Mike Loves Beer -

Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Urbock

August 15, 2011

Name – Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Urbock
Country – Germany
Type – Rauchbier

Sometimes 4 days off from work just doesn’t seem like enough. I mean I accomplished a few things that needed to be done. I ignored a couple more but overall I feel like I didn’t get enough rest. Oh well I guess I can wait until next weekend.

But to end my weekend I opened up something I’ve been wanting to try for awhile. Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Urbock is from a line of rauchbiers made by the German brewery Schlenkerla. Back in the days of my old reviewing style I reviewed the marzen from that series of beers. I was a bit overwhelmed by my first smoked beer then but have learned to really like the style.

For awhile we only got the marzen down here while the urbock and weizen versions were no where to be found on South Florida shelves. But recently the urbock has been making appearances in the Germany sections of stores so I finally decided to pick it up and give it a try.

It pours a brown color into my nonic pint glass. I has some reddish highlights along the edges of the glass. There is a nice tan head that actually sticks around for a bit and leaves it’s mark with some lacing on the glass.

The nose is packed full of smoke as you would think but there are some nice other notes in there. There are notes of cherries and wood in there as well.

The taste starts off with a smoked hickory taste that gives a very bacon like taste. There are some hints of maple in there to give some sweetness to it. This is like a breakfast side in a glass.

Overall I really enjoyed the urbock. I sipped it over a couple hours and enjoyed it just as much each sip along the way. It’s not something I can drink all the time but it would rather be reserved for special occasions. It actually gets me quite excited for a BBQ I’m hosting at my house next weekend.

While I can’t really say that the end of a long weekend is necessarily a special occasion it was a nice way to cap off the weekend last night. If you are looking for something interesting for a BBQ this is definitely a beer for you. So go pick up a few and throw something on the grill.

Grade – B-

Panil Barriquee

August 10, 2011

/ Beer Review /

2 Comments

Name – Panil Barriquee
Country – Italy
Type – Flanders Red Ale

My work week is just about over. After 9 days of working in a row I just need to complete today and I’m off for 4 days. I have to do this once a month. As much as I love having 4 days in a row off I just hate working 10 days in a row before that. Ugh, that’s life.

But on a good note I would like to public congratulate my good friend Phil from Dos Beerigos for becoming the South Florida rep for Cigar City Brewing. The man deserves it and will do a great job. I guess that will mean he will be blogging even less than almost never. But there’s still United We Drink right?

So as my work week winds to an end I opened up a bottle of something I was going to try to save but my taste buds got the better of me. Today I’m reviewing Panil Barriquee out of Italy. It’s a Flanders Red that’s aged in oak barrels. To be honest I’ve had this one numerous times at tastings but finally got a bottle of my own and just needed to open it.

It pours a reddish brown color into my tulip from the Bruery. There is a small off white head but it’s gone pretty quickly.

Right as soon as I opened the bottle I got scents of freshly peeled Granny Smith apples. When I put my nose into the glass for a smell there is a good funk with hints of cherries, grapes and plums. I can pick up an ever slight bit of oak in there as well.

The taste has a nice tart flavor of the fruits. It is a bit acidic in there too. There is notes of vinegar and then finishes off with the oak that leaves a dry finish.

The bottle I have was marked as batch 12 from 2010. So I would make a guess that this was bottled late in 2010 so it probably had a good 8 months of age on it. I’ve had some many year old ones of this before too and I just got to say I think it’s a fantastic beer.

It’s no surprise to many that sours are my favorite styles. I wish I could drink them everyday. But alas they aren’t that easy to get a hold of and are usually expensive. This baby is around $18 for the 750ml bottle. But they are great occasion beers like celebrating a friend getting a job or yourself having worked a period of time without a day off. That’s how I do.

Or you can go grab a bottle and let it age. As I mentioned it still tastes great with a few years on it. So if that special occasion isn’t just around the corner you can feel alright just laying this one down until one pops up.

Grade – A

Japanese Green Tea IPA

August 8, 2011

/ Beer Review /

2 Comments

Name – Japanese Green Tea IPA
Country – United States
Type – American Double IPA

Let me start by saying thank you to everyone that read and appreciated my little rant I wrote on Saturday. I was actually going into it thinking that if people actually read it I may get some lash back for it. But it was actually the opposite. Many of you read it and, even better, many of you agreed. Because I don’t want to make this all about me I will just leave it at thank you for being awesome and thank you for being the true people in the craft beer community.

So on to another review how about it?

There are a number of breweries that love doing collaborations. Three Floyds, BrewDog and Dogfish Head are just a few of the multi offenders. But I think Stone is probably the most common collaborator of them all. It seems like ever other month they have a new collaboration with brewers from all over the world. But rarely do we in South Florida get our hands on them. A lot of these batches are small and are typically kept in the local Southern California area. Some of them make their ways to other markets but we are usually left out.

But for one of their latest collaborations we lucked out. South Florida’s Fresh Beer/Brown Specialty was the only distributor in Florida to get any of the Japanese Green Tea IPA. Those are some bragging rights huh? The collaboration between Stone, Iishi Brewing Co out of Guam and Baird Brewing Co out of Japan is marked to remember those affected by the earthquake and tsunami that shook Japan in March. And all proceeds go to the relief fund. Very cool.

So how does a double IPA brewed with green tea taste?

I poured the beer into my Stone pint glass and it arrives a very cloudy golden color. There is a very thin white head on top but it is gone in seconds. No real signs of lacing on the glass.

As you would expect from Stone the nose is full of big hops. They smell amazingly fresh and full of citrus. I get a very slight hint of the tea in there but the hops seem to gobble it all up.

Now there is the green tea. The taste is a nice balanced mixed of the same citrus hops but with some nice bitterness of green tea. The bitterness lingers for a little bit afterward but I find it very pleasant. A slight malt backing to it really brings things together in this beer.

And one big thing of note on this beer was that first sip I thought it was a so so beer. But as I went through the glass I started liking it more and more. The tea in there was really unique. I mean I’ve had beers with tea in them but never one with green tea.

When I reviewed Funky Buddha’s So Thank You Music I mentioned how great it would go paired with Asian food. Well add this beer to that category as well. It truly made me think I was sipping some cold hybrid tea in a little sushi joint.

This was a great beer and for a great cause. I wish we could see more of it but that seems highly unlikely. Maybe this will come back as an Anniversary Ale or some seasonal someday.

Grade – A-