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Wine and Beer Enthusiasts
- Thread starter albertfallickwa
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In Europe, there is a 5% version of the Guinness stout ("Original Extra") available. So far, the best Irish beer I've had, it was in January, is Trouble Brewing's Dark Arts, a 4.4% Porter with pears and pipe tobacco right on the nose, while the taste brought malt sweets and freshly roasted coffee.
At whisky fairs, I usually calm down my tongue with a Hop House lager from Guinness which is usually available almost everywhere in Germany, not because it was extraordinarily great, but it somehow fits most whiskies rather well. They seem to have a strong grip on Ireland's beer market.
At whisky fairs, I usually calm down my tongue with a Hop House lager from Guinness which is usually available almost everywhere in Germany, not because it was extraordinarily great, but it somehow fits most whiskies rather well. They seem to have a strong grip on Ireland's beer market.
I don't think that I have ever laid eyes on that particular beverage.
That is a beer I have never actually heard of.
As far as I am aware, Guinness, (partly because when it was first introduced to Germany, it met the requirements of the Beer Purity Law) has had access to the German beer market since at least the 1980s.
Less so than formerly; your observation would certainly have been very true in the 1970s and 1980s, and well into the 1990s in much of the country. However, as in the UK, the micro-brewery movement - and the availability of good beers from mainland Europe, in off-licences as well as pubs - have all challenged the market stranglehold Guinness used to (almost effortlessly) enjoy, and have also improved beer standards for consumers.
It’s from just another small brewery:
And for my second, and final, beer of the evening, I am sipping the wonderful Hefeweissbier Dunkel from Weihenstephaner.
Gorgeous.
Gorgeous.
Still no luck with the Korbinian. But I found a Vitus! (Weihenstephaner Weizenbock.)
Honestly, not a bad beer. A solid 4.5/5. (Not more, because more is reserved for really awesome Weizen and/or sour beers. Yet, this one's nice.)
Wheat, fruitiness (banana? more like sweet berries). 7.7 vol.% are noticeable. Something's slightly sour on the palate.
Honestly, not a bad beer. A solid 4.5/5. (Not more, because more is reserved for really awesome Weizen and/or sour beers. Yet, this one's nice.)
Wheat, fruitiness (banana? more like sweet berries). 7.7 vol.% are noticeable. Something's slightly sour on the palate.
Ah, a Vitus from Weihenstephaner.
Do enjoy.
Although I quite like it as a beer (and it is very well regarded on the various beer review sites), personally, I prefer the Hefeweissbier, the HefeWeissbier Dunkel, and the Korbinian, from the Weihenstephaner stable, or brewery.
For my part, this evening, I enjoyed a classic Hefeweissbier from Weihenstephaner.
I mostly use Untappd (the app), yet I mostly ignore the recommendations there. (I do get some inspirations from there though!) My favourite bar's owner thinks that most beer reviewers on Untappd have no idea about what's good, and I tend to agree with him. That said, I prefer the Vitus to the normal Weihenstephaner Hefeweißbier. However, tastes vary. Fortunately.
(I have) Just opened a bottle of Original Helles from the exceedingly good Weihenstephaner brewery, in Bavaria.
Sounds delicious - do enjoy.
Actually, that sounds as though it is a beer I might enjoy.
For my part, I have just opened my second beer of the evening, the timeless Hefe Weissbier from Weihenstephaner.
Honestly, most barrel-aged beers are rather interchangeable. But yes, you probably would!
Related news: I really want to try a cock ale (which is basically an ale with chicken in it). All the brewers I know have rejected my suggestion with a mixture of disgust and amazement. So I'm buying all kinds of brewing equipment and trying it myself. Maybe this year!
Why?
Why a chicken?
This does not surprise me.
Good luck with that.
I imagine that adding chicken would give it a natural umami flavour. Also, it is an old British recipe.
It is not that I object to the combination of chicken and beer as a culinary offering, or, in food, far from it.
Actually, beer added to chicken (there is an old - and quite wonderful - French/Belgian recipe that features chicken with beer, cloves, and juniper berries, among other ingredients, and then, there are those glorious dark beer and beef casseroles) meets with my total approval.
It is just that chicken - as a part of the brewing process - is something that I find rather strange.
Each to their own.
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Now you have made me crave a nice Carbonnade. 🍽️
Well thanks to @it wasnt me I have been reminded of something I knew of vaguely, lost in the mists of my memory.
To quote Wikipedia:
"Cock ale, popular in 17th- and 18th-century England, was an ale whose recipe consisted of normal ale, to which was later added a bag stuffed with a parboiled, skinned and gutted cock, and various fruits and spices."
I also found this interesting:
"Several authors have theorised that Cock ale may have mutated into cocktail, an American word first recorded in 1803 whose origin is now lost."
I must admit it does sound like it would be a bit of an acquired taste… 🤣
Let us know how you got on with it @it wasnt me ! OH and don't forget full tasting notes and photos. 👍
Carbonnade is a wonderful (and warming) dish, but one that I tend to prefer in autumn or winter.
I have prepared it with shin of beef on the bone, (however, without a proper mise en place, I run the risk of forgetting the addition of redcurrant sauce and/or brown sugar) - which required many hours of cooking, but, it was delicious.
However, the delicious chicken dish that I had in mind (one with French, Belgian, Alsatian ancestry) was one I dined on years ago (decades ago), in the Parisian home (on the banks of the Seine, over-looking the river Seine, in the Île de la Cité) of friends, where they served me an unforgettable dish of guinea fowl (rather than chicken, although the wonderful YouTube channel French Cooking Academy uses chicken with a version of this recipe), with (for, naturally, I asked, as I had never had such a deceptively simple, yet divine, repast) cloves, juniper berries, light beer - any lager or helles style - served with French roasted, or sautéed, potatoes, and a green salad.
Fascinating.