EXTREME beer! (part I): I want good beer with BANG

I'm starting to realize what I really like: extreme beer. This sounds intense, and kinda weird, but really, it's any beer with either:

a) more than the usual amount of any usual ingredient.

b) an ingredient added that is not usually found in beer.

By that definition, most IPAs are extreme beers, because the hops is cranked up a notch. That's probably the best known example of extreme beer, but the idea goes way beyond that. Any beer you see with a really high alcohol per volume or something like Spearhead's Hawaiian Pale Ale (with pineapple, it's really hoppy and really delicious) are also extreme beers.

By this definition, too, the belgians are the masters of the extreme beer. They'll put anything in there, as long as it's delicious, and they treat beer making as an art, rather than a science, which is very exciting to me. Dubbels and Tripels are extreme beers for their high ABV and the fact that they often have sweets added to them for delicious.

I love them all. I love the extreme brewers' whole philosophy. I love hoppy IPAs. I love malty and sweet belgians dubbels, tripels, and dark ales.

I've discovered I'm not looking for faithful reproductions of beers from the good old days. The laid back porters, nutty english ales and lagers that my grandparents and their parents used to drink were pretty bland, I think. Balanced, perhaps, but bland. I want good beer. with BANG! not balance.

I'm quickly realizing that NOW is the good old days, and that's exciting. There's an explosion of flavours and adventure in beer that I think has never happened before (perhaps outside of Belgium). Here in North America, we can get beers from around the world, and from exciting craft breweries from around the world. The US is in full boom. Quebec has a wonderful belgian inspired beer scene. BC has some great West Coast IPAs (which can be hard to get in Ontario). Germany is Germany and Belgium is Belgium.

The world is on such a downwoard spiral in so many ways right now, it's exciting to think that I'm living in the golden age of something. It makes me want to join in, but I'm not sure how yet. For now, I'll demand good beer at restaurants, and I'll buy good beer for home. Life is too short to waste on bad beer. There's too much good stuff available to drink bad beer.

Ontario has been slow to extreme beer, though it's starting to pick up a bit. I'll write more about Ontario specifically in part two.

I am Canadien: Hockey and beer (part I of a perhaps series)

I am Canadian.

No, wait, let me be specific: I am Canadien.

I'll be honest, I grew up playing baseball and basketball, and I was very good at them. I dabbled in football, though I didn't have the (literal) intestinal fortitude for it. Those are fine sports. Fun to play. But, for me, they didn't have meaning. Not really. They're both american pastimes - when's the last time you saw a French Canadian name on the back of one of those jerseys? (ok ok, there were a few baseball players but you get my drift).

Hockey, though, has stolen my bleu-blanc-rouge heart.

First, a confession:

To my great shame as a six foot two french canadian man, I can't skate (don't tell anyone). Well, hardly, and certainly not enough to play hockey. And I've never actually played hockey, if you don't count standing motionless on skates, propped up on my stick, while my cousins whirled around me and played hockey. I flinched each time anything - person or puck - went within ten feet of my eye.

BUT - if I HAD played hockey, WATCH OUT! I would have been Vincent LeCavalier and Alex Kovalev and Maurice Richard all rolled into one. A dynamo. The best thing on ice since beer.

Well, maybe not, did I mention my lack of (literal) intestinal fortitude?

Anyway, all that said, hockey for me, as with many, started on my father's knee - well, more likely his chips were on one knee and his beer on the other. I think I was on the floor at his feet.

I'd watch and see men with names like mine-with accents and le and la - dazzling on the ice, and knew that this team belonged to me. It was part of my history, and it was part of me.

As a French Canadian outside Quebec (FCOQ), it wasn't often that I had something french to connect to - or a reason to be proud of being an FCOQ at all.

I'd like to specify, though, that I'm not a huge fan of the NHL - It's too often run by good old boys from an era long gone. An era of goons and racism. That's changing, but hockey should be about speed and beauty and history and roots, not thuggery and mean-spiritedness. For me anway.

That's why I specified that I am Canadien earlier. I'm a die hard Habs fan. I'm obsessed. I bleed it. But I'm not always happy about the context they're placed in (ie: Don Cherry. I sometimes wonder what he might of thought of the dynamo I would have most certainly become had I ever learned to skate. On the one hand, I'm a "good ole' Kingston boy," on the other, I'm a soft Frenchie with no intestinal fortitude.)

I suppose the old guard would call me and my like some unflattering names. I drink craft beer. I like hockey for the skill and the history. The beauty. I refuse to watch Hockey Night in Canada on CBC. I watch the games on RDS instead because it helps me connect to something that, in day to day life, I have very little connection to. It's also nice to watch a game and feel like part of a community. Perhaps that's what many Leafs fans feel when they watch Hockey Night in Canada - and that's great.

But it's not how I feel.

They're not shilling my beer. They're not showing hockey the way I want to watch it. And they're not speaking my language.

A Random Ramble

Here it is. I knew it would come: My first case of blogger's (or: web logger's) block.

In response, I've decided to open up this new post page and start rambling to see where I end up. I apologize in advance.

I HAVE been tasting many beers recently, it's just that they haven't particularly been INSPIRING me to write about them. The beers are good, don't get me wrong, but I like to write when the beer thing and the life thing parallel each other. And that hasn't been happening so much anymore. I've written about the fall thing, and the fall line of liquor store beers have been out for awhile.

Today was pretty cool though, there were a few new arrivals: Les Trois Mousquetaires Baltic Porter, which I picked up to put in the cellar for a special occasion (so nothing to write on that front for awhile), and Stonecutter, which is a Scotch Ale (also supposed to be good).

Dieu du Ciel Corne du Diable just got in today too. I'll pick some up on my way home and, hopefully, it will inspire some new posts. Maybe Montreal Canadiens related? I think THAT would be a good (and Canadian) post: hockey and beer. See, I knew if I just started to write I'd get inspired... see! gotta go to write the hockey and beer post... oh, and about my beer glass collection!...

DANCE OFF! (Belgian style) Tripel header: Charlevoix vs. Unibroue

Tripel is a delightful Belgian style of beer. It's strong, and it's delicious, more to be sipped than chugged. And to be enjoyed with civility from a nice, fancy glass. While wearing pants.

I've been really getting into the Belgian styles lately, and have had a few Belgian Tripels, (which have been very nice), though I'm finding my tastes may be leaning slightly more towards dubbels or Belgian Dark Ales (such as my aforementioned Dark Mistresses (see two posts ago).

Anyway, I'vestarted collecting a few bottles of these fancy Belgian beers I really like, and keeping them down in the basement. I pull them out on special occasions (Monday is a special occasion, right?), sip them at cellar temperature (not chilly fridge temperature, the complexity doesn't come out then), and these puppies are better than port or scotch.

Tripel is so called because it's triple fermented. (And it follows, Dubbels are double fermented). Yeast is what makes beer happen - yeast converts the sugars from the malts into alcohol. It also adds some flavour. In particular, Belgian yeast has a very distinct and delicious (to me, anyway) taste. You can smell a Belgian beer from a mile away. So, in a Tripel, the yeast is pitched in, it eats what it finds, then it's pitched in again, then there's some thrown in when it's bottled, for good measure. That's why Tripel is so hich in alcohol per volume, and its flavours are so complex.

By the way, it can be a fine line between a Tripel and a Belgian Dark Ale (the Belgians don't much like to stick to rules anyway), but the main difference is that a Tripel is usually Blonde, while the Dark Ale is, uh, dark.

Quebec has a very vibrant Belgian Beer Scene, lead in the early days by Unibroue, and now with many great microbreweries and brew pubs, including the wonderful but elusive in Ontario Dieu du Ciel (Their Rosee d'Hibiscus is available here, but that's not to my liking. at all.)

I decided to pit two Quebec Tripels against each other in head to head action, see which I preferred (please note, as always, this is my opinion, it doesn't mean, at all, that one is better than the other). These are the only two Quebec Tripels available at the LCBO or Beer Store these days.

If you know of any others, please let me know!

Dominus Vobiscum Triple from Microbrasserie Charlevoix
vs. Fin du Monde by Unibroue

Look: Look very similar. Both blondes. both fairly carbonated for the style. Charlevoix MAY be ever so slightly darker. Fin du Monde holds onto its head a bit better.

Smell: Charlevoix has a bit of a "sunnier" smell. Fin du Monde has a "deeper" smell.

Taste:
Charlevoix: smooth, buttery, mild, a bit spicy, slight tang.
Fin du Monde: MUCH richer. hangs around, thickly, in your whole mouth, like maple syrup. More intense. Really makes its presence known. Alcohol taste more evident.

Overall: Two variations on the tripel. One louder, more brash, yeasty, and sweet. the other more subtle and spicy. both very good.

Comes down to a matter of taste (how's that for a cop out).

Liquid Smoke: The sweet smelltaste of Rauchbier

There's a certain thrill to tasting something completely different. And when that something different happens to hit just the right spot at just the right time, it can be heaven.

This happened to me recently when I tried my first Rauchbier. Rauchbier is a "smoke" beer, as in, they smoke the malt (or barley, more likely) before getting her going.

This gives the beer a wonderful smoky taste, like smoked gouda (without the cheesiness). Without the smoke, it would be a decent German dark beer. The smoke gives it another layer, and brings the beer up to another unique level.

I'm not saying it's the best beer ever made, or an everyday beer, but it was the perfect beer as I sat outside, watching the leaves turn on a cold and wet October evening. I could smell fireplaces nearby, and I could smell my charcoal BBQ (which I vaunted in a previous post), and I could hear the embers snapping. And I could taste those smells and sounds embodied in a beer.

It was a perfect match. And that's when beer becomes special - when it brings you somewhere else, either in time or in space. Or, even better, when it places you right where you are.

Tasting Notes: Aecht Ochlenferla Rauchbier Marzen, a Schlenkula Smokebeer, Germany, 5.1%

Dark brown, large head. Smell of smoke, like smoked gouda, smell of charcoal bbq, autumn. This is fall BBQ beer! taste: small bite. pretty thick mouthfeel. heavy smoky taste, dry finish. very interesting. not particularly complex, pretty much a heavy smoke taste with a few other subdued flavours. could drink a lot of this this time of year. would love a big stein of this to chat the night away all bundled up in the backyard. surprisingly refreshing.

...Dark mistresses (cont'd)

So last post I spoke about my dark mistresses - dark beers for the winter months that I'll be drinking instead of my usuals. What are YOURS? [crickets...]

Dubbel Trouble: I Have Found My Dark Mistresses

While my heart is firmly with Ontario craft beer, I must admit: I've been straying lately.

My mistress: Belgian style beer. It's a whole nother can of beans - hardly recognizable compared to the lagers and pale ales we're used to. Some are more like port than beer - but they are delicious. A whole new world of beer flavours have opened up to me.

While the Germans, on one end of the spectrum, had a law in the past prohibiting them from putting anything in their beer other than water, yeast, hops and malt (under penalty of I don't want to know), the Belgians have a long history of throwing whatever the hell they want to in their beer. Cilantro? Sure! Black pepper? Yes please! Crazy yeast that lives naturally in this cellar? Come on in!

Belgian beer is nuts. And I love it. I'm particularly loving it this time of year, because their beer is often higher alcohol per volume, and more warming, than the beers we're used to.

While the Ontario beer scene is more based on English or German style beer, the Quebec craft beer scene is dominated by Belgian style beer like Unibroue or Dieu du Ciel's offerings.

Being a language confused Franco-Ontarian, there's room in my heart for both (or neither, I'm not sure... the guilt is killing me!)

beeradvocate.com can tell you more about the specifics of Belgian styles like Witbier, Dubbel, Tripel, Strong Dark Ale or Saison (which, by the way, I cannot for the life of me find in Toronto and it's driving me nuts).

Anyway, as I've been sampling away (Sarah's Cafe on the Danforth has a great selection of Belgian bottled beer in its basement), two have stuck out. Both dark, and both will be with me all winter long. I'm thinking of keeping a few bottles in the beer fridge to age for awhile to see how that goes. They're certainly complex enough in flavour...

Affligem Dubbel (from Belgium) 6.8%, from the lcbo

Colour: Caramelly brown. Can't see through. Thick head. lots of action in the glass. Smell: Belgian smell, don't know enough to say what it is, but it is delicious. Very intense, interesting taste. Prickly on the tongue right away. Maple syrup like taste, with some spiciness. I like this a lot. Almost like peach flavour? Thick mouthfeel. 6.8% is warming. Honey taste. overall: delicious: maple syrup/honey/caramel sweetness with a little peach/apricot/floral taste and a prickliness.

Trois Pistoles by Unibroue, Quebec, from the beer store

This I found at the Beer Store near my house. What a find! This is a Belgian Strong Dark Ale - kind of like a Dubbel but maybe a bit fruitier? This is the type of beer that dreams are made of. Or, probably more accuretly, nightmares. Almost pitch black, thick in the mouth. This is a special beer, and will most certainly be in my house from now on, particularly as it gets colder out (I just hope I'm able to keep it stocked as quickly as I can drink it :) Warming alcohol but not overpowering. honey, butter, maple syrup and winter spices. kind of beer you'd sip like a good port if it wasn't so darn good and drinkable. Eager to get to their other offerings. The warmer it gets as it sits in your glass, the more the flavours are released.