Schneider Edel Weisie

Can i start by saying how satisfying it is that we get so many good beers in this country these days! You don't have to drink Pure Blonde... in fact, if you do, you should be ashamed of your self. I mean that, i am so sick of shit beer.

Edel Weiss used to be the only organic beer getting around, which made it special to a loyal following of hippie types. Now there are a few, but this one is still the bench mark for me.

There is nothing attractive about the pour. Dirty is a word which sums it up. Its cloudy and ugly. The smell is, however beautiful....... clove is the big sniff. Cloves and roses and all things pretty. The taste is thick, i can never have more than one of these. It is nice to find a beer which you don't have to drink many of. The finish is flabby and sweet but somehow holds itself together.

Great beer... organic.... big bottle... 7.4%.... all the things i love.

Dan

Paulaner Original Munchner Hell

alc - 4.9%

origin - Germany

price - $3.20 single/ $19 6pk

Thought I'd better review a German beer seeing as we have quite a few in the shop.

A classic golden orange colour, with not much of a head, but I'm probably not drinking this out of the right glass so I'll ignore that for now.

Clean fruit driven flavours are abundant on the nose, primarily a bit of peach and a distinct hay smell.

Very clean palate with more hay and a steely edge with slight hoppy bitterness on the finish.

A little bit simple for my liking, but still a very good lager that would do the trick on a hot sunny day.

Graham

Tripel Karmeliet

The first time i tasted this beer was about 8 years ago (back when you couldn't get it in this country). My brother carried a 750ml bottle with two glasses in a timber crate all the way but from Belgium, for me. A very good man!

Beautiful colour, genuinely golden and clear. The head is stunning, fine little beads moving like they would with a champagne and into a beautiful white foam.

There is a lot of alcohol in this brew 8.4% and you can really taste it. There is a strong, lingering warmth from the 8.4%. The flavours are caramel and apricot which are petty standard for this type of beer but there is also a little soft butter scotch and some hints of banana giving some sweetness.... beautifully balanced. The finish is not dry but it is rich and a tinny little bit astringent but mostly its very smooth (apart from the alcohol).

Karmelite is a very attractive beer which looks great in the glass with some wonderful, typically Belgian characters but boy does is have a strong warm finish which is perhaps better suited to winter.

Dan 

Coopers Extra Strong Vintage Ale

Vintage - 2008

alc/vol - 7.5%

price - $4.65 single/ $90 carton

I've been absolutely hanging out for this to be released so I could review it. Every year (almost) Coopers release the Extra Strong Vintage Ale, I have vintages going back to 2004 and I will review them all over the next few weeks to give you an idea what they look like with a few years age.

Based on the fantastic Chimay Grande Reserve (blue), the vintage ale has a secondary bottle fermentation, which means the beer gets stronger and more complex with age.

A fantastic golden brown colour with very little head when poured. A nice spicy fruit cake nose, with chocolate and mocha notes.

A fine bead when you first taste it, like the Eisenbahn beers the 7.5% alcohol doesn't seem apparent. I would really like to know what they have done differently to the last few vintages, this has a strange steeliness on the front palate, following through with more mocha and slight bitter finish. I can almost see a bit of asparagus green edge (which funnily enough I don't mind)

As always I'll be buying a carton to put in the cellar, but somehow I don't see this as being the best vintage I've tried of this beer. As I said before I'll pull a few bottles of old vintages out of the cellar and write a few reviews over the next couple of weeks.

Graham

Orval

Orval.... what can you say. This is the beer which i have called my favourite more than any other. I have a lot of 'favourite' beers but this is really it.

My upbringing in the world of beer drinking/appreciation has left me with one clear thought, something which never changes. That is... Monks make the best beer and Belgian Trappist monks are the best at it. This may not be true but it is the mantra which i have chosen to live by.

There are seven breweries in the world which are allowed to call themselves 'Trappist', they are.... Chimay, Rochefort, Westmalle, Westvleteren, Ashelse Kluis, Koningshoeven and Orval. I thought that Leffe, Duval, Kawk and a few others were also on that list, which goes to show you should never trust bottle shop gossip (unless you hear it at the Cru Cellar).

I have only tried five of the seven and of that five Orval is my favourite.

Orval is always a challenge. It is very strong, very astringent,  very sour and full of Gin like herbal grassiness. Drinking Orval is like finding the best orange just so you can taste the zest in the rind.

Orval is harder to drink than the likes of Chimmay Premier (red). Chimay is full of stewy apricot, perfectly sweet caramel and just the right amount of alcohol... but for me Orval is more interesting.

If i was to go to a desert island and only be allowed to take one beer (i hope that never happens) but if it did, i would take an Orval and drink it very slowly.

Trappist breweries are not for profit and they all sustain themselves financially, in part by selling beer. The beers are all top fermented ales mostly bottle conditioned.

I realise that there is a lot of ranting going on and not a lot of information about the actual flavours of the beer. The only real way to find out (as with all beers) of to try one, in a chalice or a wine glass.

Dan