Cantillon Classic Gueuze

I finally popped open my bottle of Cantillon Classic Gueuze the other night!

Again, lambic is a wild fermented ale made with about 70% barley and 30% wheat in the Senne Valley of Belgium. Rather than adding yeast to the wort, lambic makers use a more traditional approach to brewing by exposing the wort to the open night air of the Senne Valley, which has natural yeast spores and bacteria that ferment the wort. Then the beer is put into wooden barrels to condition for varying periods of time, often up to several years. Gueuze is a beer made by blending both young (about 1 year old) and old (about 2-3 years old) lambics. Gueuze is often called the "champagne of beer."

This was a 1 pt. 9.4 fl. oz. bottle with a cork and bottle cap. I need to work on my de-corking technique; I can pop off bottle caps on nearly anything with a flat edge but I nearly tore up the cork on this bottle while trying to open it. The beer was very light, almost a straw color, and the featured a moderate, bubbly head that quickly dissipated. This beer had the distinct aroma of Brettanomyces funkiness, which really smells like nothing else and gets you geared up for the experience of a good Belgian beer.

This is my first gueuze, and I now understand why it is called the champagne of beers. This is quite tart and sour with a bit of funkiness and very subtle bitterness. This beer has very little carbonation, no taste of malt, and absolutely no hop presence (they use aged or stale hops in lambic so that they don't overwhelm the other flavors). It is dominated by tartness, which is very unusual for beer. Lambics are always a unique experience, and without fail whoever I am drinking with expresses some disbelief that they are actually drinking beer. For myself, this was absolutely delicious and I can't wait to have more. I would be happy if I never had champagne again if it meant that I could have gueuze instead (and I happen to enjoy champagne).

I enjoyed a helping of strawberry shortcake with my bottle of Cantillon. The sweetness of the dessert contrasted with the lambic, bringing out and intensifying the sourness and funkiness in this wild ale. Also, any sourness in the strawberry acted to complement the beer. The combination of complementary and contrasting flavors in the dessert and beer made this a complex, intriguing, and natural pairing. This pairing isn't a 'stretch'- I think anyone who enjoys tartness would agree that this is a successful pairing between beer and dessert.

Garlic Lemon Thyme Chicken and English Pale Ale

I had a pretty decent pairing at dinner the other night that I thought I would share with you.

Samuel Smith Old Brewery Pale Ale
1 Pt 2.7 Fl Oz

This English pale ale was quite different from my idea of what pale ales taste like, based mostly on American beer. Rather than being hoppy, this pale ale was dominated by caramel-like malt flavors. However, the flavors were not overpowering, as should be expected with any pale ale, and were thus well suited to go with less outspoken foods such as chicken. At the end of the flavor profile of this beer you experience a subtle hint of hops and carbonation bite. Incorporating the American, English, and Belgian pale ales that I've now had, I think I am starting to see that pale ale may have a wide range of flavor profiles (hoppy, malty, funky, grassy), but they all tend to be lighter in flavor than their full-bodied relatives such as IPA or Abbey Ales.

I made chicken seasoned with garlic, thyme, and lemon with crispy skin. The chicken had a good flavor, but would have been overshadowed by a bigger beer. The malty richness of the pale ale provided a nice counterpoint to the saltiness and acidity of the chicken. Other beers with moderate flavors (other pale ales, hefeweizen, brown ale) would also be a good match for a conservatively flavored chicken dish.

Birthday Beer

Birthday present for my roommate:



-Smuttynose IPA
-St. Peter's Organic English Ale
-New Holland Poet Oatmeal Stout






-Thomas Creek Orange Blossom Pilsner Squared
-New Holland Golden Cap Saison
-Heavy Seas Loose Cannon Hops Cubed Ale




All of these are new beers for me with the exception of the Heavy Seas Loose Cannon, which is amazing hoppy goodness. Cheers!

Lindeman's Framboise Lambic

Nathan and I shared a bottle of Lindeman's Framboise Lambic last night. This is a Belgian wheat beer fermented from wild yeast and with raspberries added to produce a second fermentation. As soon I smelled this beer the memory of eating wild raspberries in Boone popped in my head- I love it when smells bring up good memories.

Lindeman's does sweeten their Lambics, so they aren't quite made according to the traditional methods. Still, this was good stuff- tart, fruity, with a hint of wheaty sharpness. If you are in the mood for something tart and slighty sweet- this is the way to go. This would have been damn good with some dark chocolate.

I still haven't opened up my Cantillon Gueuze (it is one of the beers you can age), but when the time is right, expect a blog post about it.

Beer for Steak Night

I know I've neglected the blog for a couple of weeks now- school has been crazy and completely monopolized my time (notable beers that I've drank recently and not blogged about include: Delirium Nocturnum, Sweetwater IPA, Terrapin Rye Pale Ale, and Hoegaarden).

So to make up for the gap in posts, I've got a special post featuring two different beers and how they pair with Steak au Poivre. The beers I've picked are the Belgian classic Chimay Grande Reserve (Blue) Trappist and Anchor Old Foghorn Barleywine. I'm very excited about this dinner and beers as I just got a cast iron pan for the steak (and its a new recipe) and I've never had Chimay before!

Chimay Grande Réserve (Blue)
9% ABV, Trappist ale, 2008 vintage

This Trappist ale poured brown with a moderate head dissipating into a ring. The aroma is estery, fruity, and malty. The flavor was as suggested by the aroma. Fruity (apple?), rich, slightly malty, bite from carbonation, and just overall delicious. The fruitiness made it slightly sweet, but not overpowering. The high alcohol content was very well masked. This is a fantastic beer, very drinkable, delicious, and with gives you a nice buzz at 9% ABV. I expect this to be a standby Trappist.

Anchor Old Foghorn
8.2%, Barleywine ale

There seem to be (at least) two different strains of Barleywine: hoppy and malty. This falls in the latter. It is rich and strong, with heavy malt flavor, caramel notes, and a hint of hop. This is another big beer, which is exactly what I had in mind. This is not my favorite barleywine, but it stands up well to the rich steak au poivre.

The steak au poivre was delicious- it was rich, buttery, peppery, fatty, and simply amazing. I used ribeyes in a cast iron skillet. We also had some amazing mashed potatoes and asparagus made by my fiance. The Chimay was fantastic with the steak- the rich fruit and malt flavors complemented and offered a delicious counterpoint to the rich steak. The rich malt flavors of the barleywine stood up well to the steak as well, but I preferred the fruitiness of the Chimay to the caramel flavor of the barleywine, which was a tad too rich in malty flavor for me.

So as far as a great, rich ribeye steak goes, Chimay or malty barleywine are both great choices. My favorite between these two was the Chimay.

In fact, the Chimay even paired well with the dessert my fiance's sister made. This delicate custard eclair cake moderates the carbonated bite and the two flavors just melt together and complement each other perfectly. This beer would also go very well with Creme Brulee, one of my favorite desserts. This was the perfect end to a perfect dinner. Chimay is truly an amazing beer and incredibly flexible with food pairings! Trust me, pick up a bottle and see what I mean.

Sometimes you just have to

So some workers decided that when the company changed the rule about the amount of free beer they got a year, they go on strike. The drivers decided not to join in because their limit of 3 beers a day did not change, but just to make sure you feel safe all of these drivers have breathalyzer starters, so no Drunk driving.

all I have to say is: only in Copenhagen!

Pizza and Beer: there is a reason it is a classic

Yes, pizza and beer is a cliche. Everyone knows that pizza and beer go together. Why bother talking about it here? Here's why:It gets a hell of a lot better than a bud and pizza hut (hopefully this isn't an epiphany for any of you).

I experienced what was pretty much pizza and beer heaven this week and it just wouldn't be right if I didn't say a few words about it.

Okay, I've been to Mellow Mushrooms before. Actually, I've been to about five different locations, many times. This time was different.

We were in Athens looking for apartments and we stopped for dinner and ordered some pizza. I, after reviewing the taps, ordered a glass of Terrapin Hopsecutioner.



Terrapin Hopsecutioner
7.2% ABV, American IPA

Hopsecutioner, as indicate by the name, is an IPA with bold hop flavor up-front. It's well-balanced but with a great hit of piney, citrusy hop bitterness. This beer isn't revolutionary for an IPA, but it meets all the expectations for the style, delivering on flavor with a somewhat higher than typical alcohol content. The alcohol did get to work very quickly on my empty stomach, giving me a nice buzz and putting me in a great mood for the pizza. If you want a great IPA with plenty of great hoppy flavor, this is a rock solid choice.

This pizza was perfection. Italian sausage, mushrooms, feta cheese, and basil. Firstly, the crust was amazing. The dough was the perfect consistency - not too crunchy or undercooked - and was absolutely delicious, and was topped with a sharp Italian cheese, I'm guessing parmigian, and olive oil. The sauce was also great, not revolutionary but well executed. The toppings went together perfectly. This pizza was a delicious combination of the sharp feta and parmigian cheese, the creamy mozzarella, spicy and fatty sausage, savory mushrooms, and herbal fresh basil. I thought that this pizza was better than any I'd had at a Mellow Mushroom... they're doing it right in Athens.

The pizza and beer went great together too. The bitter, piney flavors in the beer cut through the creamy, fatty flavors of the pizza and accented the sharpness of the feat cheese. Having a slight buzz from the beer seemed to make everything more enjoyable as well. This was the best pizza and beer combination I've ever had. Pizza and beer isn't groundbreaking, but I enjoyed this meal more than any I've had in a long time and this enjoyment is all because of this pairing. How could I not talk about it here? If this is your kind of pizza, I highly recommend trying this out at Mellow Mushroom with a bold IPA like Hopsecutioner.