Belgian Beer Battle Royale Results

Hello Everyone,


It has been a while since my last posting, but I haven't stopped drinking beer and the results are in for the Belgian Beer Battle Royale. For those of you that didn't read my last two postings, I decided to put my three most favorite Belgian beers to the test and find out which one was my favorite Belgian beer of all time. The three Belgian beers in question are La Trappe Quadruple, Tripel Karmeliet, and Affligem Triple. As these beers are all VERY good, it was difficult to decide which one would take the prize of being my most favorite Belgian beer, but I have finally decided... my most favorite Belgian beer of all time is Affligem Triple. Affligem's Triple is a tad heavier than Tripel Karmeliet, but much more flavorful. The second place beer is La Trappe Quadruple, which is darker than both the Triple K and the Affligem, but is still very light for it's color.



So in closing, the list is as follows:

1. Affligem's Triple
2. La Trappe Quadruple
3. Tripel Karmeliet

Now that I have this decided, maybe I should try and find these guys on tap somewhere and see if a re-evaluation is needed. :D


See you at the bar!

What is the Best Belgian Beer?

Hello Everyone,


As I am running out of good Belgian and Belgian-style beer, I have decided to do a championship match-up to decide which of my previously reviewed Belgian Beers will win the title of being my favorite Belgian beer of all time. The three contenders will be Affligem Triple, La Trappe Quad, and Tripel Karmeliet. As I will be drinking at least three beers next Sunday, I have decided to give my liver a little break and not do a beer review this weekend. Stay tuned though, as I will compare these three beers and choose which one of them will be my favorite Belgian beer of all time.

See you at the bar!

La Rulles - Triple

Hello Everyone, happy Belgian Beer Sunday's. I am starting to get down to the bottom of the barrel at my local Whole Foods. Today I have a Belgian Beer by the name of La Rulles. This beer is a Belgian Triple... I haven't been excited about this beer since I purchased it, two nights ago. It was in the Belgian beer aisle, but I have gone through all the high ranking Belgian's, so I was pretty sure this brew was going to be mediocre at best. This beer poured lighter than I am used to, I had to agitate the brew to get a decent head. The color of the head was a nice white, but dissipated rather quickly. The sent of this beer is nothing special either, I could smell hints of alcohol, but that is about it. The taste of this beer is as well, nothing special, tasting like any Belgian style brew, maybe a bit lighter in flavor. I am going to give this beer 2.5/5 stars, as it is mediocre in every regard. I would not recommend purchasing this brew, unless you like the label, or you are looking for something new and you have had everything else.


See you at the bar!

Val-Dieu - Grand Cru

Happy Mother's Day everyone, the beer for today is Val-Dieu Grand Cru. This is a Belgian Abbey Ale that I picked up at my local Whole Foods, for just about $10. This has to be the darkest Belgian beer I have ever seen, a dark dark red, that I can't see through. This beer comes in at 10.5% ABV. I popped the cork on this beer and was amazed at how easily the cork was expelled from the bottle... this normally means that the beer is highly carbonated. This beer poured rather well and produced a nice white head. This beer smells of subtle hints of citrus and something sour I can't place my hand on. The first sip of this beer was very dark and alcoholic. I looked over another review of this particular brew, it states that this is a Quadrupel. They also stated that there was hints of currants in the brew, that explains the fruity sour taste.I am going to give this beer 3.75/5 stars, it is very flavorful and dark and each sip tastes better than the last. I would recommend this beer for a nice cool dry night -- like tonight. I would recommend it after dinner beer as it is very sweet and flavorful, probably a little much to have more than two pints.


See you at the bar!

Allagash - Four

Today I am going to try a dark beer from a brewing company located in here in the US, in Portland Maine. As I am partial to Belgian beers and Belgian-style beers, I decided that I would take a chance on this beer. I purchased this bottle at my local Whole Foods, for about $18... which is rather expensive for a non-import bottle of beer. This beer was produced with four different malts, four different hops, and four different types of yeast... hence the name "Four". The color of this brew is a sight to see, it is a nice dark red amber. Unfortunately the head didn't last thirty seconds, but it was a nice light white while it was there. This brew smells like the La Trappe, with small tones of fruit. The taste of this beer is more subtle than the La Trappe Quad. Very high alcohol content on this bottle though, 10% ABV, which is hidden quite well and not overbearing. I am going to give this beer 3.5/5 stars, as I am not entirely impressed and I think that the beer is not worth the steep price tag. The beer doesn't have a strange after taste and is surprisingly light for it's color, which scored it a few points on my scale. If you are curious, try it for yourself, but personally, I am recommending that you try a Belgian beer instead. The Belgian beer would probably be more flavorful and less expensive.


See you at the bar!

F*@K You Easter Bunny!

Hello Everyone and happy Easter! I was planning on reviewing multiple beers tonight at one of my favorite Oakland bars, but unfortunately the bar was closed in observance of "Zombie Jesus Day". But fortunately I was able to find a bar that was open and was willing to serve me a nice cold glass of frothy-goodness... so here is my story.

Earlier this week I was asked to go to a bar tonight with a friend, I agreed to this outing and was thinking that I could kill two birds with one stone and review a couple beers for this blog. I told my friend that I would meet them at Cafe Biere at 7:00pm tonight... When I got to Cafe Biere, I saw a hand written sign in the door that said that the bar closed at 3:00pm tonight. Unfortunately I was forced to resign to my "plan B", which was located in Jack London Square. A nice brewery by the name of Linden St. Brewery... after driving all the way down to Jack London Square, we were surprised to find that "plan B" was also closed due to "Zombie Jesus". What the hell, do people not drink beer on Easter Sunday? Well, we had to fall back on "plan C". Plan C -- just so happened to be located in Jack London Square as well, and is a nice quaint little bar, by the name of "Chop Bar", where they have a VERY small selection of beer, but they currently have a very nice keg in that selection, a Linden St. Triple. Earlier today I was eating brunch at the Chop Bar and decided to flavor this Linden St. Triple, which weighs in at over 9% ABV. The Linden St Triple is not a traditional Belgian Triple, it is much darker and doesn't have the same stereotypical citrus flavors that are normally associated with a Belgian Triple. The Linden St Triple was smooth and didn't have an over-bearing alcoholic flavor to it, even though it touts 9.5% ABV. The Linden St. Triple is deceptive, but a good deal, you can get yourself a pint for $5 at Chop Bar in Jack London Square Oakland California. Who knows how long this keg will last. I am going to give the Linden St. Triple a 3.5/5 star rating, it's not my type of Triple (one that has nice notes of citrus and a flavorful after taste), but it is VERY nice for a "non-Belgian" Triple, give it a try and see what you think.

So the night ended with me and my friend going to the Chop Bar and kicking back a few cold ones... so even though it was "Zombie Jesus Day", we were still able to find an establishment that was willing to serve us. Thank you Chop Bar for being open and having wonderful beer on tap, even though your beer selection is comprised of four beers.

See you at the bar!

Brasserie Dupont - Moinette Brune

Hello Everyone and Happy Sunday! Today I am going to review another Belgian beer, this one is from a brewery in Belgium called "Brasserie Dupont", and I am reviewing their Brune (Brown). This beer has a nice look to it, the label is a nice blood red and the bottle that the beer comes in, is heavy and nicely shaped. The first thing that I noticed about this beer was how much it looks like a Trappist beer, but unfortunately it is not a Trappist. This beer set me back about $9 at my local Whole Foods. I am not sure if this is the norm, but this bottle was VERY carbonated. I barley had to pull on the cork and it popped off like I was pull the cork on a champagne bottle. When I poured this beer it produced so much head that I had to take a picture with the beer in that condition... the picture to the left was generated with me pouring a very modest pour. The head on this beer sticks around as well, I had to wait about 5 minutes for the head to go down enough for me to fill up my glass. The head on this beer is not quite a brilliant white, it has a small hint of yellow to it. The first whiff reminded me of Affligem's Triple, nice hints of citrus and other various spices I can't pin. The color of the beer is amazing, a nice dark amber at the top of the glass, that fades to almost a yellow at the bottom of the glass. The taste of this beer is a delight as well, the first sip was darker than I am normal for a beer this light, and included aspects of the spices that I smelt. The carbonation is not overbearing either and helps to lighten this dark beer. The ABV of this brew is 8.5% and you really can't tell by the flavor that it is that strong. I am going to give this beer a 3.5/5 stars on the Belgian Beer Scale... remember that I am biased on this scale against darker beers -- as my favorite type of Belgian beer is a "Triple" the lighter more alcoholic beers usually get higher ratings. Well, I would recommend this beer if you are new to darker Belgian beers and you would like to have something that is dark, but has a very light flavor.


See you at the bar!