CS Booze Club.

[KiaKat]

Genepy- an herbal infusion, whereby wormwood flowers are put in neutral grain alcohol and left to steep. Technically, Chartreuse is a kind of Genepy.

Guess what I'm using for an infused whipped cream tonight?

Gonna put Germain-Robin brandy (northern California brandy produced by a Cognac family, using their original tools) in cocoa, then top with the cream. Should be freaking awesome.

[Jester]

Poland.

Not only is Polska one of the countries of my ancestors, it also happens to have great food and beer.

Well, food. Beer, I'm still figuring out. Zywiec is unquestionably fantastic, be it their regular beer or their Baltic Porter. But Warka? Meh. Not impressed. And several other Polish beers I've tried, equally unimpressive.

But recently I went to the local Polish market. Yes, it's true....Key West has no Wal-Mart, Target, Chili's, Dunkin' Donuts, or Taco Bell, but we have a thriving Polish market. I went there in search of kielbasa, as I've recently discovered that the Johnsonville stuff I've been eating for years, while good, doesn't hold a candle to real, honest kielbasa.

So I picked up a nice smoky polish kielbasa. And some Polish beers to try. (I recently downed a six-pack of Zywiec in one night from the same market, and figured I should try new things this time around.)

So when I made my Polish Confusion the other night (new and improved--now with red potatoes!), I tried the first of these, Tatra. So unimpressive, I didn't even take notes. Not bad. Just boring.

Tonight, I made the PC again, this time with a different Polish beer, both in the dish and in my glass. Far, far better than Tatra.

Lezajsk (Poland, 5.5% ABV): Light golden color. Light fresh summery nose. Light but flavorful taste. Almost wheaty. Good beer flavor, no skunk, tasty as all hell. Will get this again. 7.0.

Two more portions of the smoky kielbasa. Two more Polish beers in my fridge. Stay tuned.

[Victory Sabre]

13 hour day at work. Super busy. Now home and enjoying a nice brew.

John's Generations White Ale by the Millstream Brewing Co. out of Amana Iowa.

Hence the name, it's almost white when you pour it into a glass. A bit of head, but not too much, and it does linger.

Taste. Got a almost citrus flavor. Really light, with a hint of spices. I'm not too sure if the spices work for me, but it's ok. I don't know if I'll get some more the next time I'm in Iowa.

[Jester]

Keeping with my Polish theme, and having cooked once again my Polish Confusion, which I'll be renaming Zamieszanie (the Polish word for confusion) once I figure out how the hell to pronounce it*, here's yet another Polish beer review.

Lomza Wyborowe Premium Beer (Poland, 6.0% ABV): Dark yellow/gold in color. Heady, flavorful, fresh nose. Oh, now that's good. Flavorful, medium body, taste of almost a wheaty thing going on. Good beer. I could drink this a lot. Would go with a lot of foods. 7.0.

*Hey, cut me some slack. I'm only part Polish, and my Polish ancestors came here over 100 years ago. Hell, it took me weeks to learn how to pronounce Zywiec correctly, and I still have no idea how to pronounce this or the last beer I reviewed.

[Jester]

And now, the final of the four Polish beers, because I was thirsty, wanted something to drink with the Olympic coverage, and didn't want to wait 1-3 days until I next cook Zamieszanie.

Hevelius Kaper (Poland, 8.7% ABV): copper amber color. Very promising. Subtle nose, but seems to be balanced. The taste? This is what more beer should be. Medium-bodied, balanced, slightly rich, and flavorful. A touch sweet on the finish, but this is a beer that would be great with any rich dinner, such as a steak, ribs, turkey, pasta, or even blackened fish. Certainly with my Polish....whatever it is. Easily the best of the four, and I really should be surprised, as the label told me something I didn't know when I bought it: it's made by Zywiec. Winner winner, Polish dinner. 8.0.

[sms001]

and I really should be surprised, ...it's made by Zywiec.

I'm assuming a typo here? I've only ever had their pale lager (Just plain old Zywiec?) and it was wonderful...

[Jester]

Not just a new beer for me, but an entirely new country! Hooray, international beer!

Karlovacko Pivo Beer (Croatia, 5.0% ABV): light in color, though darker than typical American beers (Bud/Miller/Coors, or as I often call it, BuMiCo). Bit of a skunky nose. Decent middle of the road lighter lager. Nose is deceptive, as there is no skunk on the taste. Goes well with the pan seared mahi mahi and butter & garlic rice I made for dinner. Score: 6.0 out of 10.

[Jester]

Continuing both the international theme and the theme of trying beers from countries I've never tried beer from:

Obolon Premium Beer (Ukraine, 5.0% ABV): light yellow color, but a bit hazy, not having the clarity of most beers this light. The nose is very skunky, so much so that I could smell it as soon as I popped the cap open. The taste is mostly smooth, but there is definitely some inherent skunk overtone. I wouldn't refuse one of these if handed to me, and I'll finish this one without a problem, but given my choice in the matter, I would not get another one of these. 4.0.

[Jester]

I have often want the praises of Innis & Gunn on this forum. Why? Because that Scottish brewery makes some amazingly fantastic beer! Other than their Cherry Cask Ale, I've loved everything I've tried by them. (The Cherry Cask was merely good.)

And lucky me, on my most recent run to the Beer Monger's, I came across an Innis & Gunn beer I'd not previously had. Yippee!

Innis & Gunn Scottish Porter (Scotland, 7.4% ABV): The label, in additions to saying it's an oak aged beer, refers to this as "porter with molasses added." Interesting. The color is dead flat black, with a slight, light tan head to it. Nose is smooth and sweet, but subtle. Can't get much information off of it. Taste is that of a smooth porter, a bit rich and sweet with some brown sugar, but lighter bodied and tasting than most porters. It has a distinctive I&G flavor to it, sweet but balanced, smooth and tasty. Definitely not as rich or dark as most porters. If anything, I would call this a porter-style beer, but not a true porter. As a porter, it doesn't work all that well. As a beer, though, it's fantastic. Which seems odd, as I have in the past railed against other beers for labeling themselves as something other than what they were. The difference here, the saving grace of this beer, is that unlike those other beers, this one tastes great, even if not the way a purist would hope it would.

Beer score: 7.
Innis & Gunn score: very good, but not on level with their more brilliant creations.
Porter purist score: 5.

[Jester]

I have certain brewers I really like. Any beer afficionado does. And one of my favorites is Terrapin out of Georgia. And when I saw this completely out of the box big bottle of beer, I had to try it. And it's so far out of there box, I'm not sure the brewer who came up with this knows what a box even IS.

Terrapin Side Project Volume 21: Pineapple Express (smoked pineapple Helles lager, Georgia, 5.4% ABV): The color is a light golden color, and is mostly opaque, though not what I would call hazy in the hefeweizen way. The nose is very subtle. I get no hops, which is about right for a Helles lager, and no smoke, which is odd, but a bit of fruitiness, which actually makes sense. The taste is more fruity. I get fruitiness, though if I was tasting this blind, I would think of it more as lemony than pineapple. I do get a touch of grill smoke, but not much.

Overall this is a decent, slightly fruity beer, quite tasty, but it just doesn't live up to the name for me. Damn shame, too, since this was apparently the first winner of their new annual Employee Homebrew Challenge. Don't get me wrong, it's good, and would pair well with food off the grill, especially steak or pork. Maybe I just expected more. I would drink it again, but unless I had a grill night coming up with friends, I would not buy it again. As an afterthought, though, it might be fun to cook with.

Final score: 6.

[Victory Sabre]

It's been a while, but tonight I'll review the New Glarus Coffee Stout.

I'm not a coffee drinker, so it should be interesting.

As expected, very dark. Nice head that lasts for a while when poured. Taste - well, it kida has a bitter dark chocolate taste to it, to me. I'd wager it's the coffee that has been infused into the beer in the brewing process. It's not too bad, though, I don't know if I'll pick up more the next time in cheese head land.

[Jester]

Terrapin kinda disappointed me with their Pineapple Express, but that was a gamble I took, and I knew it at the time. I'm hoping this next one is as awesome as I expect it to be.

One of Terrapin's best beers, in my opinion and that of many others, is their Moo-Hoo, a chocolate milk stout. I've described it as an adult chocolate milk, and it's as delicious as that makes it sound. So when I, a white chocolate fanatic, found out about this next beer, and that the Beer Monger had only gotten twelve large bomber bottles of it in and was saving it for twelve of his regulars--and that I was one of the twelve--I was beyond thrilled. So, high expectations......let's see how it fares!

Terrapin White Chocolate Moo-Hoo (Georgia, 6.1% ABV): First of all, even Terrapin thinks this is special. The cap was secured to the bottle and then covered with a was outer coating, similar to Maker's Mark bottles, only with black wax instead of red. Had to break out my trusty knife to carve through the wax before I could actually pop the top with a standard opener.

It may be White Chocolate, but the color is as dark as any dark chocolate I've ever seen. Black bordering on evil, with virtually no head. The nose is subtle but sweet and malty, with hints of cocoa and dark brown sugar, as well as bittersweet dark chocolate. Of there's white chocolate in here, it's not to be found in the nose.

Ho. Ly. Go. Di. Va.

There is white chocolate in the taste. It's not over the top, but it is there. What is over the top is the overall taste. Picture, if you will, a chocolate morsel dusted in cocoa powder and then covered in white chocolate. Now imagine what such a confectionary would taste like.

Congratulations. You just tasted my beer. I hope you don't have cooties.

They could have made this beer over the top, and with enough white chocolate flavor, I would have loved it as much as I love Southern Tier's Creme Brûlée Stout, which is even better than it sounds. But they didn't. They went subtle and sublime. This is the after dinner dessert cocktail that keeps you coming back to that restaurant whose food is really good, but it's the cocktail you remember and pine after.

I've described the regular Moo-Hoo as adult chocolate milk on multiple occasions. And it is.

This isn't that. This is sophisticated, refined, and elevated multi-chocolate taste experience for people who have adults palates, but are looking for that adult drink that still has a twinkle of the magic of childhood to take them back to the slides and swings of their younger years.

Many people don't like sweet beers. Some would consider it an insult to call a beer a dessert beer. I am not one of those people. But if Terrapin Moo-Hoo and Breckenridge Vanilla Porter and Southern Tier Creme Brûlée Stout and Cigar City Horchata are fine dessert beers--and I assure you, they most certainly are--this is the five star Molten Lava Cake of beers, served to you by Nigella Lawson and Padma Lakshmi in bed.

I don't always was eloquently about dessert beers. But when I do, it's about Terrapin White Chocolate Moo-Hoo.

Score: 9.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have bears to trap, cliffs to climb, airplanes to jump out of, wars to win, and women to seduce. Not necessarily in that order.

AFTER I finish this beer, of course.

[sms001]

Ho. Ly. Go. Di. Va.

Great write up Jester, thanks. I'd totally forgotten you liked the choc, so didn't mention that I'd gone so gaga over their pale ale that last time she went to Chicago my wife picked me up nothing but Samuel Smith's organic offerings. Samuel Smith’s Organic Chocolate Stout was one and it was wonderful, so if you see it, grab it.

[Jester]

I've had it, and yes, it is amazing.

And which pale ale were you talking about? The Terrapin Rye Pale Ale? Or something else?

[dalesys]

Now if you'll excuse me, I have bears to trap, cliffs to climb, airplanes to jump out of, wars to win, and women to seduce. Not necessarily in that order.

Don't mix up your whats and whom's... though the bear might love it.