Day 681: Alvinne Undressed...Scandalous!

I'm breaking the rules with tonight's post. In Year Two, the blog rules state that we can revisit a brewery (unlike in Year One when once we reviewed a brewery, it was off the list) but in Year Two each beer should be new and different. Well, I'm throwing that rule out the window for the evening and revisiting Alvinne Undressed.

Why? Because the first time I had it, it was on draft and this time it's from a bottle. Secondly some rules need to be broken. This one happens to be one of them. 

Alvinne Undressed is brewed at Picobrouwerij Alvinne, a relatively new brewery in Belgium. For a review of Undressed on draft, please see Beer Review #215. 

Alvinne Undressed is described on its label as an almost unhopped brown ale that is the base for Morpheus Wild and Kerasus. It is for fans of the true oud bruin style. It poured a hazy dark chocolate color ale with no head. It smells like a chocolatey oud bruin. A little acidic. A little chocolate. Some mud. The flavor is sour, light figs and rich chocolate with lots of malt. There is a ton of mouth-puckering tartness. 

Is it better on draft or in the bottle? I'm going with on draft this time around. That being written, the number of times I've found Alvinne on draft since starting this blog is once. Once. The lesson here is if you see Alvinne. Drink it. Buy it. Whatever you do, don't miss out. 

Beer stats

Style: Wild ale

ABV: 6.9%

IBUs: 0 

Rating: Excellent

Previously reviewed from Alvinne

Undressed on draft, more Undressed on draft and Morpheus Wild

Wild, Not Crazy

Day #614 Morpheus Wild / Picobrouwerij Alvinne, Heule, Belgium
Previously from this brewery: Wild Undressed Regular and Wild Undressed Regular

You get a short post tonight because that's just the way it goes.  Tonight's beer is a bottle of Morpheus Wild, from Alvinne, which was not a brewery we visited.  I don't really remember drinking this one, but from the order it was in my email and from the chairs in the picture I think I had this one at Rose Red, a cool beer bar connected to the hotel I stayed at in Bruges.  Ghent is a cooler, more interesting town, but Bruges has better beer bars.  This is an unquestionable fact.

This beer is a Flemish oud bruin, and pours a dark brown color with red highlights, and a monster off white head.  The bottle sort of exploded into the glass, in fact.  There's a tart aroma, and when you take a sip there's a sort of effervescent quality.  Along with that tartness, there's a dark fruit quality, some sourness, and definitely some chocolate coming through.  Really a very nice beer, even if I don't remember actually drinking it.  And that's not a function of how much everyone drank on this trip - there were plenty of beers consumed, but due to early starts and long bike rides, no one was up late being all crazy.

Wild, not crazy

Thing to Think About Today:
This song popped up on the iPod today and I like it, and due to the name there's a tangential relationship to the bike trip, so here it goes.  I think the first time I've dropped a hidden track in this space, and certainly one of the longer songs I've used.  We close it out with Eurotrash Girl by Cracker.  I did meet some strange characters while in Belgium, but I guess really nothing more strange than you'd see anywhere in the U.S.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQAICqBs0_E

"You know she never did like me"

Call of the Wild (Beer)

Beer #239 Wild Undressed / Picobrouwerij Alvinne, Heule, Belgium

It's been a good weekend, filled with beer, bike rides, and some well earned rest.  But there's a storm moving in (literally), so I'm going to hustle along and get this post written before I need to go batten down the hatches.

To close out the weekend, I'm reviewing Alvinne, a wild ale from Picobrouwerij Alvinne.  This one came on draft at The Farmer's Cabinet, and if you haven't been there, you need to go and see their amazing and ever changing beer list.  They manage to put some really unique and sometimes hard to find beers on their list.  Anyway, back to the beer - in the glass, it's the color of a ripe plum, and you are greeted with the aromas of sour cherry and vinegar.  The taste is clean, tart, and dry, with prominent notes of vinegar, cherry, with a tiny bit of sweetness.  An excellent wild ale for those who like their beers a bit more unusual.

Another awesome camera phone pic!

In the ancient world of Belgian brewing, Alvinne is a just a puppy, as they've been brewing since 2002.

Thing to Think About Today:
Yesterday, we were glued to the tv at Round Guys Brewery watching the tightly contested 10,000m (roughly six miles) finals, which would eventually be won by Great Britain's Mo Farah.  Close behind in second place was Galen Rupp, only the third American ever to earn a medal in this race, which was dominated by Finland in the early Olympic years, and by a number of African countries in more recent years.  So, there's Rupp, Lewis Tewanima's silver medal in 1912, and your thing to think about today: the incredible gold medal run by Billy Mills in 1964.

Mills was a virtual unknown at the time, and wasn't remotely considered a medal threat at the Tokyo Olympics.  In fact, his qualifying time at the US Olympic Trials was almost a minute slower than the winner's.  However, on the last lap with the two race favorites jockeying for position, it's Mills blazing past in a blur to break the tape and win gold.  The race official didn't even know Mills' name, and had to ask him who he was after the race ended.  No matter, as Mills managed to beat his personal best by a whopping 46 seconds, and set a new Olympic record.  He would also compete in the marathon, finishing in 14th place, although by that point everyone most certainly knew his name.

 

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

"Look at Mills!  Look at Mills!!!"

Beer 215: Alvinne! ALLLVVIINNNEEE!

Did anyone get the Alvin and the Chipmunks reference?  No? Just me. And now I have the Chipmunks' Christmas song stuck in my head.  I'm going to get a hula hoop.

Today's beer comes from the Belgian brewer Picobrouwerij Alvinne.  It is the Wild Undressed Regular.  The what now??

Let's just say American Wild Ale.  It poured a hazy garnet (Gary claimed it was purple.)  No head.  It was very still in the glass. I would have guessed it was flat.

The smell was kind of an acidic wine one. The taste was amazing -- very tart, cherries, perhaps a light balsamic vinegar with hints of cocoa.  Excellent beer.

A little research revealed that Picobrouwerij Alvinne is a tiny craft brewery located in Belgium.  The name of the brewery derives from a female spirit of local folk tales, who can be seen depicted on the brewery's logo and labels. The brewery creates a wide range of beers, including versions of 'traditional' Belgian styles.  They are relatively new having started in 2002. 

I can't imagine how intimidating it would be to start a brewery in Belgium.  They seem to be doing allright as this was quite a tasty wild ale.

Cheers!