Showing posts with label Belgian Ale. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Belgian Ale. Show all posts

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Visit to Belgian Beer Cafe Cammeray


Took family to Epoque Belgian Beer Cafe yesterday. They're very good at hosting kids, with waiters very friendly and providing colouring in.

We had a quick bite: some chips & mayo, and a selection of tasting plates, including the must-have cheese balls, salt & pepper squid, and pork belly pieces.  Each under $10, and excellent companion food for the beers.

All Belgian BeersSpeaking of which....

My wife enjoys Hoegaarden, so had a small one which she sat on for the duration.  I was a little less reserved.

Started with Timmermans Gueuze... a fantastic lambic, beautifully sour, but with apple notes and that funky, just been through a hessian sack element as well. $11.90 5%.

Next tried (for me) a new offering. Satan's Gold comes in at 8% and $11.30 a bottle. Unusually for Belgian beers, this has a big, fresh green hop element. Belgians tend to go more to restrained and/or aged hops. But this beer provided hints of Pilsener in its hops, but backed up with usual chewy, estery malt & yeast components.

Saison Silly (5%, $9.20) gives blackcurrant aromas, but sherry notes. I was able to draw a comparison with older Coopers Vintage ales.

Finally, finished with Trappiste Rochefort 8.  I think about $15, and 8-odd%. Served a bit too cold, but once warmed between the hands, offers that delightful malty dried fruit complexity the brewery is known for.

Food great, beer always great (but not cheap), and service outstanding.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Mother's day beers

Had the extended family over on Sunday for a lazy BBQ and a few tasters.

John Boston lager. A reasonable drop available through the Wine Society, and competes on price & style with other "premium" lagers such as Cascade & James Boag.

Brewdog Bashah. From Northmead cellars. A so-called Black Belgian-style Double Indian Pale Ale. What ?? Tasted like a hopped porter to me. I'm not so sure about all this "extreme" brewing & style cross-overs. The style boundaries are being challenged, which is OK I guess. But why then try to categorise the beer using the standard category definitions ? It comes across as a bit, um, contrived.

Brew Like a Monk: Trappist, Abbey, and Strong Belgian Ales and How to Brew ThemDuvel. I scored these for $2.30 a bottle from Dan Murphy. Someone mistakenly printed off the price tag as $47.95 per case, rather than per six-pack. I cleared them out of the stock and took the tag to the checkout, knowing full well there was a mistake. :-) If it had been a small privately owned bottle shop, I wouldn't have..... but, Woolies ? Come in spinner....
Complete Coopers Brewery European Lager Beer Kit PackageTrappist Westvleteren 8. Unavailable in Australia, but sent over via the "grey market" in the US. Me and a couple of other beeradvocates banded together and paid, from memory, $30 a bottle for the 8 and the 12. The beer is outstanding. An earlier review can be found here: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/313/857/?ba=vancurly
My own concoction, a kind of imperial schwartz beer (lol), was on tap. Coopers European lager tin, augmented with Special B, pale Cara, and chocolate malts, plus some Perle for additional bittering and my home-grown Tettnang for dry-hopping. Fermented around 18C, and kegged/conditioned for a couple of weeks.

Had some wine, too.....
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