Category Archives: Beer Trips

For those times when you have to go out of your way to make something possible when extending your Beer Experience.

Orval in the USA? The Same?

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Today my friend Bobby and I had a little experiment with Orval Beers.  If you’ve been keeping track, this is beer #188 … IF you think it is unique.  Here are two bottles of Orval … the one on the left was purchased in the US (Whole Foods, Springfield, VA) and the one on the left was purchased at the actual Orval Brewery.

Here is a close-up picture of their labels. This is the US Label … I guess they needed to remind us in a big way that it is a Trappist Ale.  Notice in the second picture the ABV is listed as 6.9%.

Here are two pictures of the Belgian labels … notice the ABV: 6.2%

If I just went by the labels, I would say these are two different beers and I can count this one as a different beer.  However, since I’ve had the tour at the brewery, I can tell you that these beers are exactly the same.  The reason the label is different for ABV is that the American standard for alcohol content is different from Europe.  The tolerances are tighter in the US (I think 0.3% variance) as opposed to those in Belgium (up to 1% variance).

This beer is triple fermented with the final yeast added at bottling.  This is called bottle-conditioning and the beer can vary widely in ABV — no Orval beer is exactly the same as any other … that’s why this beer is so good.  Soooo, since this beer can range from about 5.2% up to 7.2% ABV based on several variables, the US label shows 6.9% to cover the possibility of a high-octane referementation.  You will see in the following two pictures that these two beers (one brewed in 2008 and one in 2009) look exactly the same, and I can tell you that they tasted like Orval (again, they never taste exactly the same … that’s the beauty of this beer).

With all of this said, you probably think I didn’t have my 188th unique beer.  Well …. I did.  Because I knew they were the same, I pulled out a Hacker-Pschorr Weisse (you’ll notice this is my 4th Hacker-Pschorr) to hit my target! LOL!

Enjoy!

Beer Mentor

A Czech Brewery … in Texas!

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Most of you are probably aware of this, but there is a nice Czech/German brewery located in Texas … actually, the Spoetzl Brewery in Shiner, Texas.   They make a German-style Bock beer; it’s their flagship beer!

I love this beer for several reasons: 1) I’m from Texas, so I love to support Texas breweries, 2) It’s not your average crap light beer, and 3) I’m a Bohemian myself (on my Paternal Grandmother’s side of the family: Annie Lee Beckner).

So today, I enjoyed this beer — the color is excellent, the aroma is very nice and the flavor … just right!  Hits the spot as usual!

Beer Mentor

24 Hour Day? … Why not a Dogfish Head!

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I flew back today from Germany — it was an interesting adventure (I was basically awake for about 25 hours) … my wife and daughter picked me up and we drove back to the house — it was about 1130 pm and I knew I had to have something with which to relax … so I thought, why not a real American brew to celebrate my return to the States!  So, I went with a nice Dogfish Head beer my wife had purchased (love her!): the Indian Brown Ale.   Yummy!  This beer had all the features I love in a Great American Craft Beer — a robust flavor, plenty of ABV, and a nice finish.

I should say, it’s good to be home!

Beer Mentor

Last beer in Germany: a Hefeweizen

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I think it is only appropriate as I head back to Washington, DC that the last beer I have in Germany is a Hefeweizen.  You may not recall — but the first beer I had on 4 November was a Hefeweizen.

So here I am 185 days later … and 185 beers later sampling another Hefeweizen … this one from Schoefferhofer.

This is a decent Hefeweizen … good flavor, nice color, sweet finish.  Of course, the best beer to finish out my tour in Germany would be one of the Schneider Weisse brews … but I’ve had them!  LOL!

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this tour through European (and beyond) beers — my blog will now continue with all the great Craft Beers available in the DC area.  There are also about 4 places in DC on the 125 top places to drink beer list that I’ll be blogging about (plus several other nearby locales).

With that said — I lift my empty glass to the fantastic closure I’m putting on this tour through Germany/Belgium … I continue to have the time of my life wherever I am!

Beer Mentor

A Polish Beer: Tyskie Gronie

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Today’s beer (#183) is a Polish Brew: The Tyskie Gronie.  This is a brew from a brewery in Tychy, Poland —Tyskie Browary Książęce.  They’ve been brewing beer since the 1600s.

This beer has actually won a couple of Gold Medals (2002, 2005).  If you like a nice Lager, this is a good beer for you.  The only thing that stood out in my mind when I was tasting it was it seemed to have a touch too much of a corn-produced alcohol “flavor.”  Many times you can taste the corn liquor when they use adjuncts in beers — the flavor may have come out more to me because I drank this beer at a little higher temperature.  Even with this warming/taste effect, it was still a very drinkable beer.

Beer Mentor

Top 10 Beers from the last 6 months

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These are the top 10 beers I’ve had (in rank order) in the last 6 months.  No real grading criteria except for the level of enjoyment I had then and the fond memory I have now from each of these beers:

1. Orval (Trappist / Belgian Pale Ale /Wild Yeast) at the A La Nouvelle Hostellerie D’Orval Sprl (Villers-devant-Orval, Belgium) – I rate this beer/location an A++

2. Schneider-Weisse Aventinus (Weizen Bock) at the Brewery‘s Aventinus Fest (Kelheim, Germany) – I rate this beer/location an A++

3. Westvleteren 12 (Trappist / Quadruppel) at the In de Vrede Cafe (Westvleteren, Belgium) – I rate this beer/location an A++

4. Westmalle Trappist Extra (Belgian Pale Ale) at the Cafe Trappisten (Westmalle, Belgium) – I rate this beer/location an A+

5. Chimay Speciale Poteaupre (a Witbier) at the Auberge de Poteaupre (Scourmont, Belgium) – I rate this beer/location an A+

6. Zwick’l Kellerbier (Keller (unfiltered) Bier) at the Naturfreundehaus (Vaihingen, Germany) – I rate this beer/location an A+

7. Weihenstephaner Vitus (Weizen Bock) at the Weihenstephaner Braeustueberl (Freising, Germany) – I rate this beer/location an A

8. Delerium Tremens at the Delirium Cafe (Brussels, Belgium) – I rate this beer/location an A

9.  Handbryggeriet Odin’s Tipple (Russian Imperial Stout) (My Hotel Room) – I rate this beer an A

10.  Antonius Brau (homemade) (Keller (unfiltered) Bier) at the Queidersbach Schlachtfest (Queidersbach, Germany) – I rate this beer/location an A

Every one of these beers is fantastic.  Just check out the ratings if you’d like … ok, a couple couldn’t really get ratings … but trust me, these are 10 of the best beers you’ll get in the world … if you get a chance to try any of them, do it … and on location is even that much better!

Beer Mentor

Pull Tab Beer? Pearl River, baby …

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Yes I’m still continuing the trend of 100 something beers in 100 something days … I’m up to 182 and counting…

Today, it’s something I thought I would never see again — a pull tab.  Here are two pictures confirming this:

What is the beer you ask?  Why, it is Zhu Jiang Beer (pronounced “Joo Jung” Beer) — or, in English, Pearl River.  This beer is brewed by the Guangzhou Zhu Jiang Brewery Co (which is actually part of the InBev conglomerate).

My friend kindly brought this back to me from a trip he made to China.  This was a decent lager made in the German-style.

Many times I disagree with both BeerAdvocate and RateBeer … I think the people on these sites either 1) set their expectations too high and are then disappointed, or 2) they’re too high-brow in their observation of what makes a good beer.  I agree with the All about Beer list (125 places to drink beer in the world) in that a lot of what makes a beer good is the location and people with whom you are drinking that beer — that’s why the GABF is #1 on their list.  Ok, enough pontificating.

I could probably drink several of these in one sitting since they are only 3.6% ABV.   I would probably drink them just to pull the tab!  Next thing you know I’ll be making a “pull tab necklace.”

Enjoy!

Beer Mentor

Dinkel Acker Mai Bock

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Well number 181 (LOL) was the Dinkelacker MaiBock.  I like this style of beer, you just can’t drink a lot of them.  The malt really stands out in this beer but they did a good job of balancing it with the noble hops.

It is May after all and it is Fest Season so I thought it only appropriate to drink one of these while enjoying a big Schnitzel!  Yes!

I will miss Germany but I look forward to getting back to the Washington, DC area and enjoying the great craft beers in the area again!

Beer Mentor

180! 180! 180!

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LOL!  Yes, I finally completed the challenge of drinking 180 beers in 180 days!  How did I do it?  With Tsjeesus!  Ha ha!  Yes, the Sturdy Brewers produced this great Christmas beer … and I just had it.

In their own words: “Deep to orange blond abbey triple winterbeer which has been lagered for 8 months on different stonefruits. Tsjeeses was born out of a 5 year brew experience regarding x-mas beer without being capable of finding a suitable name up to now. With the name came a face, a caricature actually, that was drawn on the day Urbain, our brew master and master brewer, drank too many Tsjeeses’s. Every time he drinks one, he says “Tsjeeses, what a beer”. Therefore the name is more an expression of stupefaction than a curse. We have had already many discussions around the pronounciation of “Tsjeeses”. Very close would be that you say “cheeses” or cheese in plural.”

If you get the opportunity, go for a bottle of this!  I picked this beer up at the Delirium Cafe in Brussels a couple of weeks ago … oh, and happy birthday Jill!

Beer Mentor