Beer - #321 - Lakefront - 25th Anniversary Series #03 Imperial Pumpkin

BeerFest continues with this the Lakefront Brewery 25th Anniversary Series #03 - Imperial Pumpkin

Brewed by Lakefront Brewery in the style of a  Spice/Herb/Vegetable and they are in Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA

[caption id="attachment_7114" align="alignleft" width="300"] Selfie[/caption]

This is a  Lager brewed with pumpkin and spices with vanilla added and aged in brandy barrels.

It pours a copper-orange with a fine, off-white head. The aroma is caramel-forward, followed by cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg, oak, and subtle brandy notes. The full, moderately bright mouthfeel starts  with cinnamon, nutmeg, and caramel malt, then yields Madagascar vanilla bean, oak, and brandy flavors. A lingering oak and malty sweetness are left on the palate; a reminder of how we’ve honed our craft over the past 25 years.
Like our Pumpkin Lager, this goes great with fall meals, but the intense flavors demand richer foods. Roasted or glazed foul will pair excellently: we suggest honey glazed turkey or roasted duck. Try sweet potato and butternut squash hash as a side, or a spiced butternut squash purée. Also a great a dessert beer serve it with French vanilla ice cream topped with maple glazed walnuts or a simple bread pudding with dried cranberry and pecans.

MALTS:

TWO-ROW PALE, BELGIAN ARO- MATIC, 20 L CARAMEL, PUMPKIN PUREÉ

2 row pale malt - AKA Klages. A grain that has 2 rows along the seed head. 2 row malt has more starch per unit of weight than 6 row. 2L

HOPS: MT. HOOD

Mt. Hood is a triploid aroma-type cultivar, the 1983 result of a cross between the colchicine - induced tetraploid female Hallertau mf (USDA 21397) and the USDA 19058M, male plant. It is a half-sister to Ultra, Liberty and Crystal.

An aromatic variety derived from Hallertau with a refined, spicy aroma and clean bittering. A good choice for lagers. (alpha acid: 4.0-6.0% / beta acid: 5.0-7.5%)

So - a 355ml Bottle, of an 8% ABV beer, which is about 240 calories in a 2.2 standard drink package.

Candy sweet aroma on opening, bit peppery.  This turns into a really fully sweet aroma on pouring. No head of course.

Full mouthfeel of really 'thick' tasting beer, that coats the mouth, nicely carbonated, and a bit lovely.

But is is very sweet on the palate, heavy sweet.  The aroma is quite intense and your nose gets full warning about what is about be supped.

I get a lot of impression of a spice base in this, and due of course thinking about it, it's from a brandy barrel, and so therefore I'm going to make my head think properly about the taste it's getting.

‪#‎PhilsBeeerFest14‬  has started off well then.

The Pdubyah-o-meter likes this a bit, very good at 8. There is a real burst of taste when you sup this, and the alcohol is making itself known in this too.

Easy drinking though, and as it warms more of the warm caramel shows through and the alcohol get more tart, and this tangs up the tongue. Quite enjoyable and I'm a bit happy

For no reason I'm listening to Bill Callahan, and I have the sportsball on mute on the teevee. Lots of layers and lyrical things going on.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96xpXS3hbec?list=PLDQCHcd-7i8NpcDfJRpX_gMvqXp61LUr0&w=560&h=315]

SPICE/HERB/VEGETABLE

Any ale or lager made with herbs, spices or vegetables. The additive should be distinctive in the aroma. See beer description for flavor. Body, color, hop character and strength vary depending on the type of spice, herb or vegetable used.

Related articles

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• The Parade of Pumpkins


• 5 on Friday: 5 Pumpkin Beers


• Craft Beer Explorer's Ultimate Thanksgiving Pairing Guide


• Pumpkin Time!


• Getting Smashed With The 6 Best Pumpkin Ales


• Pumpkin Beers Don't Have to Be the Worst Thing to Drink This Fall


• Lakefront 25th Anniversary Imperial Stout


• The Great Pumpkin Imperial Pumpkin Ale, Elysian Brewing Company, Seattle, WA

Beer - #320 - Premium Cristal (Peru)

Hahaha yes, Peru!

This is Brewed by Backus y Johnston (SABMiller) in thes tyle of a Pale Lager and they are in Lima, Peru

330ml bottle of a 5% ABV beer, making it about 1.2 standard drink in NZ. 150 calories a serve.

Brewed since 1921, Cristal is Peru’s No. 1 selling beer, combining a light-bodied liquid with strong Andean imagery. It has been the No. 1 selling U.S. import from South America over the last eight years, primarily appealing to the approximately one million Peruvian consumers in the U.S.

If nothing it's another cap in the beer jar (ask me about it later)..

That sourish malty aroma, nothing spectacular, pours pale yellow, and has a thin and persistent head.  Aroma is neither here nor there, and might remind you of stale beer.

Taste, is neutral, a little sweet carry on a nicely carbonated beer. Malty lager, typical of the type.  Not going to get you into poetic adoration, at least not about the beer, I'm sure more than one lovelorn episode has been enacted when a few of these have passed the lips.

This then is nothing offensive, nothing spectacular and nothing to wax lyrical about. But it is better than some pale lagers that you could pick up, really it is. It's not over-worked and does't have any metallic edges that I could detect.

So the pdubyah-o-meter rates this a competent 7 on the beer scale because of what it delivers, a refreshing, easy drinking beer that I actually enjoyed.

Waiting for the F1 to start so musically at the moment I'm listening to Beck

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIWbgR4vYiw&w=560&h=315]

PALE LAGER

The colour of pale lager ranges from light bronze to nearly transparent and the alcohol anywhere from 4-6%. Adjunct usage may be quite high, though in some cases the beer is all-malt. Carbonation is typically forced, though not always. One thing that doesnt vary is that neither the malt nor the hops make much of an impression on the palate. These beers are brewed for minimum character, though faint traces of hop or malt may show through. More likely though is that adjuncts like corn will show through, or youll find notes of higher alcohols (fuel notes) due to the use of high-gravity brewing. The body will be thin and watery, and the finish is typically non-existent.

 

Beer - #319 - Fullers - London Porter

A Fullers London Porter. Brewed by Fuller’s in the style of a Porter they they are in London, England

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Fuller’s London Porter, is widely regarded as the World’s Finest Porter: having won awards all over the world, London Porter is regularly voted the number one Porter on beer websites such as www.ratebeer.com, a tremendous accolade to our brewing team. Rich, dark and complex, at 5.4% ABV the beer has an outstanding depth of flavour.
It is brewed from a blend of Brown, Crystal and Chocolate malts for a creamy delivery balanced by traditional Fuggles hops.

500ml bottle of a  5.4% ABV beer, which is around 2.2 standard dink units. 162 calories a serve  in this. And oh its 33 IBU's which is right in the middle range for Porter.

TASTING NOTES

Pour is clear dark with a creamy tan head. Aroma of chocolate, roasted malt, sweet brown sugar, and a little cream. Has a very creamy mouth feel. Low carbonation. Flavors include a full roasted barley, lightly sweet chocolate malt, light cream. Damn fine brew. Full flavored and smooth.

Riiight..... I'm having this in the al; new trendy "Craft Beer" Mason jar glass. For no reason than they were cheap as chips when I picked up some beers earlier.

Lovely dark chocolate coffee and rich aroma on opening.

Dark thick pour with a fleeting head. Still lots of coffee and chocolate aroma.

Interestingly bitter on the tongue but all over and as a part of the drink and not separate to, if that makes sense.

Nice soft wash of the coffee and chocolate in this. Makes this a very easy to drink and very easy to enjoy beer. It could do with a tweak in the carbonation, I thought it was under but then I think it's over. I'm hard to please tonight.

The pdubyah-o-meter rates this as very good at 8 on it's random and unfathomable scale of things,  I would have liked more head, slightly tweak  the carbonation, and for me the palate although really nice is really compressed into a middle, and there isn't a long finish 

Its ok though and made me smile more than frown.

Musically I was with the Palma Violets, an English band from Lambeth, London.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poFXWUTEs1k&w=560&h=315]

PORTER

Black or chocolate malt gives the porter its dark brown color. Porters are well hopped and heavily malted. This is a medium-bodied beer. Porters can be sweet. Hoppiness can range from bitter to mild. Porters are often confused with stouts.

Related articles

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• Geary's London Porter

The less of me - the more I write the less I am

Well.

Today I stood ont he scales. at 88.0kg or 194lbs, or 13 Stone 12lbs, all those things work.

Which is a long way from 105Kg, 231lbs, or 16 1/2 stones, which is where I started at 15 months ago

And so I continue to be on-track at a 1kg a month weight loss. My new goal was only 85kg by June

I've walked / jogged a total of 941 kms, or 585 miles so far.

I set myself only a 5km or 6km walk/run expectation, and 5 would be the minimum or most regular distance.

This year I did really push the boat out

• Went 8km in one burst,


• Went 5 minutes 01 seconds for a 1km stretch


• Went 8 minutes and 55 seconds for a whole mile


• Went 5km in total for 30 minutes and 10 seconds (my immediate goal is under 30:00

The downside to all this is that shirts are all baggy and ill-fitting.

Upside is joints don't ache, I sleep better, and of course eat better.

Eating better by way of less things like potato and meat. Eating more fruit and vegetables, and of course smaller portion and better portion control.

Does not stop me drinking beer at all, or having indulgences like chocolate and cheese.

Feeling ok about this .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beer - #318 - Tuatara - Ardennes

I'm a simple man, but Tuatara Ardennes, strikes me as being something Belgium related, of course.

Brewed by Tuatara Brewing Company this is in the style of a  Belgian Ale and they do that in the metropolis that to me an you is known as Paraparaumu, New Zealand.

500ml bottle (Pint-ish) of a 6.5% ABV beer, or 2.5 standard drinks to me and you, 195 calories a servings.

Tuatara Ardennes is a strong, Belgian-identified ale. There’s no missing the strong bit – 6.5% alc/vol should be fairly self-explanatory – but the Belgian half of the equation is the result of our obsession with the style. In creating his own version we've named it after the Ardennes yeast that gives it all those spicy orange notes. We were also fairly obsessed with making it drinkable, so drinkable in fact that we may have to redirect your attention to the 6.5% alc/vol bit. Avoid heavy machinery.

They say.

I have to cook on the BBQ I hope that at least on of the things works out ok for me

Thats fairly yeasty and a bit sour on opening, vinegary. Very pale, and I was surprised by that, I was expecting darker, or different. No head, at all. But it looks fairly well carbonated.

Aroma settles to more yeast, which would be what you might expect.



Pours a great golden colour, and has a decent head, but this is very carbonated on the tongue. To the nose this is a Belgium style yeasted beer, and the sourness of the up front note is of Belgium. But that's all there is.

Does look nice in the glass though.

So where are we at? This is a beer that is made to, at least, smell and initially taste like a Belgium style beer. Which for me it does.

What else does it do?

Frankly not a lot. And honestly as it warms it gets more 'iffy' the warmth that you'd expect from the malts appear to be a bit off centre, and they clash with the sourness. It's a challenge.

This might make for a fairly decent domestic beer, but it's hard to look past the way that it appears to have rapid changes of personality. The over-riding sourness makes this less than a winner, but not by much

The pdubyah-o-meter - the arbiter of arbitrary- says 7 - which is ok, makes this beer that you shouldn't avoid or skip on, it's ok at what it is an what id odes it's just, again, not setting a benchmark or bar that other beers would beed to meet or beat.

Smells like Belgium beer should, tastes like a Belgium beer should, but that shouldn't be all of it, or perhaps they're showing off and it is, As an extension of their Dubbel and Tripel this is nice rounder.

Musically , the Vinyl gave away to the iPod and some Elbow, and this on the loudness.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dELKUivJo4w&w=640&h=360]

Belgian Ardennes

is one of the great and versatile strains for the production of classic Belgian style ales. This strain produces a beautiful balance of delicate fruit esters and subtle spicy notes; with neither one dominating. Unlike many other Belgian style strains, this strain is highly flocculent and results in bright beers.

BELGIAN ALE

Belgian-style ales seldom fit neatly into classic beer styles, but this category represents those "session" ales (in Belgium this means under 7% abv!) that do not fit other categories. Colour ranges from golden to deep amber, with the occasional example coming in darker. Body tends to be light to medium, with a wide range of hop and malt levels. Yeastiness and acidity may also be present.

Related articles

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