Tuesday at the CBC
While the women-folk went out and kicked up their heels, I decided to stop in after work and pick up a pint at the CBC.
First I tried this:
“GOLDEN RING”ABBEY PALE ALE
Anyone who’s patronized the Cambridge Brewing Company for any length of time is probably aware of our brewers’ passion for the great beers of Belgium. CBC is credited with being the first production brewery in America to recreate an authentic Belgian beer style, Tripel, and our beers have garnered international recognition.Five Belgian abbeys (Chimay, Orval, Rochfort, Westmalle, and Saint Sixtus) and one in the Netherlands (Schaapskooi) make beer. All are of the Trappist monastic order. They are the only Trappist breweries in the world, and no other brewer is allowed to use the word trappist on its labels, as the term is a legal appellation. Commercial breweries in Belgium and around the world which are not related to a monastic brewery- but which produce ales styled after the Trappists- use the term “abbey -style.”
While most of the Trappists brew beers known as Dubbels and Trippels, Golden Ring Abbey Pale Ale is reverently inspired by the only one to produce a hoppy, medium-bodied pale ale. It’s grist is made up of Belgian Vienna and Aromatic malt, and it is hopped with English Goldings and Fuggles, Styrian Goldings, and German Tettnanger and Hallertauer. Hop aroma and flavor is emphasized, but remains in balance, by dry-hopping with these varieties. The yeast used in fermentation is our proprietary Belgian strain, which gives the beer its signature spicy/fruity/funky notes. Golden Ring is a deep gold in color, and it undergoes an extended warm conditioning period before further cold-conditioning. It has the aforementioned spicy, fruity, earthy character, and carries additional aromas and flavors of toasted malt, complex herbs and peppery hops, and alcohol. The finish is fairly long and dry, with yeast notes and hops vying for space on your palate. This is an interesting, extremely complex, and very drinkable beer, which lends itself quite well to a wide range of foods.
Ching ching!Will, Megan, Kevin, and Phil
It was an interesting take on an abbey ale. Not as strong as most that I've had in the past, and definitely more hop notes. Had a bit of a banana taste as the glass warmed, which I would expect in some abbey ales, but was new to me in a hoppy beer.
After this I tried the cask-conditioned Tall Tale Pale Ale which had been dry-hopped with Symcoe hops. Holy cow, it had more aroma and stronger fruit flavor than I've ever had. Almost overwhelming, but not quite. There seems to be a pretty good contingent who make sure they go to the CBC every tuesday to try the cask ale of the week. I heard lots of comments like "I don't know if I'm going to drink this or just smell it all night". Good crew of beer geeks, I talked to a couple of guys about beers from all over. Definitely worth a trip on a Tuesday!
First I tried this:
“GOLDEN RING”ABBEY PALE ALE
Anyone who’s patronized the Cambridge Brewing Company for any length of time is probably aware of our brewers’ passion for the great beers of Belgium. CBC is credited with being the first production brewery in America to recreate an authentic Belgian beer style, Tripel, and our beers have garnered international recognition.Five Belgian abbeys (Chimay, Orval, Rochfort, Westmalle, and Saint Sixtus) and one in the Netherlands (Schaapskooi) make beer. All are of the Trappist monastic order. They are the only Trappist breweries in the world, and no other brewer is allowed to use the word trappist on its labels, as the term is a legal appellation. Commercial breweries in Belgium and around the world which are not related to a monastic brewery- but which produce ales styled after the Trappists- use the term “abbey -style.”
While most of the Trappists brew beers known as Dubbels and Trippels, Golden Ring Abbey Pale Ale is reverently inspired by the only one to produce a hoppy, medium-bodied pale ale. It’s grist is made up of Belgian Vienna and Aromatic malt, and it is hopped with English Goldings and Fuggles, Styrian Goldings, and German Tettnanger and Hallertauer. Hop aroma and flavor is emphasized, but remains in balance, by dry-hopping with these varieties. The yeast used in fermentation is our proprietary Belgian strain, which gives the beer its signature spicy/fruity/funky notes. Golden Ring is a deep gold in color, and it undergoes an extended warm conditioning period before further cold-conditioning. It has the aforementioned spicy, fruity, earthy character, and carries additional aromas and flavors of toasted malt, complex herbs and peppery hops, and alcohol. The finish is fairly long and dry, with yeast notes and hops vying for space on your palate. This is an interesting, extremely complex, and very drinkable beer, which lends itself quite well to a wide range of foods.
Ching ching!Will, Megan, Kevin, and Phil
It was an interesting take on an abbey ale. Not as strong as most that I've had in the past, and definitely more hop notes. Had a bit of a banana taste as the glass warmed, which I would expect in some abbey ales, but was new to me in a hoppy beer.
After this I tried the cask-conditioned Tall Tale Pale Ale which had been dry-hopped with Symcoe hops. Holy cow, it had more aroma and stronger fruit flavor than I've ever had. Almost overwhelming, but not quite. There seems to be a pretty good contingent who make sure they go to the CBC every tuesday to try the cask ale of the week. I heard lots of comments like "I don't know if I'm going to drink this or just smell it all night". Good crew of beer geeks, I talked to a couple of guys about beers from all over. Definitely worth a trip on a Tuesday!
posted by Andy @ 1:16 PM
1 Comments:
At Monday, February 19, 2007 at 4:56:00 AM EST,
Ignace said…
"Five Belgian abbeys (Chimay, Orval, Rochfort, Westmalle, and Saint Sixtus)"
This one made my eyeballs sweat. Well-intended they no doubt are, well-informed, not so much. There are not five abbeys that make delicious trappist beer, there are six [6], SIX, the number between 5 and 7. The one missing in this list is Achel and they too make a great trappist. One ratebeer link [there are more]: http://www.ratebeer.com/Beer/achel-8-blond/10050/
It's good to see that trappist is getting the attention and admiration it deserves. Some of my vavorite beers are trappist beers. Orval would be a nice starter although it's an acquired taste and not everybody [in my experience] appreciates the taste. Not at first anyway. The Westvleteren is burdened with the title of 'best beer of the world', which is not a nice thing to do to the monks of the St Sixtus abbey who merely want to devote their lives to god and to whom the sale of Westvleteren is a reluctant revenue stream [somebody in revenue-quarter driven land is now choking. Thank you, you are my target audience].
Personally, my choice of favorite dark trappist is the inimitable Rochefort 10. The rolling thunder. You can wake me up to serve me one. This beer alone will stop god from throwing us into the firepits of hell, if only for one bottle's worth of time.
This is a personal opinion on beer. You may agree, you may disagree. The most important thing is that you enjoy beer and do so with a measure of intelligence.
Enjoy!
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