My beer bottle collection at home (Every bottle is unique/a different brand/type of beer).
I couldn't have said it any better myself, Mr. Thompson. Welcome to the first ever LoVerdict of that great beverage many of us (OF LEGAL AGE OF COURSE) enjoy: Beer! For those of you who have the honored privilege of knowing me personally, you know that I am what many would call a beer snob. Plain and simple, people: I fuckin' love beer! For those of you who have never gone beyond drinking Coors or Budweiser, you need to wake the fuck up and expand your beer horizons. There are thousands of breweries worldwide producing dozens of different styles of beer you have never heard of before. This Loverdict will focus on four different beers I have recently imbibed.
Before I go into the specifics on each particular beer, let me say that I am a Dogfish Head fanboy. However, I do not blindly believe everything they make is the best beer I have ever had. Dogfish Head just happens to be my favorite brewery.
First up: Dogfish Head My Antonia.
This beer is distributed in a wine sized (750 ml) bottle and is available in limited quantities. It is identified as an imperial pilsner, which is characterized by a malty backbone, an intense bitterness and notes of sweetness and spiciness. Dogfish has awesome artwork on their bottles and the My Antonia is no exception with its examples of old world Italian architecture and more modern designs in the background. The beer was first brewed outside of Rome but has since moved to Dogfish's brewery in Delaware. I am a huge fan of this particular beer, which was very mild. It had a slight bitterness as well as a flavorful warming sweetness.
Ta Hanket is the next beer I'll be discussing.
Personally, I enjoy about nine out of ten beers I try. That means there is always at least 1 beer that sneaks its way onto my shit-list. Unfortunately, Ta Hanket is one of those beers. Also available in limited quantities, this beer is part of Dogfish Head's Ancient Ale series. The recipe is influenced by ancient Egyptians brewing techniques. Ta Hanket is brewed with several ingredients I have never heard of before. One of the main ingredients is called Za'atar spice, which is a traditional blend of spices that includes oregano and salt. Doum fruits are also used, which grow on the doum palm trees in the fertile Nile Valley. Chamomile is also a main ingredient in this beer, which I thought was only used in teas.
A strong scent hit my nostrils upon opening this beer. I could not pinpoint what the exact smell was. It was not very pleasant. The YouTube clip below shows how this beer is made:
You will see why this beer smells almost rotten. It has a very strong flavor to it, but has low alcohol content. It tastes like rotten fruit juice.
The final Dogfish Head beer I sampled was the 120 Minute IPA. Word of warning here, people - this stuff is STRONG! It clocks in at an average ABV of 15-20%! In layman's terms, one bottle of this beer is the equivalent of drinking around 4 of your average light beers. If you're looking to get drunk fast, this beer may just be your poison. I picked it up for 12 bucks at a distributor in West Hempstead. I know what you may be thinking: “12 bucks for just one normal sized bottle of beer?!” Keep in mind, this beer is very strong and very hard to find. It has a very strong flavor - hoppy but smooth. The alcohol flavor is definitely present but not overpowering. It leaves a faint rum-like aftertaste in your mouth. Needless to say, I felt quite nice after drinking this one.
The last beer I will talk about today is Troeg's Nugget Nectar. This is by far THE BEST Imperial Amber I have ever tried. For those of you who have never tried an IPA (India Pale Ale) or an Imperial Amber you can usually tell them apart by their “hoppiness” (bitterness.) Even though Nugget Nectar utilizes around four or five different types of hops, it is not ultra-bitter. It has a faint sweetness to it that offsets the huge amounts of hops present. This beer is only brewed in March, which means it's available in very limited quantities.
THE LOVERDICT
I have reviewed several different items this time and there's no overall rating I can give to this post. Each beer was unique in its own way, whether good or bad. Like I mentioned before, there are many different types of beers out there. As an avid beer enthusiast, I like to try as many different beers as possible and keep my mind open to trying new things. I suggest you folks do the same!
No comments:
Post a Comment