Yet More Samples from The Beer Emporium

[unclepumble]

Ups been browsing again in sandbach :shock:

some more bottles of loveliness to try over the next week or so.

 

[Wez]

Nice haul

 

[jamesb]

You'll have fun with the Marble. Col used the wrong stuff for the necks. took me a good 10 minutes to open the bottle.

 

[unclepumble]

Tasting Notes

First up was the Thornbridge Hall Darkstar Coalition Ale.

Aged for 20 months the 4 months in bottle this is muted as an Old Ale.

Opened it up nice hiss, pours very amber and has Some haze, nose was definitely honey, maybe a hint of apricot but didn't get loads, taste was subtle but very complex, I would put this in an IPA cat not an old ale, honey and some apricot a really nice bitterness and a lingering bitter finish, there is definitely hops there but they are in the background, a very easy drinking beer this I sipped rather than quaffed, as i didn't want to waste the experience.

Well worth a try if you come across it.

UP

 

[abeyptfc]

UP are these bottles that you have bought or ales that you have cloned youself? I noticed there was a few in the grolsch style bottles which made me think they weren't shop bought! nice collection!

 

[unclepumble]

All bought from the beer emporium in sandbach click here

The grolsch type bottles but 750ml and brown did bring me towards them, but reading what was inside them did interest me more. an 8.5& barley wine in one, and a 10.5% Imperial Stout that won cameras winter ales in 2007 made me have to try them.


UP

 

[Dunfie]

That looks like a great shop Shane. The prices appear to be reasonable too.

I go to a shop in Edinburgh when I want something a bit exotic but some of the american craft brewed beers can get a bit pricey.

 

[gwoodin]

This is my first posting. Generally i 'lurk'!

Here follows a review of my personal thoughts on 24 Belgian beers. Some are bottle-conditioned. Of the 24, only 9 I would buy again. I stored the bottles at the correct temperature and left the beer 10 minutes in the glass to reduce carbonation:

Barbar Bok - disappointing
Bush Beer
Chimay Blue - Gushed, infected
Grimbergen Dubbel - quite good, spicy
Hoegarden Grand Cru -Tastes like a wheat beer, bananary
De Koninck - reasonable spicy flavour
Duvel - reasonable hop character, but uninteresting
Hommelbier
Leffe blonde - a quality, strong Golden
Leffe Bruin - reasonable. A spicy brown beer
Palm - quite malty, lacking character
Maes Pils - low level of taste
Morte Subite Gueze - o.k
St Louis Kriek - nice
Rodenbach Brun - Sour/acidic. A cross between a beer and a wine
Guinness Export (Belgian -no but exported there!) - disappointing
Kwak - rather average. Not good, not bad
Maresdsous 8 - not much flavour
Trappist Rochfort 10 - spicy, dark, treacly, but unworthy
Westmalle Triple- good quality, spicy, prefer it to Duvel
Saison Scotch Silly - interesting caramel malt taste
Alken Maes Hapkin - good hop character
Liefmans Brut - quality cherry ale with a sour finish
Witbier Bruges - wheatbeer. Refreshing, not a lot of character

I was too drunk to comment on the Bush and Hommelbier!

On this limited experience, I would say theres a lot of snobbery about the perceived greatness of Belgian beer. Tim Webb's Good Beer Guide Belgian makes the point that many breweries are producing less good beers than previously due to commercial pressures.

geoff