drink at least one of every beer style

La Futée Blanche:

This is an impressive looking beast of a bottle. 750 ml, corked and caged with gold foil around the neck – it looks all the part of a champagne beer. This is obviously an occasion beer and I have one fit for opening…this beer marks the day I became a Canadian citizen. Its been a long and crazy journey, but I’m finally there, and I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate than with champagne (beer) and my lovely wife.

Pours into our champagne flutes the colour of apple cider with an impressive white mousse. While the head dies down somewhat it is adequately sustained by the high carbonation and lays down the odd streak of lace. Its a nice appearance, though I do feel a clearer beer would have been a better choice for the style.

The aroma is a tad subdued, but is characteristic of a malt-forward wit. Orange peel and coriander mix in with apple and pear. Overall, its clean and seems appropriate for a champagne style – I mean I’m not expecting to be punched in the face by the aroma as soon as the cork is popped.

The flavours are nice, leaning heavily toward a Belgian Wit, but with more fruity esters than I’d normally expect. Orange, coriander and wheat make up the expected character, but banana and apple also make their presence felt. The finish is crisp, with a fresh orange sharpness cleaning the palate. Its a delicate, but delicious range of flavour which I really appreciated, and my wife loved.

The carbonation is perhaps the most marked characteristic of this style. A true biere de champagne should recall that we call champagne ‘bubbly’. La Futée Blanche just scrapes in. I really expected a higher, more aggressive level of carbonation, but didn’t find it here. While the carbonation was high it seemed more transient in the mouth, which is a minus for the style, but a plus for me. My fear was that I’d find this style of beer to be too bubbly and, if poorly done, bloating. Fortunately I really enjoy this mouthfeel – the carbonation is soft and gentle in the mouth, despite the high number of bubbles. Also, while, it doesn’t linger to long, it does do an excellent job of refreshing the palate.

The drinkabilty is high. We had a 750 ml bottle, and it was gone before we knew it. The flavours are good, the mouthfeel is pleasing and the alcohol content isn’t stratospheric, so I actually find this beer to be quite sessionable, and I’d happily buy another bottle if the opportunity presents itself.

Antigravity Light Ale:

Single from the breakers bin, and my first ever light lager. I’ve read some reviews of others to get perspective on what is essentially a mediocre style.

Anaemic yellow body, and a small white head. The head diminishes somewhat, but is replenished by a constant stream of bubbles, and actually leaves a few small patches of lace. Light grain aroma with a splash of citrus. Lemon, grain, fruity malts in the flavour, but all a bit weak. Grainy aftertaste. Inoffensive, and I imagine actually pretty damn good for the style. Light body and high carbonation, which seems typical. Fairly light and easy to drink.

If I was reviewing this beer against all others I’ve had it would fare poorly. Everything is light and disappointing. Reviewed against its brethren, though, and its actually a superior beast. Heck, this beats out the non light macro lagers any day.

Its my dad’s birthday next week, and as he’s a big beer lover I ordered him some bottles from a British mail order site (he lives in the UK, but I live in Canada). While I was on the site I noticed a whole bunch of beers that would allow me to try some unvisited styles, so I bought them and will give them a try when I go to visit family in August. Hopefully dad doesn’t drink them before then!

Berliner weisse: Berliner Kindl Weisse
Kellerbier: St Georgen Kellerbier
Biere de garde: Flying Dog Garde Dog
Geuze: Boon Oude Geuze
Kristallweisse: Weihenstephaner Kristall Weissbier
Unblended lambic: Timmermans Lambicus Blanche

Goulden Carolus Hopsinjoor:

Hazy apple cider coulourd liquid tumbles from the bottle and stirs up a huge white head which immediately threatens to spill over the lip of the glass. As the head slowly recedes it leaves huge chunks of lace that defy gravity, while a huge circular island takes up residence and refuse to die.

The aroma is unique. The Belgian yeast is strong and at the fore – its spicy, and fruity, with notes of lychee and pear. However, we also have the hops, which lend a string grassy bitterness. You can definitely sense the saaz.

Great taste, and an interesting hybrid. Again I see the charcteristics of a Belgian Strong, but with the bitterness of an IPA. I’m also feeling some pilsner too. Fruity, spicy and yeasty, but grassy, leafy and bitter at the same time. Both the bitterness and yeast linger in a long slightly drying finish. The alcohol, while I believe it is there, is not even perceptible in the taste. Medium body and carbonation.

Definitely an interesting style, and one that I’m curious to explore further. Thanks Derek for the opportunity to try this!

Smuttynose Wheat Wine:

My first wheat wine, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. My feeling was that this would be like a barleywine, but with a solid wheat backbone. Either way, I’m glad I have some help sharing this bomber.

Dark orange pour with a small tan head, that soon diminishes to a film. Lots of fruit in the aroma, pear, mango, lychee, as well as some brown sugar, and (ominously) alcohol. For the taste my notes say BOOZE, and I did find it a bit to big, brash and young. The fruit in the aroma didn’t seem so detectable, and was buried under waves of alcohol. Some brown sugar was also present. Definitely a candidate for aging. While the flavour disappointed, the body did not, and exhibited the light syrupy feel I would hope for, with a bit of chewiness. For drinkability my notes again say BOOZE. That’s not good.

Sam Adam’s Hallertau Imperial Pilsner:

Pours a cloudy apricot with one of the stickiest ivory heads I have ever seen. Lots of rings of persistent lacing and great retention. Piny, leafy aroma. Huge pine and grass hop bitterness playing off against a sweet pale malt background. This beer has flavour and bitterness in spades. The hops are also well-rounded out by a pleasant fruitiness, with hints of lemon and peach, but at the end of the day this is all about the hallertau. The body is medium, yet at the same time sticky and chewy, which provides a pleasing compliment to the resin taste.

I can’t get over how good this is… a pilsner that drinks like a double IPA, but with great balance. I’ve liked Sam Adam’s beers, but never really been blown away… until now.

Picked up at Yummy Market on Dufferin – a good spot to pick up some Russian specialities. The alcohol for this is at the low end of the range (practically non-alcoholic, although that could be changed by leaving it out on the counter for a few days.

Cloudy oak coloured pour with a bubbly head that had completely faded after a minute. Rye and raisin aroma with a touch of sulphur and coffee grounds. The initial hit is light sulphur, but this gives way to a bready sweetness, some black tea and weak coffee, as well as sugar soaked raisins. Really, it seems a closer relative to a soda than beer, but a tad more fermentation, and I can see this becoming more familiar. Even if it is closer to a soda, it has a lot more depth than one, and is quite pleasing on those grounds. Its a bit too sweet for my liking, and I’m not a big fan of soft drinks, but its probably fitting for the style. I could also see it being very refreshing in the summer. The carbonation is light and short-lived on the tongue, and the body is light-medium. Strangely drying – not immediately, but a few minutes later.

Strange, strange drink. From reading the reviews of other kvass, this sound like one of the better examples of the style, still, its pretty weird.

Lowenbrau Original:

I picked up this beer solely on the basis that I’ve never had a munich helles before and wanted to dip my toe in and try the style.

I found the extremely light yellow coloured body surprising, because I expected something with a deeper hue, and I’ve never found this excessive lightness that pleasing, partially because it seems a mere step above water. Nonetheless, a nice soapy white head is kicked up and leaves some patchy lace. Grassy aroma, with a touch of grain. The flavour combines element of soap, lemongrass, toast and grass, in a fairly mild and inoffensive way. There are decent flavours going on, but I would have preferred a stronger presence to give the beer a bit more oomph. Fairly light body with medium carbonation.

I’m sure there are far better helles out there, and I’ll hunt them down before I pass judgement on the style, but right now I’m not too impressed.

According to Beer Advocate I’ve had 84 out of 103 identified beer styles, which is pretty goo going. Here are the ones that are left:

American Double / Imperial Pilsner
American Malt Liquor
American Wild Ale
Belgian IPA
Berliner Weissbier
Braggot
Bière de Champagne
Bière de Garde
Black & Tan
Gose
Gueuze
Keller Bier / Zwickel Bier
Kristalweizen
Kvass
Lambic – Unblended
Light Lager
Munich Helles Lager
Roggenbier
Wheatwine