Tag: review

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Review – Scaldis

For the final beer from the Vanberg & DeWulf portfolio of Belgian beers comes from the Dubuisson brewery.

Some more notes on the beer from the V&D site, “In 1933, when British ales were all the fashion in Belgium, Alfred Dubuisson (Hugues’ grandfather) created a Belgian beer in the English barleywine style. He called his beer Bush, the translation of the family name. The recipe has remained unchanged for 79 years, longer than any other Belgian beer.

It is hard to believe that Scaldis is 12% ABV. Beers this strong are generally quite heavy and sweet. Scaldis by contrast is quite dry with a pleasant nutty finish. Remarkably, Scaldis achieves its strength entirely through fermentation—without evaporating or freezing water to concentrate alcohol. Three different malts go into Scaldis, making it a beer with as much nuance as potency. Woodsy, toasty, sherry nose, with caramel, toffee, candied pineapple and prune notes.”

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Review – Posca Rustica

For the month of June, I will be reviewing beers not from a specific brewery or state or style but from the Vanberg & DeWulf line of beers. And I start with this gruit, Posca Rustica.

Here’s more from the V&D website about this beer…..“Since 1983, Dupont has produced a beer especially for a Gallo-Roman site near the brewery where Stone Age life is interpreted, the Archeosite d’Aubechies.

Known as Cervesia in Belgium this beer is a throwback inspired by research into the drinks of the Gallo-Roman era. It is surely one of the brewery’s most exotic beers. It is a “Cervoise” beer spiced with a gruit (an old-fashioned herb mixture used to bitter and flavor beer, that was popular before hops came to predominate). Posca Rustica beer is highly, if delicately, spiced. Sweet woodruff (known as Galium odoratum or wild baby’s breath) and bog myrtle are but two of about a dozen spices used. Posca Rustica has a unique, odiferous and spicy character. Bottle conditioned. Beguiling and unusual. Discover what beer tasted like when Belgium was ruled by the Roman Empire.”

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Review – Surf Brewery Surf Patrol Black IPA

The last California beer to be reviewed this month comes from just up the coast and evokes the surfer lifestyle. It is Surf Patrol Black IPA from Ventura’s Surf Brewery.

Here are the details from their website:
“Our American Style Dark Ale features vibrant citrusy and floral American hops balanced against a complex malt profile of toasty dark malts with a hint of roasted barley. Just like an early morning surf session, once you start you keep going back.
16°P 67 IBU 37 SRM Alc.Vol. 6.5%”

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Review – Double Bastard

Double Bastard from Stone Brewing is next for review…..

This is the word from Stone on Double Bastard….
“This is one lacerative muther of an ale,” the braggadocious bottle warns. “It is unequivocally certain that your feeble palate is grossly inadequate and thus undeserving of this liquid glory… and those around you would have little desire to listen to your resultant whimpering.”

In a world full of glittery pageants and overproduced Hallmark holidays, it has become difficult to isolate what is worth celebrating, while eschewing the insipid propaganda that is spoon-fed to the masses. But rest assured, Double Bastard Ale’s annual unleashing is no such hornswaggle. Nay, it is a moment of gustatory excellence to be met with fervorous revelry and tintinnabulation.

Double Bastard Ale first graced our little blue oblate spheroid in 1998, sanctifying the one-year anniversary of Arrogant Bastard Ale. Nothing less than creating an embiggened version of the already elephantine Arrogant Bastard Ale would befit such an epochal occasion.

Double Bastard Ale is strictly for those with an unfettered predilection for bold unapologetic flavor, and it is for this enlightened minority that this annual tradition carries on today. However, for those who may have been at all frightened by this obstreperous and bombastic admonition, then please, close the dictionary you took out and hit delete now. Forget all you’ve read here of the Double Bastard Ale, and acquiesce into an insufferable purgatory of fizzy yellow nonsense. Remain one of the blissfully nescient, one of the mindless, barefoot sheeple, aimlessly wallowing in a cromulent cesspool of mediocrity. Sleep. Sleeeeeeeeeep…”

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Canfest – upon reflection

I have a few more photos of Canfest to display so I thought I would sprinkle some in amongst my review of the event.

There were really only two items when you talk Canfest. The Beer pairing dinner and the event itself. Both of which were well done and fun. That is a great start. But what I would add in future versions is to have a Canfest bus that you buy a ticket to that will take you to Buckbean, Silver Peak and Great Basin as well as the wonderful Craft wine and beer store. Give a flavor of the Reno craft beer scene.

As far as the events themselves, the dinner and awards is in it’s infancy but was a good, solid dinner. I really like the idea of using last years winners as the beers to pair with. But I would have loved to see a dark beer in the mix. Even though the best pairing was the dessert with an IPA which I thought was a great and unexpected pairing. I would also add a visual component to the awards portion. Just a simple name of category and winner slide would suffice.

The main event hit most of my requirements for a festival. Water was available. The space was large enough for the amount of tickets. Beer was plentiful. And what I really liked was the fact that it was such a wide geographic sampling. South Dakota. Alaska. Arizona. Oregon. Kansas. I would have loved to see Sixpoint, Two Beers, Good People or Surly or some other East Coast influence too. But that is greed on my part.

Overall a very fun trip and if you like the brewery list. I recommend giving Canfest a whirl.

Oh and a Buckbean is a marsh dwelling plant of the Tahoe area that has bitter characteristics, much like a hop. There is a reason why hops are used in beer and not the buckbean though.