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Wine and Beer Enthusiasts
- Thread starter albertfallickwa
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The name alone would be enough to prompt my interest, for Pliny the Elder was one of the most attractive characters by far in some of the histories I have read.
But - what is the beer like?
If you get the chance to try this on tap, it is a worth the wait and price. There is something special about having this on tap. Well at least for me it was!
Very flavorful, some bitterness, and an excellent aftertaste. The best IPA I've ever had. It's very hard to find, but fortunately I know of a few places that carry it. They usually only allow you to buy a couple of bottles at a time.
If you get the chance to try this on tap, it is a worth the wait and price. There is something special about having this on tap. Well at least for me it was!
I've had it, and it's even better than the bottled version. I've also had the privilege of a glass of Pliny the Younger.
Same here re: Pliny the Younger. I was lucky enough to have both on tap. There was a location near my house that had them. We waited a few days because yes there was a line to try the stuff. I have to admit it is a really good Double IPA. Do I think it is worth waiting in line. Nope. But it is a good beer. I have been luck enough once to find it in bottles. They sell out quick, super quick!
Today, when I briefly called into my wonderful off licence and beer shop, I was informed that a 'rare treat' was in store for me. This was the legendary 'KBS - Kentucky Breakfast Stout 2015' - a specialist release brewed once, annually, per year, by Founder's. Supplies are limited, prices eye-watering and alcohol level mouth watering.
I took a bottle home, for tasting purposes. And yes, it does live up to its highly-rated promise; this is an outstanding beer, rich, luscious, complex and quite superlatively delicious.
I took a bottle home, for tasting purposes. And yes, it does live up to its highly-rated promise; this is an outstanding beer, rich, luscious, complex and quite superlatively delicious.
If you don't mind the mildly impertinent question, how much is a bottle of KBS running you out there?
Er, cough.
Does 'expensive' sound like a good answer? We have very high import duties on alcohol, and exceedingly high Government tax, too. Um. Not far off €8 per bottle: I know, I know, kind of extravagant, but this is legendary……
Besides, there is legendary and there is legendary. One wants to sample legendary…...
Coming up to last Christmas, I bought a few bottles of Sauternes, the classic French dessert wine, where the sweetness (which comes from the so-called 'noble rot') is tempered by a welcome acidity. At their best - and these were the very good quality Sauternes - (they would want to be, at close to €50 per bottle) this is a superb wine. Dr Lecter was a fan of the beverage, apparently. Legendary…..
Anyway, over the Christmas break, attempting to open these bottles, I had the extraordinarily frustrating experience of a situation where the cork disintegrated, but not sufficiently to actually let me get to the wine for the purpose of consumption. Thus, I had three disintegrating corks, (and alcoholic paralysis was not the explanation - drunk or sober, I am perfectly capable of wielding a bottle opener), and three fiercely expensive (legendary) bottles of Sauternes, half opened but quite inaccessible.
After the Christmas period was over, I phoned my friend in the wine shop (he will be my drinking partner tomorrow night, we are good mates, and he took a healthy and huge professional pride in getting crates of carefully chosen and selected wine to me when I worked in central Asia), and he suggested that I return the wines, and offered a full refund. He wished to draw the attention of the French suppliers to the fact that they appeared to be supplying defective corks in excruciatingly expensive bottles of Sauternes, and the best way of doing this was to return the wines to them.
Well, if you know la belle France, you may have an idea of what happened subsequently. Far from being apologetic, the French shrugged, with magnificent indifference.
Mais, quoi? You mean, you wish to actually drink this €50 bottle of wine? Well, yes, I do: I am from cold, wet, miserable northern Europe, and when we buy booze, even the good stuff, we are irrational enough to want to drink it. Mais, (another Gallic shrug), you are meant to lay this down……for investment purposes. Apparently, a bottle of Sauternes is to be admired in your cellar, not consumed with avid, delighted, unabashed greed. These legends are to be revered……….and perhaps sold on, but not ever, consumed.
They ask too much. I was stupefied. I can lay down a whiskey, or cognac, or wine for some years; I am capable of waiting for a decade if that is what is recommended. But eternity……and investment in booze……this is a god very different to what I worship...
This is not business; to me, a sip of Sauternes, or Trappist beer, or Ripasso, is fun time, something for social gatherings, and private relaxation…..
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Tomorrow, I shall receive 10 bottles of the legendary KBS……
Actually, I have posted about it a bit more elsewhere….only two crates (one of which was snatched up by A Greedy Capitalist Businessperson) were delivered - and will be delivered - to my off licence; I shall have received 11 bottles (one has already been consumed) from the sole remaining crate. In truth, I cannot complain….
Actually, I have posted about it a bit more elsewhere….only two crates (one of which was snatched up by A Greedy Capitalist Businessperson) were delivered - and will be delivered - to my off licence; I shall have received 11 bottles (one has already been consumed) from the sole remaining crate. In truth, I cannot complain….
Re speculators, I'll hold my tongue.
But 8€ is probably what I end up paying for a four-pack of KBS, maybe a bit more. I understand though; I'd rather drink excellence. If that means a higher price (and that's not necessarily so), I'd much rather drink less.
Well, as I mentioned, I shall expect to take delivery of 10 bottles (one has been already consumed, making a total of 11 out of 24), and have been told not to expect anymore for another year; I am impressed - Monday was one of those 'nudge nudge' moments - as the young manger said 'I have something rare and special to show you' and he was proud that his award winning store had been allocated two crates of this beer.
His comment to me (and mine to you) is that if you like the Trappist Rochefort 10, or the St Bernardus 12, this is even better. (And - actually - it is. And, for me, as a European, to admit to that…..is something).
Re the price, I heard tell that it is retailing in bars at around €12 per glass…
I mean, for that, I can get 20-30 year old whiskey…..
guess the next step of being an enthusiast is now in order: a port wing tong
heated up over a flame untill it the metal is red hot it is then applied to a bottle below the cork. The heated up glas is then cooled down with a wet towel that the glas breaks because of the temperature shock.
Thus the very likely too old cork is avoided.
since i'm not that much into those ancient bottle-aged wine business i luckily can do with modern screwcaps/glas caps.
It's funny how natural cork is now more and more pushed into the extremes of the wine world: either the really expensive bottles (which are meant to age further in the bottle for a decade and thus require natural cork to let more oxygen to get into contact with the wine)
or the really cheap wine where nobody cares about spoiled wines.
in some countries this is already more pronounced than others though. Opening a 10 € bottle of red wine with screwcap still feels a little weird.On a 20 bottle of white wine not a second thought was given
guess the next step of being an enthusiast is now in order: a port wing tong
heated up over a flame untill it the metal is red hot it is then applied to a bottle below the cork. The heated up glas is then cooled down with a wet towel that the glas breaks because of the temperature shock.
Thus the very likely too old cork is avoided.
since i'm not that much into those ancient bottle-aged wine business i luckily can do with modern screwcaps/glas caps.
It's funny how natural cork is now more and more pushed into the extremes of the wine world: either the really expensive bottles (which are meant to age further in the bottle for a decade and thus require natural cork to let more oxygen to get into contact with the wine)
or the really cheap wine where nobody cares about spoiled wines.
in some countries this is already more pronounced than others though. Opening a 10 € bottle of red wine with screwcap still feels a little weird.On a 20 bottle of white wine not a second thought was given
Well, while your recommended method has a crude smash-and-grab appeal, nevertheless, I think I'll forego trying it out in practice.
Re corks, I am a fan - they are nicer in a bottle than a screw-cap, - but I was stunned that such expensive wines came with such poor corks. I would have expected a certain degree of excellence - or, at the very least, some sort of quality control - in everything to do with that wine. The pity of it is that it is a quite excellent wine - when it is possible to actually get at it.
Mind you, I have never had that problem with Italian wines, or Spanish ones, irrespective of expense. They have the perfectly sensible approach of putting good quality corks into good quality wines.
well it's a method developed (in the 18th century) specially for such cases ... With multiple decade old port wine bottles having a pretty high rate of corks falling apart after a long time frame such a method was obviously necessary.
I only seen it on youtube performed by suit-wearing sommeliers ... so it didn't look exactly "smash& grab"
If i were to perform it the description would require an extension with .".&injury" though. (Port wine is on my to-do list but finding some people to share it is quite difficult. Untill then i'm not buying a bottle. Not exactly a popular wine currently)
I think i would rather push the rest of the cork into the bottle and then pour it through a very fine tea-sieve.
it all depends on what wine one drinks, for younger (especially white) wines the additional 5% risk of having a tainted wine is not worth the flair IMHO.
Kentucky Breakfast Stout
Trappist Rochefort 10
Is availability in Germany a hopeless cause? Can't find anything on the net, although the Rocheforte is made in Belgium.
I'm always keen to test new beers, but it should be possible to get them in Germany. Exporting - especially overseas - costs a fortune. And when shipping is higher than the beer price, i'm out.
Trappist Rochefort 10
Is availability in Germany a hopeless cause? Can't find anything on the net, although the Rocheforte is made in Belgium.
I'm always keen to test new beers, but it should be possible to get them in Germany. Exporting - especially overseas - costs a fortune. And when shipping is higher than the beer price, i'm out.
I'd be shocked if the Rochefort wasn't available in Germany. KBS may be far more difficult, but if it does show up it will only be around for a short while as it is only released during April.
Port - and I love the stuff - doesn't have to be consumed in one sitting. I have special 'corks', or sealers, that I will use on a bottle of port once I have opened the bottle. Once opened, the bottle will keep for weeks, although mine rarely last that long.
As with anything, you get what you pay for. I like LBV (late Bottled Vintage) although I prefer 10 Year Old and 20 year Old ports. The older they are, the more mellow, smooth, rich, and elegant; the colour also changes losing its vibrancy, and darkness, instead transforming into something shot through with rust and amber shades.
I'd be astonished if the Trappist Rochefort 10 was not available in Germany; it can be obtained fairly easily in the British Isles. The Founder's KBS is a different kettle of fish, (or barrel of beer) as production is quite limited and, I would imagine, and supplies somewhat rationed.
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@Scepticalscribe
Nevermind, found the Rocheforte in some German online-shops. Don't know, why not before.
Nevermind, found the Rocheforte in some German online-shops. Don't know, why not before.
Well, I think you have treat in store when you manage to lay hands on a bottle or two. To my mind, it is quite simply one of the best beers I have ever tasted.
Couldn't agree more, this beer is freaking outstanding! Yes it is that good.
Imagine watching an awesome action movie, and at the end your like $&*# yeah. That's what it's like lol.
Yes, it is. Seriously.
Of the superlative beers I have consumed, the Trappist Rochefort 10 (the Trappist Rochefort 6 and the Trappist Rochefort 8 are excellent, also by the way), the Trappist St Bernardus Abt 12 rank among the very best I have ever tasted. (The rest of the St Bernardus range is also excellent).
To those splendid beers, I would add the fantastic Founder's Kentucky Breakfast Stout that I had the rare pleasure of sampling earlier this week, but that is very difficult to lay hands on.
Okay. That is quite a graphic description. And thank you for taking the trouble and time to post it………I'll see if I can track it down….
