Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Broadening Our Horizons

I decided to “take the air” yesterday afternoon and have a sit outside in the fading sun and brisk breeze, accompanied by my usual sidekicks… a good beer and a great cee-gar. Here’s the crew, just before we stepped outside to enjoy the air.
Pictured is New Belgium Brewery’s Trippel ale, a Belgian-style ale. The folks at Beer Advocate give it a B+, and one of their “star” reviewers gave it an A-. Unaccustomed as I am to public speaking the language of beer criticism (and food. and wine.), I’ll defer to the Brothers:
Presentation: 12 oz brown bottle with a best before date on the side of the label. Info about the brewery and beer are on the label as well. One ounce of beer was left in the bottle with the dregs as to not cloud the brew.
Appearance: Right away two fingers of froth appear in the chalice, clinging lace is witnessed and in very good shape. Bubbly golden, looks like a tame brut.
Smell: Peaches and roses … very aromatic, phenols and a melon like fruitiness round out the aroma as well.
Taste & Mouthfeel: Super crisp with a yeast palate right from the get go, not overwhelming but it is there. Light maltiness of doughy biscuits and harsh husk. Some busy phenols throw down a mix of herbal and medicinal magic with a touch of hop bitterness to boot. Vaguely fruity; starch plantains and faint peach. A breath of alcohol in the finish. The bitterness lingers for a good while into the after taste.
Notes: Very refreshing with the 8.5% abv being slightly hidden, quite the palate cleanser. Cabot has this Parmesan Cheddar blend, a perfect match with some mini rye bread. If you are into Trippels this is a must try, IMO this is a good stepping stone to jump into the vast world of Belgian Beer.
(ed: Click the image to the left for a larger view of the label. How could you not love a beer with a label like this?)
Well. I can’t write like that, Gentle Reader, nor can I draw appropriate comparisons (“Peaches and roses … very aromatic, phenols and a melon like fruitiness…”) when it comes to beer. Nevertheless, I like Trippel. A lot.
My previous excursions into that “vast world of Belgian Beer” have not been noteworthy. I’ve sampled several Belgian lambic beers, most notably the fruit (raspberry and strawberry) variants, and I was less than impressed. Fruit and beer just don’t go together, IMHO. The Belgian beers I sampled…real Belgians, as opposed to “Belgian-style”…also had a sourness about them. “Sour,” as a dominant characteristic, has never been high on my list of qualities to be admired in a beer…any beer…and “sour” was the prominent feature of every Belgian-style beer I’d ever encountered. That was several…make that many… years ago, and I’d never had the inclination to try again. Until just recently, that is, and I’m glad I mustered whatever was required to re-visit the genre. I strongly suspect the recipe for New Belgium’s Trippel has been massaged to fit American tastes, and I’m quite alright with that…coz the result is great. Trippel will join the usual, customary, and (quite) reasonable beer inventory in the fridge at El Casa Móvil De Pennington.
Oh. And the cee-gar? One of those recently-acquired Partagas Spanish Rosados. Very tasty. That cee-gar, by the way, is sitting in an antique ashtray… if one considers something from the 1940s as an antique…which sat on my father’s nightstand as far back as I can remember, and probably a lot further than that, if we’re speaking truth. Nonetheless, this ashtray is one of my prized possessions.
And, apropos of nothing… I liked the beer and the pic well enough to make it my new wallpaper. The Second Mrs. Pennington has been fired. That was a long time coming…

10 comments:

  1. Well, I don't drink ale, and I don't smoke ceegars, but I do like that picture. I especially like that glass with the Texas flag on it!

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  2. Didn't you want to go out and enjoy those this afternoon? LOL! Little breezy wasn't it? Glad you got to enjoy it yesterday.

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  3. Man, I'm so looking forward to Saturday when I'll be doing just that with my buds!

    Mmmm, looks good.

    You don't need to write about if you can take great shots like that!

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  4. Dang. "Peaches and roses." Just: Dang.

    No, let me elaborate. The Seargent was going to treat me to a Trippel last weekend, but mechanical difficulties not understood at the time (clogged fuel filter) of a small motorcycle prevented that. Oh well.

    I, too, like the pint glass with the Texas flag. Cee-gars, not so much. Hard to inhale like their engineered smaller cousins.

    Buck, thanks so much for the invite. Another time....

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  5. My temperature gage and taste buds are so messed up right now that none of that sounds very good, but Toby did mix me another hot toddy last night and I think I might be on the mend this morning. I like the TX glass too.

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  6. Buck, um......can I have a Corona with lime without some one taking a pot shot at me? :D

    I drank some German Beer when I was over there, but you know, I still gotta say, give me a Corona....now when it comes to wine, I became quite fond of the German wines, until I discovered Italian ones.....and now I only drink those...

    So I guess I am just not into change...too stuck in my ways, I shall live vicariously through your experiments. :D

    ~ASW

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  7. Thanks, Becky.

    Jenny: "Breezy," when describing yesterday's WX, is quite an understatement. Another lawn chair retrieval day...

    Thanks, Mushy.

    Bob sez: Dang. "Peaches and roses." Just: Dang.

    Yeah, I had to laugh at that. I was drinking my second Trippel when I wrote this post and thought "Peaches? Roses? Where the Hell did that come from? Smells like beer to me!" And while we're on the subject...just what do phenols smell like?

    The reason I can't write like this, if you read between my lines, is the fact I don't want to write like this...

    As I said: we're not that far apart, Bob. Next time.

    Lou said: I think I might be on the mend this morning.

    THAT'S good news!!

    ASW sez: Buck, um......can I have a Corona with lime without some one taking a pot shot at me? :D

    Well, I wouldn't take a pot-shot at ya. I might suppress a sneer or raise an eyebrow perhaps, but that would be it. SN1 has been known to knock back more than a few Coronas on occasion, too.

    Ya... I AM something of a beer snob. But I don't know jack about wine, other than what I like... which would be burgundies and pinot noirs.

    And thank all y'all for your comments on my glass. It's one of my favorites... Texas flag on one side and Old Glory on the other.

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  8. "Smells like beer to me!" Good. It should!

    "And while we're on the subject...just what do phenols smell like?" I'm no chemist, but I work with one. Nevertheless, I don't know. Phenols, with the same root as "pheromones" sound like quite the phancy molecules. Probably they do crazy (so to speak) things to the mind, and blur the sensory boundaries. See, for instance Nirvanah's "Smells like Teen Spirit" or Weird Al Yankovich's "Smells like Nirvanah."

    Anyway, on the other subject, and to paraphrase someone (not sure whom) "Time burns."

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  9. I LOVED your ashtray! Brought me right back to my aunt's upscale post WW2 home (which remained unchanged for the next 40 years).

    Have to agree, fruity beer just doesn't seem right. Did you read about the brewer that had come up with a pizza flavored beer ... with real pizza chunks? All I could think of was frat party blow-back ... blechhh!

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  10. Bob sez: Probably they do crazy (so to speak) things to the mind, and blur the sensory boundaries.

    Some phenols MOST definitely fall in that category!

    Lin sez: I LOVED your ashtray! Brought me right back to my aunt's upscale post WW2 home (which remained unchanged for the next 40 years).

    Have to agree, fruity beer just doesn't seem right. Did you read about the brewer that had come up with a pizza flavored beer ... with real pizza chunks? All I could think of was frat party blow-back ... blechhh!


    Blechhh is right! That beer won't be long for the market, if there's ANY justice in this world.

    Thanks for the comment on the ashtray, Lin. A couple of years ago I searched the gub'mint's patent databases and found the original patent for the design (the patent numbers are stamped on the bottom of the ashtray), with pictures. I literally spent hours searching for that page while writing this post and found nothing. I HATE it when this happens!

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