summer beer fest things

Sunday 28 June 2009, six months to my birthday and the day of the Summer Beer Fest at Midway Stadium in St. Paul. Congratulations to Flat Earth Brewing for their Sunburst Apricot Ale voted the best of the Fest. It was very good and very refreshing. I piped at Noon for the VIP people and then at 1 pm for the brew masses. I piped with Josh.

The other beers I tasted were: Barley John's Little Rosie and Wild Brunette, Bell's Kalamazoo Stout, Fitger's Goose Island Apricot Wheat and Prince Humperdinck's Hefeweizen, Goose Island Matilda, Grand Teton Sweet Grass IPA and Bitch Creek ESB, Left Hand Milk Stout, Liftbridge Minnesota Tan (not too great), New Belgium Mothership Wit, Abbet Belgian style ale, New Holland Dragons Milk, Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence, RockBottom Bastogne Blonde & Intoxicator Rauchdopplebock, Rogue Mom Hefeweizen and Dead Guy Ale, Schell's Hefeweizen and Helles, Southern Tier Iniquity Imperial Black Ale, TownHall Belgian White Ale, Ol' Jack Frost Imperial Stout, and Konigshoeven/La Trappe Witt Beer. A few of my favorites are Kalamazoo Stout, La Trappe Witt, New Holland Drangons Milk, Left Hand Milk Stout, and Ol Jack Frost. It was a great time.

Konigshoeven Things

This Friday I went to Four Firkins, beer store, to meet Prior Father Isaac Majoor. He is in charge of brewing at the abbey. The Trappist abbey of Konigshoeven is the only abbey in the Netherlands, and it is one of seven Trappist monasteries brewing beer in Belgium and the Netherlands. The beers I tasted were the Dubbel, 7% with a deep reddish colour. It tasted of dried fruit, with amalty sweet character. The Tripel, 8% was the next in line. It had a rich golden colour. It tasted of spices, and slightly bitter with hops adding a bitter profile. Next in line and my favourite was the Quadrupel 10%, deep amber colour, rich flavour, fruit, slight sweet, slight hop bitterness. This beer has always been one of my all time faves.. It is especially good with bread, cheese, and fruit like peaches. Two new beers in the profile were very good and tasty. The Witte a traditional Belgian wheat beer with lots of spiciness, flavour, and character. Refreshing and satisfying like no other wheat you will have ever had. The last beer is St. Isid'or 125th anniversary Beer was brewed to commemorate the beginning of brewing at this abbey 125 years ago. A picture of the monk, Brother Isidorus that started the brewery is on the label and was its first brewer. The beer is a amber in colour and mildly sweet with a slightly bitter taste and a taste of fruit in the finish with a hop bitterness. This beer is a fund raiser as well. All the proceeds from the sale of this beer go to the establishment of a new monastery in Uganda. The monks came under pressure and threatened violence last year in Kenya at their monastery. So they uproot themselves and went off to Uganda to reestablish a new monastery to continue to do God's work. Donations can be made to the Monastery directly, so please do. www.konigshoeven.nl

They no longer make the refectory beer, the Enkel, this was a very light weight beer and weighed in at around 3.5 - 4%. This was a beer the monks drank for refreshment. Another note, they are trying to reclaim the name La Trappe, a name they used to market under in this country. As I said, they are one of seven Trappist monasteries brewing beer. At one time, they were denied the appellation Trappist due to their relationship with a local brewery. In 2005, when Phil and I made our pilgrimage to Belgium and the Netherlands we did not stop because they were no longer considered part of the Trappist fraternity. They are back now and selling their great beer in the USA once again. Amen.

Scotch things recent

Wed. 17 June 2009, I attended a Scotch tasting at the Muddy Pig in St. Paul. What a tasting! It was brilliant and there was a bonus to it all which I will tell later. Speyside and Scott's selection of whiskies, rare whiskies.
We started off sampling Speyside 12 yr, a nice drinking whisky and made in a new distillery in Speyside. Nose was fruit, floral, vanilla, and toffee. Taste was malty, fruit, raisiny and slight peat. Finish was long and sweetish.
King's Crest, a 25 yr old blended whisky which was a real delight. An expensive whisky but it had lots of great nose and taste notes that I liked.
Bladnoch distilled 1984 bottled 2004. Nose light and floral, Taste peppery, malty. Finish light and sweetish and fairly long and pleasant.
Inverleven distilled 1979 bottled 2004. Nose citrusy and floral. Taste toffee, chocolate, and vanilla. Finish long, sweet, and fruit with a hint of vanilla.
Glen Mhor distilled 1978 bottled 2001. Nose has vanilla, fruit, and a hint of peat. Taste is sweet with hints of pepper and toffee. Finish is long, sweet, with hints of sried fruit and toffee.
Glen Rothes distilled 1980 bottled 2005. Nose is fruity and floral. Taste hints of nuts. Finish has long great finish, with fruit and nuts. It was a great delicious finish.
Longmorn/Glenlivet distilled 1971 bottled 2004. Nose has citrus and flowers. Taste is grapefruit. Finish was citrus, puckering, and long.
Aberlour distilled 1989 bottled 2007. Nose Floral. Taste spices amd cinnamon and vanilla. Finish was long, sweet, and malty.
Highland Park distilled 1986 bottled 2007. Nose iodine and malty with a hint of smoke. taste vanilla, peat, and fruit. Finish was long, sweet and dried fruit.
Bruichladdich distilled 1990 bottled 2004. Nose was sweet. Taste of toffee and vanilla. Finish nice and creamy.
Caol Ila distilled 1984 bottled 2007. Nose was all Islay smoke, peat, and malt. Taste smoke, sweet, and salty. Finish long smokey, peaty, Islay finish. This was my favorite and I have a bottle of this that I will drink.
North of Scotland distilled 1964 bottled 2003. Nose chocolate, vanilla, and a hint of tobacco. Taste chocolate, sweet, and malty. Finish was sweet and long lingering of the palate.

This was a splendid tasting of the Scott's Selection of bottlings. I was really pleased with the tasting and will probably buy some of the other bottlings.

First few things May 29009

I had some Fettercairn 1824 and thought it very drinkble. I visited the distillery on Wed. after doing some hiking. Fin and I hiked up and saw some Pictish hill forts. We then went over to Fettercairn. The village still has its city gate which was very interesting. The whisky tasted of butterscotch and vanilla notes. The 10 yr old Jura was a wee bit harsh. Harsher than I suspected or knew.

At Loch Fyne Whiskies, I tried a few. I tasted the Living Cask. It was a bit harsh and woody. The living cask is a wooden cask of whisky that when it gets down to a certain level more whisky is added. The profile changes as new whisky is added. Next I tried was Teaninich 10 yr. This had some vanilla and berry notes. MacPhunn was tasted next. She had some sulphery notes in the aftertaste which was not pleasant. Three that I tasted and really liked were Ledaig 18 yr was the bottling of the year. Floral and sweet nose. The taste was spicy and nutty with a dry and delicate finish. Springbank 11 yr finished in a Madiera cask. Sweet delicate notes on the nose. Taste was dried fruit rich and berry like.The finish was long and sweet. The last one was the Mortlach 16 yr Flora & Fauna edition. This has a rich sweet nose like Christmas cake. The taste is just as rich and lingers a long while in the finish. The finish being rich sweet and dried fruit like.

Once on Islay, we had a welcoming dram of Arran 14 yr old. This was an easy drinking dram sweet, delicate, with vanilla and flower notes in the nose. The finish was sweet with a long finish.
It was offered by our German friends Gregor, Michael, Dagmar, Rainer, Sabine, Frank, and Kersten. They were staying at Torra cottage.

Islay 2009, Feis Ile

Scotland. The Inner Hebrides islands of Islay and Jura are destinations of an annual pilgrimage of whisky drinkers, collectors, and connoisseurs. There are 9 distilleries on the two islands; Ardbeg, Bowmore, Bruichladdich, Bunnahabhain, Caol Ila, Jura, Kilchoman, Laphroaig, Lagavulin. For lovers of Scotch whisky with iodine, salt, peat, and smoke, this area is heaven on earth. I will be describing my experiences of drinking whisky for 16 days in May and June 2009.