Winter Blues

Short days, crappy weather, minimal exercise...all that adds up to the winter blues. On top of that, I've been seriously busy lately between house hunting (settlement is February 25) and organizing 1400 volunteers for MLK Days of Service. So I'm a little beat...lucky for me, I have a wife who knows exactly how to treat this ailment.

This was waiting for me when I got home one night last week. A few of my favorite winter seasonals, pretty much concentrated hop juice. And suddenly, it's the most wonderful time of the year.

Other awesome things going on right now:

Anne Hathaway cast as Catwoman in next Batman movie

Drink Philly's Adam Schmitt on Preston and Steve

Cheers!

Happy Birthday

Today is a day for celebration in the BeerGeek household, and one of our most important holidays of the year.  My wife, Desiree, turns another year more lovely today.

We're marking the occasion by opening up two bottles from the Belgian beergrimmage we took back in August - which I lazily never wrote about, so I'll rectify that now.

My favorite beer of the trip came with dinner on our first night in Brugges, at the Erasmus Hotel where we stayed. Desiree ordered a Drie Fountainen Oude Gueuze, and I ordered a 2006 Destruise Pannepot from the vintage list. Pannepot is the excellent upstart brewery Destruise's take on the Trappist quadrupel style, and though brewed secularly, has as much of a holy aura as the originals. The cellared version was complex, slightly boozy yet smooth, and alive with notes of dried fruits, licorice, and heavy malts.

We later visited Destruise Brouwers in Oostvleteren, during a bike ride that took us to the St. Sixtus Abbey at Westvleteren, Trappist home of one of the most sought after quads on the planet. Though we knew that Destruise was not open for business on Tuesdays, we knocked on the door anyway, and were greeted quite hospitably by Urbain and his staff.

We scored a great haul, including Black Albert Batch Zero and Cuvee Delphine, some of the greatest Imperial Stouts I've had the pleasure of tasting, as well a few different variations of Pannepot. Over the years, Urbain had tried a few different versions of the quad, and even changed the name from Pannepeut (Old Monk's Ale) to the current name (Fisherman's Ale) as the recipe changed, and we were lucky enough to grab a few of each.

Tonight, we're drinking the oak aged variation, Pannepot Reserva, from 2008, and Destruise's 10% abv Christmas beer, Tsjeeses. I knew as I hauled a backpack full of bottles from Oostvleteren back to Popperinge by bike that my score would be destined for a special occasion. Couldn't be anymore special than this.

Happy birthday, Des!

Blind Pumpkin Beer Tasting

Last night, I held a blind pumpkin beer tasting event for my wife's family featuring 11 locally available pumpkin beers. I used the Beer Advocate weighting for rating the beers, based on appearance, smell, taste, mouthfeel, and drinkability (though I kept in average percentages rather than a 5.0 scale, simply because I didn't feel like doing any more math.)

Here are the aggregated results for the five tasters, as well as my own ratings, and some general thoughts for each selection.

Beer
Average / Steve's score / Notes

Wolavers Will Steven's Pumpkin Ale
86.6% / 78% / More pumpkin than spice, though lots of cloves in the finish. The overall favorite, and organic too.

Arcadia Jaw Jacker
85.6% / 82% / Not actually a pumpkin beer, just pumpkin spices, but had a full body with great drinkability.

BrewWorks Devious
81.8% / 88% / My personal favorite, though not exactly 'blind' since it was in a bigger bottle than the rest. Dark, thick, strong, and full.

Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale 2010
76.6% / 80% / One of the best balanced, a little bit boozy.

Dogfish Head Punkin

74.2% / 75% / Very clear appearance, lots of pumpkin, less spice.

Saranac Pumpkin Ale

73.2% / 82% / A bit sweet in spots, but otherwise nicely balanced and more 'beery' than some of the others.

Post Road Pumpkin Ale

72.6% / 83% / Very spicy aroma, one of the best all-around balanced flavor and body.

Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale

69% / 70% / A good spicy aroma, but lacked any kind of substance or body in the flavor department.

Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale 2009

67% / 64% / Really developed a lot of ammonia-like phenols over a year, I won't be aging this beer anymore.

Southhampton Pumpkin

58% / 66% / Flavor comes primarily from spices but little else going on in this beer.

Shipyard Pumpkin Head

54.6% / 59% / Another one that used pumpkin spices, but no actual pumpkin, but this really came off as a spiced adjunct lager - like Miller Lite with some cinnamon added.

Just for fun, afterward we opened a few other goodies. Two bottles of Mest-up DIPA (HomebrewerFlip's Pliny the Elder clone), a 2007 De Struise Pannepot, and a Cantillon Iris, both fresh from our Belgian Beergrimage.