Showing posts with label Rodenbach. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rodenbach. Show all posts

Friday, October 20, 2023

CorkBillyBeers #50. Quite a quartet of craft with Kinnegar, Third Barrell, O'Hara's and Rodenbach.

CorkBillyBeers #50

Craft with Kinnegar, Thired Barrell, O'Hara's and Rodenbach.


Four beauties for you in #50


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Kinnegar has a festival beer for you. 


Kinnegar Leaf Kicker 2023 Marzen, 5.9% ABV, 440 ml can Bradleys


Gorgeous golden/amber colour on this one, a repeat of last year's Leaf Kicker Märzen, one that I enjoyed immensely. And it's the same again in 2023. “You enjoyed it so much in 2022 (and we did too) that we’re giving it another whirl before departing this particular chapter of German lager tradition”, say Kinnegar, meaning that they’ll more than likely move on to another German lager style (festival related no doubt) for 2024.



There’s a lovely bubbly white head atop the gold/amber. It has an almost creamy mouthfeel.  This supple beer leads with its rich malts, along with a sweetish bagel flavour and a touch of caramel. It finishes clean and a little hoppy.


It is deeply refreshing and also well suited to food including BBQ, pizzas and tacos plus a chicken from the rotisserie. A deeply satisfying lager and  Very Highly Recommended.


Geek Bits

LEAF KICKER 5.9% ABV

STYLE Märzen

COLOUR Dark amber

HOPS German noble

TASTE A deeply satisfying lager.

KNOWN AS Märzen was the original Oktoberfest beer

AVAILABILITY Autumn seasonal

440ML can and keg

BB: 04.05.24 (bouight 25.09.23)


Most of us who have hosted and or attended weddings will no doubt have enjoyed a beer or two. Very few weddings have started a beer trend. But that’s what happened when a royal wedding between Ludwig (the future king) and Therese took place in Bavaria in October 1810. That party was so good and the couple so popular that another party was held the following year and so Octoberfest was established.


By 1819, the festival had become a 2-week event (beer was just one strand), now organised by the city of Munich, and kicked off, as it does now, in mid-September. Marzen was the main style of beer for the festival and its name came from the fact that it was brewed in March to be at its best in Autumn.



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Third Barrel Vulture Culture Cold IPA, 6.0% ABV, 440 ml can Bradleys


Third Barrel: “Clean, crisp and bursting with flavours of ripe tangerine, peach and papaya from a healthy dose of Idaho 7 Cryo and Luminosa hops.”


Rice is also included in the ingredients. The beer is fermented with lager yeast, add in those hops and you get, as promised, a clean refreshing and fruit-forward cold IPA.


From Idaho 7, comes pungent tropical fruit and citrus (think apricot, orange, red grapefruit, papaya) with big notes of resiny pine and hints of black tea.  Here though, we are talking Idaho7 Cryo and that, designed to be aromatic and flavour enhancing,  means you get an even more potent aroma and flavour and also good bitterness.

Add in the contribution from Luminosa and the whole beer is brighter, the tropical side enhanced and you know you’ve got a good thing going.

At least, you've got a good thing going if you know your stuff as well as Third Barrel does! Very Highly Recommended.

Most of us are familiar with the hop cone, used by brewers for centuries. Then along came hop pellets and now we have Cryo, which is so concentrated that they’ve become an essential in a brewer’s toolbox. 

The word Cryo (or similar) pops up a lot these days and you may be familiar with it through medicine (especially sports) where certain injuries can benefit from Cryotherapy Treatments, a kind of ultra-cold immersion. Cryo comes from the old Greek word for cold. 

On to the hops then which, using liquid nitrogen (which your doctor might use to make a wart vanish), the raw hops are quickly chilled to sub-zero temperatures — after that, the producers shatter it. More on the process here .

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O’Hara’s Irish Red Ale, 4.3% ABV, 500 ml bottle Dunnes Stores 


The Carlow Brewing crew is quite proud of their red ale: “This Red stands out in this beer style category. The malt body is as impressive as a bock, albeit in a uniquely Irish way. With an incredibly smooth malt body complimented by caramel tones and perfectly balanced in bitterness, this Irish Red is much more complex than its mainstream rivals.”


O’Hara’s has a very dark red robe but that “dense lasting white head” fails to materialise, though I have to add subsequent top-ups did shape up with a coffee-coloured crown. Roasted caramel stands out in the aromatics. And you get that caramel and toffee flavour on the palate as well, thanks to the addition of a “pinch of roast barley during the brewing process”. The sweetness of the malt and traditional hop flavour combine well. A terrific example of the style gets a major thumbs up from this quarter.


Excellent balance and Very Highly Recommended


 

They say: Visually the red colour is intensified by the finest roast barley, while subtle hop additions in the kettle give just the right bitterness and aroma to craft this distinctive Irish Red Ale. The traditional red ale style is sweet malt based, dominated by caramel malts which give a sweet malt base complimented by nutty flavours in complete contrast to the Belgian Red ale style which has a distinctly sour character attributed to lactic acid.


For the Geek

Style: Traditional Red Ale

ABV: 4.3%

Plato °: 10.75°

IBU: 34 

Fermentation: Top fermentation 

Availability: Keg (carbonated), Bottle 50cl and 33cl (occasional 41L cask)

Serving Temperature: 6-8°C

Food Pairing: Pairs well with baked and roasted main courses from the oven such as beef hotpot. Also excellent with winter soups. A delicious accompaniment to mature cheddar or soft goat cheeses.

Glass: O’Hara’s tulip glass or O’Hara’s conical glass. 

BB: 28.08.24 (bought 20.09.24)

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Rodenbach Grand Cru Flanders Red Ale, 6% ABV, 330 ml bottle Bradleys


Brownish red is the colour of our Rodenback Grand Cru Red ale. With a short-lived coffee-coloured head. Aromas are certainly on the sour side. There’s also quite a tang on the palate but also the sweet contribution of delicious fruit flavour. Complex and amazing and a totally different animal to the O’Hara’s Red Ale. 


The sourness in the aromas is repeated on the palate and, if you’re not prepared for it, you might as well throw your hat at it at this stage. Someone here has joked that a citron pressé would be a better drink. But remember, it is “probably the most award-winning beer in the world”. So pay a little heed and a little respect!


Soon, at least for me, that complex fruitiness begins to assert itself, both on the palate and all the way through to the finish and you realise there is much more to this than the obvious sour character. Sour comes up quite often but I’m pretty sure the word doesn’t appear on the label (lots of tiny print though!)


The Rodenbach Grand Cru sour red/brown at 6%, is a blend of 1/3rd young beer and 2/3 of beer aged two years in large oak vats, giving fruity taste, complexity and intensity. It even has its own AOC. It takes over two years to make (even the angel’s share happens here and they know the good things) and the young beer is added to restart fermentation. 


I throw in the odd non-Irish beer, not to be rated, but just for variety and as an example of what can be done by our much more experienced Belgian and German brewers. Perhaps a few of these could be enticed over here for collaborations.


The Rodenbach Grand Cru is the archetypal Flanders red-brown beer. Each of these beers is a unique blend, but they all share a brewing process characteristic of the area surrounding Roeselare and Kortrijk.

The typical sweet and sour taste of a Rodenbach Grand Cru is produced by a two-stage fermentation process called mixed fermentation, involving top-fermentation and bacterial fermentation using lactic acid bacteria. The Rodenbach Grand Cru matures in oak foeders, or barrels, over a period of two years, giving the beer a unique, complex fruitiness that is reminiscent of wine.

Rodenbach, the mother beer, is usually one-quarter mature beer to three-quarters young beer. When it comes to Rodenbach Grand Cru, the blend is two-thirds mature beer with one-third of a young brew added.

By the way, there is a series of these Rodenbachs and do watch out for the Rodenbach Caractère Rouge. It is billed as a red/brown sour and it is sour but also packs amazing fruitiness. The beer is macerated with fresh cherries, raspberries and cranberries and, after that, is matured in oak barrels.

BB: 15.12.25 (bought 25.09.23)

Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Best of Beers. Another Belgian-Irish Round #2

Best of Beers. Another Belgian-Irish Round
#2
Baltimore, home of West Cork Brewing Company

West Cork Brewing’s “Sherkin Lass” Pale Ale, 4.4% vol., 500ml bottle.

This ale, a popular regular since they started brewing in Baltimore, pours a cloudy amber, with a tint of copper, and a soft white head that doesn't last too long. Citrus in the aromas. Makes quite an immediate impression on the palate, fresh and lively, sharp citrus notes again, pineapple and passionfruit too, more malt than hops, just lightly bitter. Quite a distinctive mouthful. Refreshing and quite a thirst quencher.

Hops used are: Columbus, Centennial, Galaxy, and Liberty. It is unfiltered, unpasteurised and vegan friendly as only whirlfloc (Carrageen moss) is used to aid the clarification. And they use their own spring water in the brewing process.
I was one of the first to enjoy this beer in Baltimore a few years back, sitting out on the old rustic seats and tables of Casey’s Hotel (where the brewers are) with a great view over the waters. Hard to beat! In recent years, my favourite West Cork Brew beer is the Roaring Ruby red ale. What’s yours?
The brewery recommends pairing this Pale Ale with Fish, white meats, mild cheese and salads.
White Gypsy “Old Smoke” stout 5.4%, 500ml bottle

Old Smoke was the nickname of John Morrissey, a boxer from Templemore (Co. Tipperary) - the home of White Gypsy - who gained fame and infamy for his exploits both in and out of the ring in the US during the 19th century. 

Is there much smoke here? Not really, just a hint (morning after the night before maybe!) in the aromas. Colour is a shade or two short of a solid black; nice head (cream in colour) but doesn’t hang around. Lovely beer though with mellow roasted flavours, with malt more to the fore. Not like your usual stout but I could easily go through a session with this one!

They say:  Traditionally, beers made in the midlands would have had a slight smokiness due to the malt being dried from peat fires, this stout brings out that combination of smoke & roast while remaining light on the palate. Beer is a fantastic ingredient to use in cooking (and baking). A family favourite is an Old Smoke Stout Stew. 

Wikipedia: Smoked beer (German: Rauchbier) is a type of beer with a distinctive smoke flavour imparted by using malted barley dried over an open flame. The Rauchbiers of Bamberg in Germany, Schlenkerla in particular, are the best-known of the smoked beers.


Rodenbach Grand Cru Flanders Red Ale 6.0%, 330ml bottle

This red brown ale from Flanders has been matured in oak casks, not unique but quite unusual, and indeed the Rodenbach brewmaster Rudi Ghequire says its owes its “complex fruitiness to its lengthy partial maturation in wooden oak casks”.

The sourness in the aromas is repeated on the palate and, if you’re not prepared for it, you might well throw your hat at it at this stage. Someone here has joked that a citron pressé would be a better drink. But remember, it is “probably the most award-winning beer in the world”. So pay a little heed, a little respect!

Soon, at least for me, that complex fruitiness begins to assert itself, both on the palate and all the way through to the finish and you realise there is much more to this than the obvious sour character. Sour comes up quite often but I’m pretty sure the word doesn’t appear on the label (lots of tiny print though!)

The Rodenbach Grand Cru sour red/brown at 6%, is a blend of 1/3rd young beer and 2/3 of beer aged two years in large oak vats, giving fruity taste, complexity and intensity. It even has its own AOC. It takes over two years to make (even the angel’s share happens here and they know the good things) and the young beer is added to restart fermentation. 

Sip by sip, it is becoming more approachable! Patience is a virtue, especially if you are new to this style. By the way, Caractere is another outstanding beer from this brewery. But take it one step at a time.

Duvel Tripel Hop Citra Belgian IPA 9.5%, 330ml bottle


This pours a cloudy light gold, with an attractive white head. Looks like an IPA and smells like one too, citrus mostly with hops there also. Rich concentrated flavours, mostly tropical, flow across the palate, a subtle bitterness in the mix, and a hint of the high alcohol, yet all the elements combine in a very pleasant harmony indeed and those that didn’t fancy the Rodenbach are more than happy with this beauty, a gem from more familiar territory but still a gem. An unanimous thumbs up for the folks at Duvel!
Duvel is a natural beer with a subtle bitterness, a refined flavour and a distinctive hop character. The unique brewing process, which takes about 90 days, guarantees a pure character, delicate effervescence and a pleasant sweet taste of alcohol.
Ever since 2007 the brewers at Duvel have been busy innovating with a third hop variety to give Duvel a surprising twist and some extra bitterness. Each spring this results in the launch of a unique Tripel Hop, which complements the rest of the Duvel range. 

For this 2016 Duvel Tripel Hop, they used the aromatic hop called Citra. Citra is grown in the Yakima Valley in Washington and enriches the flavour palate with fresh hints of grapefruit and tropical fruit.

It takes a while for this beer to mature. It is only after 90 days, when it has achieved its rich range of flavours, that Duvel may leave the brewery. The other hops used here, the basic ones, are Saaz-Saaz and Styrian Golding.

The Triple Hop series began in 2007 and then skipped to 2010. And was added to each year between 2012 and 2016 when Citra was voted in as the people’s favourite.

The Duvel story though goes back well beyond 2007. It all began when Jan-Léonard Moortgat and his wife founded the Moortgat brewery farm in 1871. Around the turn of the century, Moortgat was one of the over 3,000 breweries operating in Belgium and is still going strong. The beer is still brewed with profound respect for the original recipe and the time it needs to mature. More details here .

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The round, by the way, it not like a boxing round. Not really looking for a winner here. If we have four winners, then so much the better, for me!

Also in this series:
An Irish and Belgian Beer Quartet play a pretty tune on a Friday evening.


All the beers above were bought in Bradley's, North Main Street, Cork.
Their Belgian Selection box (12 bottles) costs €45.00.
Their Irish Selection box (14 bottles/cans) costs €65.00. 

More details here.