don’t know what I was waiting for but now’s the time to make my move.
Jenlain comes to us from France -- Brasserie Duyck to be exact. It is a biere de garde. The color is copper with a thin off-white head. It has a bright fruit nose. The tasted was malt sweetness and nice hop finish. There was a touch of honey to the flavor and the alcohol was very discernible (7.5% ABV, which isn’t crazy at all but this one has pronounced alcohol presence). If I had a top 50, it would make the list. Cheers!
When I say blond ale, do you think 13% ABV? Nope. Neither do I. And yet that’s what I find myself drinking after a long afternoon of overeating and too much wine.
Sidebar: Next time I complain about my job, remind me that I spent three hours eating and drinking today. And got paid to do it. And it was GOOD.
So here I sit out on the deck. T-shirt, bare feet and one helluva beer. It’s March 13 for god’s sake. I realize it’s not politically correct, but I LOVE GLOBAL WARMING if this is global warming.
Brasserie Grain d’Orge promotes the Belzebuth as the most unique ale in the world on the bottle. On their website, it’s billed as the strongest beer in the world. LIARS. I just saw an announcement about something coming in at 17% ABV but who am I to quibble. OK. I love to quibble. But that’s an entirely different post.
It pours a nice copper color into my Miller Lite pint glass. Oh yeah…this glass is so old the colors are starting to fade. In a household that loves to break glasses (I’m looking at you, Gary), I’m surprised this one has made it to the fading ink stage.
Belzebuth is quite bubbly and had a small whitish head. For being a big, bad ass beer, the flavors were very even. Good balance of malt and hops. There was definite grainy sweetness. The alcohol gets you in the nose as you swallow…akin to sipping on good bourbon. The carbonation isn’t overpowering, just nice and refreshing. Is it the best in the world? That is a subjective question. Do I like it? Why, yes, I do.
p.s. The bottle is less than 9 oz.
p.p.s. Go outside immediately and enjoy the close approach of Venus and Jupiter. Despite being gazillions (a highly technical and utterly scientific measurement) of miles apart, they appear to be sitting an easy commute apart in the west-southwest sky. Venus is notably brighter. Bam. Knowledge dropped.
p.p.p.s. The highlight of my evening commute: Blaring Jay-Z. Windows down. Sunroof open. Possibly being a spectacle in the Mini. I look over to my left and the most classic example of Main Line lady is sitting in the passenger seat of a Mercedes with her window down. I wish I had a photo of the disdainful face she made it me. I may or may not have giggled delightedly. She rolled up her window.
Beer #93 Sans Culottes / Brasserie La Choulette, Hordain, France
I'm getting my hustle on today, so we're jumping right into the good stuff and leaving the fluff behind. The beer and brewery for today are Sans Culottes, a 7% ABV biere de garde from Brasserie La Choulette in France. It pours a hazy gold and gives off a lemony, tart aroma. You notice flavors of yeast and grapefruit, with some light malt and a clean finish. There's a sweetness mixed in with some sour. Very good beer, well worth a try. Marci has also sampled this beer in her travels.
Let us now call some attention to the fact this beer name translates to "without pants" in English. While I'm sure if you drink enough of this stuff, you may end up not wearing any pants. However, the beer is named for the lower class supporters of the French Revolution, who wore trousers (or pantaloons) instead of the fancier culottes (silk breeches) of the ruling class. The imagery from these revolutionaries remains with us today - we frequently see politicians rolling up their sleeves or wearing casual clothes to prove they're "one of the people," despite their exorbitant wealth relative to the actual common man. Bet you didn't expect to learn something about the French Revolution today, but yet here we are.
Thing to Think About Today:
If we're going sans culottes, let's all think about... sans culottes Old School style. Which of course means WE'RE GOING STREAKING! As you can guess, it's not cool to play this video at work, unless your employer is cool with profanity and, let's face it, man ass. That's a risk you take when you run sans culottes through the streets, people.
Little known fact unless you live in my house: Marci despises Will Ferrell with every fiber of her being. Her hatred burns with the heat of a thousand suns. This video clip pretty much epitomizes her hatred.
For the past three hours, I wrangled volunteers and decorators and helped them agree on linens, flowers, vessels for said flowers, votive holders, napkins, chairs, the color of the water in said vessels, cushions for chairs, what colors go in what dining rooms, china, silverware and glassware. We picked all the options for the menu tasting next week, assigned volunteers for four subcommittees, scheduled follow up meetings and made a plan of attack to meet our fundraising goal. In three hours. Three hours!
Wow. Seriously. Wow.
***
Tonight we drink a beer from France. It’s the amber from Brasserie Fischer. (That link goes to Beer Advocate. I keep striking out trying to find a link to the brewery’s website and found the following on wikipedia. The website seems to be gone as of January 2012. Heineken closed the original brewery and moved operations. Maybe at one point this was a much better beer and Heineken crapped it all up. I’m not a fan of Heineken so I’m happy to blame them.)
The Fischer Amber poured a light amber color with a soapy sort of head that fizzled out pretty quickly. The smell reminded me of Yuengling Lager and college. Malt sweetness, bready. The taste was more of the same only not as good as Yuengling. There was a sharp hop kick at the end and despite the tiny bubbles, it felt flat as I drank it. Somehow, despite that odd hop kick, it was bland.
Bonus points: Cool bottle
Negative points: Didn’t have the swing top like a lot of other beer reviewers had. I got a plain old cap.
It’s a wash. Disappointment from France tonight, folks. Perhaps France needs to stick with wine.
Today started out great and has only gotten better. Earlier this week, I heard back from New Holland Brewing Company and got confirmation that my great white whale left for the East Coast on February 1. A little phone research and I discovered a delivery of about 20 cases to Shangy’s in Emmaus (beer Mecca, thank you very much). Every morning since Tuesday, I’d call the lovely woman who works the register at Shangy’s to confirm that it was still in stock. This morning we hit the road around 8:30am and the trip resulted in this:
It’s a minor miracle that I didn’t make Gary drive us home while I hid in the backseat drinking. I’ve decided to save my first one until tomorrow. We had a few more errands to run and managed to find ourselves at a rescue pig placement awareness event. I love pigs! If I didn’t rescue dachshunds, I’d probably have one of these guys running around the house!
Up next is a little day-drinking with friends from West Chester. Rock on with your bad self, Saturday!
***
On to the beer -- today we start with a La Choulette Sans Culottes. It is a French biere de garde. It poured a rich golden color with no head. I could smell the malt sweetness right away and there were bread-like undertones. It had medium carbonation. The taste was very smooth and balanced and had hints of tea flavor. At 7% ABV, I wouldn’t quite call it a session beer, but I could definitely spend an afternoon drinking a few of these.
I’ve had several mind-bendingly frenetic weeks at work and it’s not going to let up until at least mid-May. Today on the drive home, the radio was turned off and the window was opened up a bit. The sound of the road under my tires and the wind rushing past was therapeutic. I think I’ll make it after all now that my head’s clear.
It pours a nice copper color into my Miller Lite pint glass. Oh yeah…this glass is so old the colors are starting to fade. In a household that loves to break glasses (I’m looking at you, Gary), I’m surprised this one has made it to the fading ink stage.
