This is a decision which depends on what your palate feels like.
Do you desire a robust stout - rich, warming, soothing, highly alcoholic?
Or, something dryer?
Perhaps, the biting challenge of an IPA?
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Wine and Beer Enthusiasts
- Thread starter albertfallickwa
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This is a decision which depends on what your palate feels like.
Do you desire a robust stout - rich, warming, soothing, highly alcoholic?
Or, something dryer?
Perhaps, the biting challenge of an IPA?
Yes, I think the IPA will win tonight. I think we'll be heading back to rain starting tomorrow, which feels more like stout weather, anyway.
For really cold, and miserable weather in winter - agreed nothing beats a good, balanced, robust, stout.
I finally had the chance to taste the famous Westvleteren XII and of course I took advantage of the situation. Price at a whopping 25 Euros a bottle.
How does it taste? Well, an exceptional beer to say the least - very fruity and smooth. Not boozy at all. Probably the best quad I have ever tasted.
Is it worth the price or the hype? Hell no.
How does it taste? Well, an exceptional beer to say the least - very fruity and smooth. Not boozy at all. Probably the best quad I have ever tasted.
Is it worth the price or the hype? Hell no.
I finally had the chance to taste the famous Westvleteren XII and of course I took advantage of the situation. Price at a whopping 25 Euros a bottle.
How does it taste? Well, an exceptional beer to say the least - very fruity and smooth. Not boozy at all. Probably the best quad I have ever tasted.
Is it worth the price or the hype? Hell no.
First off, wow. Mega respect. Worships at the shrine of quads, etc, etc.
Now, I have to confess that this is a beer I have never had the opportunity of tasting, or sampling - or even laying envious eyes on. Westvleteren 12. Oh, wow. The Mecca or Shangdi-La of Stouts.
However, - and I write this as someone who loves the Belgian quad style of beer - I don't doubt that this was brilliant, but how does it compare with the other really good Belgian quads, beers such as the St Bernardus 12 (I believe that - at one stage - St Bernardus and Westvleteren shared brewing facilities) and the Trappistes Rochefort 10 (which some accounts suggest is possibly the closest in taste and style to the Westvleteren 12)?
A comparison between the Big Three of quads you listed is a bit problematic for me, as I have only tasted the Westy and St Bernardus beers once (not aged at all). For me, nothing beats a well-aged Rochefort 10.
I'd say St Bernardus is the best bang for your buck and works the best when you "just want a (strong) beer". It doesn't really compare with the creamy mouthfeel of the Westy or Roche. Obviously the taste of the Westy is marvelous and wins the St Bernardus and a fresh Rochefort by a landslide (very complex plum/raisin/blackcurrant notes), but that doesn't justify the price at all. An aged Rochefort 10 tops the Westy, therefore I can't appreciate the price difference of nearly 20 Euros.
Out of all times, with these prices I would probably pick up the Rochefort 10 for pure enjoyment and St Bernardus 12 for more of a refreshment. If I could only get a hold of all three beers, age them and do a blind test... Also, I still want to experience the Westvleteren straight from the monastery draft.
Sorry for the disorganized message - I should really get some sleep now.
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A comparison between the Big Three of quads you listed is a bit problematic for me, as I have only tasted the Westy and St Bernardus beers once (not aged at all). For me, nothing beats a well-aged Rochefort 10.
I'd say St Bernardus is the best bang for your buck and works the best when you "just want a (strong) beer". It doesn't really compare with the creamy mouthfeel of the Westy or Roche. Obviously the taste of the Westy is marvelous and wins the St Bernardus and a fresh Rochefort by a landslide (very complex plum/raisin/blackcurrant notes), but that doesn't justify the price at all. An aged Rochefort 10 tops the Westy, therefore I can't appreciate the price difference of nearly 20 Euros.
Out of all times, with these prices I would probably pick up the Rochefort 10 for pure enjoyment and St Bernardus 12 for more of a refreshment. If I could only get a hold of all three beers, age them and do a blind test... Also, I still want to experience the Westvleteren straight from the monastery draft.
Sorry for the disorganized message - I should really get some sleep now.
Thanks for the detailed reply - much appreciated.
I would agree with you that the St Bernardus Abt 12 is more 'refreshing' than the Trappistes Rochefort 10, which is simply a fantastic beer, although he Christmas 'Abt 12' is more robust, and somewhat 'richer' still.
From what I have read, although St Bernardus and Westvleteren did share brewing facilities at one stage, in terms of taste and mouthfeel, the Trappistes Rochefort 10 is closer to what the Westvleteren is like.
Well, that beer is one of those on my proverbial 'bucket list'.
Is that the list of beers you'd happily drink by the bucket?
I've a bottle of Amontillado in the cupboard. Not sure if I'll ever become a regular sherry drinker but I like its nutty flavor.
Ah, no.
I like to think that I am a little more classy and discerning than that.
No, by the bottle, poured into a glass.
As to "bucket list" - I am not entirely certain whether that is an expression that hails from the US or the UK.
A good Amontillado is a lovely sherry, as either an aperitif, or a post prandial offering; even by itself, sipping while watching a movie, or a DVD, it is quite lovely.
Enjoy.
Indeed! Perhaps a bucket full of ice and individual bottles...
Now, I am letting you into a little secret.
Unless it is a light lager, and unless it is summer, (that is two uses of the qualifying word "unless") - that is a hot summer, which is not the norm in our wet and windy isles - my beers - which live in a cool cellar (with the wines, I like to think that they get on well together) - do not get to see the inside of a fridge.
They are consumed cool, but at a room temperature cool, especially the stouts. I want to be able to taste what I am drinking, rather than have the sensation of drinking something stunned into frozen insensibility.
Understood and agreed re stouts. I'd say they're best served around 12-13C. And IPAs a bit cooler.
IPAs need to be cooler so you can taste the hoppiness of the beer and the nuanced secondary flavors and aromas. They're no good warmer or when they warm up to room temperature. When they get warm, the bitter profile takes over and you lose that wonderful flavor. No beer tonight. Having some Irish whiskey by the name of Green Spot. Very nice stuff. I was craving a high alcohol stout, but it appears I've drank through them. Shame too. Planned on opening a bottle and having it with a serving of some nice apricot pudding I made earlier. Whiskey will do just fine.
Open to suggestions to high ABV stouts. I've always loved them. Creamy, sweet and lush, maybe a bit too rich with dessert, but who cares. Well, apart from my GP.
Open to suggestions to high ABV stouts. I've always loved them. Creamy, sweet and lush, maybe a bit too rich with dessert, but who cares. Well, apart from my GP.
The Yellow Spot fabulous if you can find a bottle.
So I've read. I've been trying to get a bottle since early December but haven't had much luck. A few whiskey blogs, lifestyle blogs and video reviews highlighted back in late summer and both tend to sell out as soon as they come in. Getting Green Spot was a small miracle.
I found one a couple years ago at my local store, and they limited it to one bottle per person. Good to hear Green Spot is good too; that pops up somewhat more often.
Green Spot (and, more recently, Yellow Spot) are the last whiskies that are "bonded" - whiskies that are produced for a small independent producer (Mitchell Bros) and matured in "bonded" warehouses by the producers themselves before being bottled on the premises - which was the way bonded merchants used to do it in the 17th and 18th & 19th centuries, for whiskey, port, sherry and so on. Actually, I have visited - and was given a tour of - the old premises that Mitchell Brothers used to have on Kildare Street, in Dublin, a splendid 18th century building just across the road from the parliament.
The word "spot" denotes a daub of paint, a daub of paint that comes in different colours, where the colour of the spot denotes how old the whiskey in question is. (In northern Italy, I have seen the same principle used for Queen Bees - a different dab of colour representing just how old the queen in question was in an apiary with many hives that produced legendary honey).
In this case, the Green Spot - the whiskey - which used to be 10 years old, is now closer to seven, or, in reality it is a 'non-age' whiskey, with content somewhere between seven to ten years old. It is a classic 'youthful' but still, very well developed whiskey, and is one I have often given as a gift.
However, "Yellow Spot" - which is a twelve year old whiskey - is superb.
Oh I like beer! Luckily I live in Scotland and we have lots of beer (and Whisky of course) I like most beers except those wheat beers from Germany as they taste like medicine!
Try McEwans Champion No.1, 7.3% Tastes great and comes in 500ml bottles. Get in!
Try McEwans Champion No.1, 7.3% Tastes great and comes in 500ml bottles. Get in!
I have had quite a few from Innis & Gunn - they have made some excellent beers, but have never had the McEwans Champion No 1.
What does it mean in your world?
The old joke about being divided by a common language comes to mind.
Anyway, tonight, I am sipping a few glasses of Riesling, good German Riesling.
Some of my English friends tease me about my 'foreign' tongue!
I finally had the chance to taste the famous Westvleteren XII and of course I took advantage of the situation. Price at a whopping 25 Euros a bottle.
How does it taste? Well, an exceptional beer to say the least - very fruity and smooth. Not boozy at all. Probably the best quad I have ever tasted.
Is it worth the price or the hype? Hell no.
This is on my list of beers to try. I have a few bottles, heck I had a $40 once shipping and tax were added on delivered to me, so the price isn't to bad.
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Challenge accepted!