Bornem Triple Abbey Ale

Brewer: Brouwerij Van Steenberge, Belgium
Beer Name: Bornem Triple Abbey Ale
Style: Tripel (strong pale ale)
ABV: 9.0%

One day this weekend, and I'm not sure which day (because over the past week, my schooling, working, sleeping, eating, and videochatting have all melded together into one huge indiscernible mess of hours), I decided to buy lots and lots of beer. Because that way, I wouldn't have to make multiple beer runs throughout the week (efficiency is my main goal in life).

Anyhow, I went to my usual beer spot, Mr. Dunderbaks, and I picked three lovely brews, which I will save for later posts. But then I remembered that one time, I had fantastic beer luck at the ABC Liquor store just a little further down the road (and admittedly, their prices were better, too). So I hopped in the car and took a little trip down Fletcher Ave. And I must say, I made a good decision, my friends.

I bought a 6-pack of different Belgian beers, all brewed at the same brewery: brouwerij Van Steenberge. ...Embarrassingly, I can't remember how much I paid for it, but I will say this: I remember being thrilled at how (relatively) little I was paying for each beer, compared to what I'd just spent at Dunderbak's.

Tonight, I decided to crack open the tripel ale (there is a dobbel in the pack, as well).

Good call... good call.

I came in from work tonight, after nine hours in front of a computer screen. I threw down my purse and briefcase (which I tote around only to increase my professional appearance... really I just cart around skittles and fun-size twix bars in it), peeled off my pants, walked to the kitchen, and in my trousersocked-feet and rather conservative knit sweater, I promptly poured the contents of the 330ml stubby bottle into my Waterloo records pint glass... though I'd have poured it into a tulip glass if I'd have had one.

What a lovely mist drifted out of the top of the bottle right before I poured it! And a lovely aroma, too -- definitely a typical Belgian tripel abbey scent: rich yeastiness and a mild fruity/citrusy undertone. If witbier weren't my favorite sort of beer, I might say that abbey ales were. Anyway, I couldn't even pour the entire 330ml into my pint glass, at least not all at one time, because the fluffy, off-white head was so thick. Which was a very welcome change, compared to my last two entries. You can see in the picture that even after I managed to pour the entire thing into my pint glass, the head still poked up over the top. I must admit -- and maybe this makes me an 8-year-old -- overly fluffy heads are my weakness when it comes to beer. It's like I'm eating alcoholic cotton candy! Anyway, this head was quite lovely, and persisted for ages (like 8 or 10 minutes). Unsurprisingly, it left pretty rings of ecru lace around the inside of my glass as I drank the brew. The ale was a fantastic, consistently deep golden brown throughout, and it was very, very clear. I don't think there was any sediment.

Once the head finally went down enough for me to actually drink the beer, I was happily content with its taste. Yes, the beer is a bit dry and a bit alcoholic (but come on, it's a tripel!). But I liked it very much! One forum stated that it had a nice banana finish, which I tasted once it was pointed out to me. I might not have picked up on it otherwise.

The taste was a bit off toward the end of me drinking it; but to be fair, I spent over an hour on it because I kept getting distracted with other things like making a bite of dinner, checking email, and giggling at myself for no real reason (it was a 9% beer, after all).

I would buy this again, certainly. In my less-than-expert opinion, I'd say that St. Bernardus makes a better-tasting tripel, but the head on this beer was to die for. =)

Oh, excellent!

Thanks to to an online article from the Washington City Paper (which laid out for me the differences between beer geekiness and beer snobbiness), I found an exceptionally clear and well-thought-out guide to all terms beer-related.

Win!

Now I can sound less uninformed when I write about beer. =D

Pinkus Organic Munster Alt Beer

Brewer: Brauerei Pinkus Muller, Munster
Beer Name: Original Munster Alt Beer
Style: Alt Beer
ABV: 5.10%, but I didn't see that on the bottle!!

I purchased this delectable organic altbier at the same time as the Georg Schneider's Wiesen Edel-Weissen, from precisely the same bottom corner of the same bottom shelf at Mr. Dunderbak's. And so I was a bit worried about the freshness of the beer, but hoooooooly cow I shouldn't have worried my little head! This beer wins.

I paid $4.99 for 500 mL (a metric pint, which, thrillingly, does not fit into my Waterloo Records pint glass). The bottle is cheery and red, with fun black and white antique-y photos of people I can only assume boast the last name of Pinku.

I smelled the brew before I even poured it, and for a moment, I thought that I'd accidentally picked up a Lindeman's Cherry Lambic. Delicious cherries!! Oh, it smelled phenomenal. After my initial shock, I admitted that the cherry smell wasn't as strong as it would be in a kriek, but the distinct smell was still there. I poured a beautiful nutmeg-colored beer into my pint glass, which had a nice little foamy head (though not quite as nice as some other beer sites have made it out to be... which could simply be a consequence of -- again -- me picking up a beer from the back corner of the very bottom shelf at the store).

This altbier's taste made me want to hold the brew in my mouth and swish it around for a bit before I swallowed it... delicious. It tasted how it looked and how it smelled: it had a yummy (and appropriately seasonal) undertone of a deep red fruit and a subtly crushed nutty spice. Incredible. The first sip floored me, and I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the drink. I thought it held its flavor quite well, even through my distractions in the kitchen and with a drop-in guest. It probably took me over an hour to drink the whole thing, and I relished the last, somewhat sediment-y, drop just as much as I did the very first.

I had never heard of an altbier until I purchased this one, and Beer Advocate told me that it was a Dusseldorf specialty brown ale. It also told me that an alt beer is smooth and delicate, which both my boyfriend and I sort of scoffed at. How can a brew be delicate? Oh, but it is, my friends. It is. What a delicious mellowed and smooth brew it is! I don't know how to tell you what it means for it to be "delicate"... it just is. Very delicate, very lacey and soft, and very faerie-like. I could easily drink two or three of these in one sitting.

The Merchant du Vin webpage suggests serving this with cured ham, sweetbreads, or lasagna, all of which sound like they would be very much enhanced with a bottle of this sweet nectar. =) Next time, I'll be sipping on this with a dinner of vegetarian lasagna and cuban bread, instead of greedily cracking it open after a long day at work, and then downing it like a parched wanderer.

Liquid love. =)