Leffe: Vladimir's Beer Thread

[GoreBag]

I drink more Leffe now that I got a mega-sweet, glass Leffe goblet. I'm not much into Belgian beer, but it's a nice change once in a while. 11 bucks doesn't seem so bad for six bottles, but they are a little small...

[Vladimir]

I drink more Leffe now that I got a mega-sweet, glass Leffe goblet. I'm not much into Belgian beer, but it's a nice change once in a while. 11 bucks doesn't seem so bad for six bottles, but they are a little small...

A nice collector type glass would be great! Where did you buy yours?

Speaking of small. Do you Northerners still have those little soda cans? I swear when I saw them that it must be a metric thing.

[Vladimir]

Well I bought two more today. If it didn't take forever to do anything in NVA I'd actually be in the mood to drink one. Maybe after a little MTW, the Egyptians need to be culled again.

[Andres]

We need a stickied and moderated beer thread that's also searchable.

Thirth !

Or maybe Beirut can rename this thread in something like "The official beer thread" and put a link to this in the stickied "Links to popular threads" ?

[Beirut]

Thirth !

Or maybe Beirut can rename this thread in something like "The official beer thread" and put a link to this in the stickied "Links to popular threads" ?

The pleasure is to serve.

[Andres]

The pleasure is to serve.

Thank you very much

All hail to Vladimir for this wonderful thread!

[Prodigal]

I drink fanatastic amounts of beer at every available opportunity, & got over the leffe effect some years ago.

I cannot strongly enough recommend to anybody who can find it, Black label Duvel, (Belgium beer), not the white label, (although that's pretty good the black labels better). Its 8. something proof, & is not in the least bit sweet, also it tastes like a much lighter beer. Finally, & this I've found not to be the case with most strong beers, it makes me hysterically happy.

[Fragony]

Duvel has too many bubbles in it, drinking it is like swallowing air.

[Bava]

Now that we´ve got an official beer thread i hope its ok to present some beers that are not from belgium. Here are some of my favourites:





Pöllinger Helles: 4,9%, slightly bitter but with a very light taste overall. The perfect beer for a nice dinner.





Kneitinger Bock: 6,9%, very malty but smooth as silk. I usually dont like dark beers but that one is too good to miss.


And of course my absolute favourite: Augustiner Helles. The best "all purpose" beer IMHO (though i had a little too much of it at the WM 2006).

[Andres]

I cannot strongly enough recommend to anybody who can find it, Black label Duvel, (Belgium beer), not the white label, (although that's pretty good the black labels better).

Actually, the black label doesn't exist anymore. IIRC, Duvel switched the labels in 2003, now they are all white. So the black label Duvel you are referring too, must be old Duvel. So if you find some black labe Duvel, make sure it's still good for consumption.

Besides the regular Duvel, you also have "Groene Duvel", created in the sixties for the occasion of the "Gentse Feesten". The red letters were replaced by green ("Groene") ones.



There was a demand for a lighter version of Duvel and thus "Groene Duvel" was created. It is still available, but only near Moortgat (where the Duvel brewery is situated) and in a few select cafés in the surroundings of Brussels. It has an alcohol percentage of 7,5 %. It's being sold in smaller bottles of 25 cl. Contrary to the regular Duvel, Groene Duvel is filtered. It's a blond beer with a somewhat vague hop aroma. It tastes lightly sweet, turning into a hop end. It has a long, bitter aftertaste.

All you need to know about Duvel, can also be found here:

http://www.duvel.be/pages/home.aspx?...en&pageid=home

[Vladimir]

Now that we´ve got an official beer thread i hope its ok to present some beers that are not from belgium. Here are some of my favourites:





Pöllinger Helles: 4,9%, slightly bitter but with a very light taste overall. The perfect beer for a nice dinner.

It's good that you mentioned beer with dinner (as opposed to a college student’s beer for dinner). I’ve never much liked drinking wine with food. To me, wine is something that must be enjoyed on its own and makes my food taste less good (sorry for the 3rd grade English ). My recent experiences with Leffe made me realize just how good high quality beer can be with food.

One of the reasons why wine isn’t best with food is because of its (generally) higher alcohol content. When I drink it during or before a meal the alcohol buzz takes away from the quality of the food and makes me focus on the quantity of food. I’d rather prefer drinking water vs. wine because the water helps cleanse the palette and I do love the taste of my food. Wine just sits on the tongue.

Maybe it’s personal choice or my evidence of my savage American upbringing (I prefer the latter ) but beer, good beer, goes better with food. The richer texture of beer is more like food while wine is like old grape juice; good but it stands better on its own. Also with high quality beer I’ve found that I want to drink less because I enjoy each bottle more. American beer is ‘git drunk’ beer which is good on occasion but hell, I’m getting old and the waist line is going to start expanding.

Edit: Oh, and let this thread be a lesson that something good can come out of temporarily closing the Backroom. I didn’t think it was possible myself.

[GoreBag]

A nice collector type glass would be great! Where did you buy yours?

Speaking of small. Do you Northerners still have those little soda cans? I swear when I saw them that it must be a metric thing.

Mine came in a set called "A Taste of Belgium" - it contains one Hoogaarden, one Stella Artois and one Leffe, each with their own novelty glasses. It came from my local provincially-run liquor barn.

By "Northerners", you must mean "Canucks", at least, if the question applies to me. We still have 355-ml cans of pop, but I'm not sure if that counts as "little". I rarely buy beer in cans smaller than half a litre.

You don't need to be a college student to enjoy the beermeal, ahem.

[Bava]

Well, sorry for the linguistic faux pas on my part, i meant "with dinner", obviously.

]One of the reasons why wine isn’t best with food is because of its (generally) higher alcohol content. When I drink it during or before a meal the alcohol buzz takes away from the quality of the food and makes me focus on the quantity of food. I’d rather prefer drinking water vs. wine because the water helps cleanse the palette and I do love the taste of my food. Wine just sits on the tongue.

I agree though i have to say i still hesitate to drink beer with a nice fish meal (white whine or even a light red one are far better suited for that). But a roast with a dark sauce...mmmhhh, only with a good Helles for me.

[Vladimir]

Well, sorry for the linguistic faux pas on my part, i meant "with dinner", obviously.

I understood the intent. It reminded me of a buddy of mine and his friends that did the bear and vitamins diet for a month .

@GoreBag: I’ll have to look for that. It sounds freekin’ amazing! (the beer not the soda)

[Talbot]

I understood the intent. It reminded me of a buddy of mine and his friends that did the bear and vitamins diet for a month .

Sounds great, but where do you buy bear from?

[Big_John]

Sounds great, but where do you buy bear from?

i get my bear steaks from trader joe's.


what are peoples thoughts on tripel karmeliet? never had it myself, but i think that's my next purchase. saw a big box of 18 beers, 6 hoegaarden, 6 stella, and 6 leffe for 20 bucks. maybe i'll snatch one of those too.

[English assassin]

We have a not so micro-brewery here that puts out many high octane beers, some are very tasty. One, La Fin du Monde (The End of the World) is 9% and after a long day, it only takes one to have you snoozing on the couch

Is that Canadian then? I found it in a bar in St Maurice in Switzerland and assumed it was Swiss. You're not wrong about its effects though....

Anyway, with no disrespect to the low countries many fine beers, its time to big it up (again) for a brewery just across the channel, and Shepherd Neame's Spitfire Bitter. A proper southern ale, this is about hops and more hops. Very easy to drink. According to the brewery " The glowing amber of this premium Kentish ale has wonderfully generous aromas of tangy malt, soft raisins and sweet oranges, freshened by the floral grassy notes of three different Kent-grown hop varieties (flowery Target, tangy First Gold and orange-fragrant East Kent Goldings). In the mouth, the finely balanced flavour opens with a blast of rounded malt before the rousing, almost spicy hops follow through to provide a complex, multi-layered finish."

Its tasty, in other words.

NB beer fans spitfire is now unfortunately available in cans as well as bottles and on tap. Naturally the cans are to be avoided unless you like your beer to taste of metal.

[Bijo]

I drink fanatastic amounts of beer at every available opportunity, & got over the leffe effect some years ago.

I cannot strongly enough recommend to anybody who can find it, Black label Duvel, (Belgium beer), not the white label, (although that's pretty good the black labels better). Its 8. something proof, & is not in the least bit sweet, also it tastes like a much lighter beer. Finally, & this I've found not to be the case with most strong beers, it makes me hysterically happy.

Dunno, but I can drink any kind of beer with any amount of alcohol, but for some reason Duvel just messes me up. Gives me a bad headache after the first couple of jugs.


...............But Kanon is even worse. These two are the one that could kill me.

[Big_John]

well, i picked up the tripel karmeliet. haven't tried it yet. instead of the box i mentioned, i got a biere de garde called 3 monts that i've heard good things about and a little sampler box of 4 st. bernardus beers, pater 6, prior 8, abt 12, and tripel.

had the pater 6 last night... WOW! thick and creamy.. didn't expect that mouthfeel from a 6.7 abv. amazing flavor and aroma.. looks so unassuming with the little monk on the side of the bottle. went well with some dutch goat cheese and fresh baked bread. but it could stand up to any food, and is easily drinkable on its own. looking forward to the other st bernardus offerings!

http://www.sintbernardus.be/
http://www.sintbernardus.be/en/beers.html

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

Does anyone here drink Conniston beers? The brewery is in the lake district, and both their Bluebird and Old Man bitters are well worth getting hold of. The bottled stuff is bottle-conditioned as well, which is even better. I wish SN hadn't stopped doing that with Spitfire.

I'll also put a word in for my local Brewery-both Brains SA and Brains Dark are excellent.

[Andres]

tripel karmeliet

Some background before you start consuming:

http://www.bestbelgianspecialbeers.be/main_eng.html

[Pannonian]

Does anyone here drink Conniston beers? The brewery is in the lake district, and both their Bluebird and Old Man bitters are well worth getting hold of. The bottled stuff is bottle-conditioned as well, which is even better. I wish SN hadn't stopped doing that with Spitfire.

I'll also put a word in for my local Brewery-both Brains SA and Brains Dark are excellent.

I mentioned Bluebird in one of the Backroom threads. Theakston's Old Peculier is a good heavy beer to accompany heavy meals (red meat and their like). Abbot Ale is a good alternative to Spitfire as a session beer, or a light beer for light meals (white meat, fish, etc). Ales should be drunk cool, but not cold - excessive cold numbs the tastebuds.

What you should do when you go into a pub with a good selection is ask for a sample of the rarer beers. The sample size shouldn't be too large, just a sip or two - I've had to ask the bartender to not draw so much. They don't usually mind, and will even happily discuss the merits of the different beers with a connoisseur. Once you've had a taster, it's good manners to buy at least 2 pints, whether or not you found anything to your liking.

[English assassin]

Abbot Ale is a good alternative to Spitfire as a session beer,

to Abbot, although with advancing years I confess I find Spitfire a touch too strong as a true session beer alas. My head thanks me for switching to Masterbrew after the first couple of pints.

While we are moving up the east coast slightly Adnams Broadside is also a very acceptable substitute for Spitfire and Abbot in a similar style.

BKS, SN stopping bottle conditioning spitfire was bad, putting it in cans as well as bottles was worse, and now they even have a nitrokeg version (though thank heavens I have yet to see this in a real pub.) If Shepherd Neame weren't in Kent, and therefore by definition excellent in every respect, I'd be having Issues with all this.

[Stig]

Hertog Jan is cheap this week, 8 instead of 11,something. I'm already thirsty now, but the beer has to be nice and cool first

[Fragony]

Hertog Jan, that's a good one as well

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

I'd say Abbot is way too strong to use as a session beer. It's 5% ABV, isn't it? I normally look for about 3.5 if I'm going to be drinking for a goodly length of time. I like Broadside very much, but I find it's normally very pricey compared to Spitfire and Abbot.

[Vladimir]

well, i picked up the tripel karmeliet. haven't tried it yet. instead of the box i mentioned, i got a biere de garde called 3 monts that i've heard good things about and a little sampler box of 4 st. bernardus beers, pater 6, prior 8, abt 12, and tripel.

had the pater 6 last night... WOW! thick and creamy.. didn't expect that mouthfeel from a 6.7 abv. amazing flavor and aroma.. looks so unassuming with the little monk on the side of the bottle. went well with some dutch goat cheese and fresh baked bread. but it could stand up to any food, and is easily drinkable on its own. looking forward to the other st bernardus offerings!

http://www.sintbernardus.be/
http://www.sintbernardus.be/en/beers.html

http://www.sintbernardus.be/images/a...%20Denmark.jpg

Dear God, Sam Adams was #1 in a European competition?!

[GoreBag]

Is that Canadian then? I found it in a bar in St Maurice in Switzerland and assumed it was Swiss. You're not wrong about its effects though....

Yeah, Unibroue is Canadian...technically. It's now owned by Sleeman's, which is now owned by, you guessed it, Sapporo. Heh.

Naturally the cans are to be avoided unless you like your beer to taste of metal.

Double awesome.

[Beirut]

I normally look for about 3.5 if I'm going to be drinking for a goodly length of time.

I hear ya. If I drink one of those 9% Fin du Monde beers, I'm snoozing in my chair like grandpa Simpson.

But it's a good snooze.

We have "energy beer" in Quebec now. Basically a 5% Ginseng power drink; so you can down one after another and not fall asleep, not matter how stupid you get. Not sure it's a good idea, really.

[GoreBag]

We have "energy beer" in Quebec now. Basically a 5% Ginseng power drink; so you can down one after another and not fall asleep, not matter how stupid you get. Not sure it's a good idea, really.

I gotta hop the river and find out.