After a trip to Germany, Joel returns with some awesome german stuff

Aecht Schlenferla Rauchbier Edelbrand
-taken as a shot
-straight white lightning
Kim - this stuff could kill ya
everyone else - mmm

Mahr's Brau
-From Bamberg...can only be found 100km from brewery
- blond lager
- day in day out drinking beer
-floral hop notes, and grainy
-mash by repeat boiling of portions of malt
Will - Beck's little sister. A breakfast beer
Kim - I coudl drink this out of a one litre stein

Privat Brauerei Fassla Bamberg
- from 1640's brew pub
- 6%, light flavour, dark appearance
-slightly metallic
-smells like styraphoam tray with Hamberg meat

Parks - smooth easy drinking
Will  - Situational beer - good for drinks with lunch, but not for getting shtcanned

Unertl Weissbier
Joel - coolest bottle ever, amber wheat beer
Will - smells a bit like an oyster
-banana bread cinnamon taste
-wet dog aroma
_goes great with walnut cheese

Spezial Rauchbier
-smoked beer
1 of 2 smoked beers made in germany

Mill St Rauchbier
-More complex flavour than spezial
_ made in a hand made smoker with untreated brichwood
-every batch can be made different according to how it is smoked

Kostribeer
-Molasses penny taste, brewed since 1543
-brewed by breweries to be mixed with other brews to adjust colour

****you may notice that there was not alot of commentary. That is because we were in awe of the marvels of Joels trip to germany. We were also drunk.
We then had another shot and concluded beer club.

Kim is our host tonight, and the first beer is...wait for it...

FRULI - a strawberry beer (a belgian white beer with pure strawberry)
here's what we had to say
Kim - could drink quite a few of these (she always says that)
Will - refreshing, but too sweet = hangover
Kim - better with vodka
Bridgit - Mousse is fine (what is mousse you ask? i don't know), not berry enough. tastes like strawberry marshmellow candies
Ross - koolaid
Dunce - too sweet to have too many. woudl be good as a drink over ice
Joel - Not berry enough and too fruity. strawberries don't have enough acidity to balance sweetness

Next up: Duvel from the Brewery Moortgat. It is a Belgian golden ale, whose name is flemish for Devil
Dunce - party in a bottle
Will - for an advanced palate - yeasty strong flavour would offend if you weren't expecting it. Yeast adds to "grassroots authenticity" (this Will guy sure is smart)
Kim - what about Will and this yeast infection?
Bridgid - feminine, floral, sensual, dry finish keeps you progressing through it (I think bridg has a bit of a thing for this beer).
Parks - bed of roses iin a pint glass (what a wuss)
Sim - good preparation beer
Joel - YUM flavour complex - staled hops add bitterness without alot of floral aroma. complexity comes from yeast, malt, and complex process in brewery

Next up: Chimay White Cap - Trappist Monastic Beer
Will - sweetness, yeast dominates - good for getting pissed (man this guy is smart)
Brigid - inelegant, punches you in the face. tropically fruity and floral but coarse
Joel - Murky, generic belgian beer
Parks - prefer this one
Ronan - prefer this one

****the length of comments starts to indicate that the high alcohol content in the beer is starting to catch up with the otherwise articulate group

last for the evening: Chimay Red - spicy, peppery; compared to white bread dough
Will - less offensive. maltiness offsets the yeasty tang. (so clever and insightfull)
Dunce - boring for how big it is
Bridgid - oxidized, bready autolysis (what?) spicy
Joel - coarse - doesn't have the apple ester that was prevalent
Ross - alcoholic twirl cone
Parks - bwibwibiwbiwiwib
Kim - dark one is my favorite
Ronan - (distracted and drunk)

Still late but plugging away. They will all get up here eventually.
So, back in September with The Dunce as our host (that is Fergal for those that forget) We started our beer club meeting promptly at 7:01 with Pumkin Ale from Great Lakes Brewery. Here are the tasting notes from the executive.
Fergal: less spicy than Mill St's. Not much bite to it.
Ross - didn' try it as pumkin ale provokes the gag reflex in him...similar to what tequila does to some people, even though it is only beer...pussy
Parks: beer brewed with pumkin and spices
-very intelligent Parks-
Ronan: I prefer Mill st's
-what a suck up-
Kim: Tastes like it needs more of a kick to have a pumkin/spice/fall felling. Weak initial flavour, overpowering after taste.
Joel:had no comment
Will: wasn't there

Next up was St Peter's English Ale from Suffolk England

Kim: best looking Bottle ever
Joel: It's a long way from the brewery. Tastes like wet paper (i.e. stale). best bottle yet at beer club
Ronan: Looks like an old bottle of medicine

Next up Dead Elephant from St. Thomas, ON
kim: bottle belongs at a circus
parks; smells like gym socks
Joel: Honey sweet taste, very hoppy
Ross: Nailed it that it had carmel taste. Thick, i like it but too thick.
parks: tastes so good, i could have an elephant in my pants
Ronan: it's a little circus-ie

Last on the agenda - Duchy Original from Waitrose

Joel: That's a pint you coulf take you coat off to. I could drink a shitload of those. That is the best pint that i've had in  a long time.
*the UK gov't recommends that men don't exceed 3 - 4 pint units daily and women 2 - 3*

Kim: Nice Aroma, amberish colour, nice clean taste

Fergal: hates Joel

and so beer club ended

Conclusion: beer clubs are not as good when Will isn't there

So I realize I am a little behind on the blog posts - about 6 months behind - but notes have been carfully filed, and now I have a chance to catch up. So when last I posted for you beer fans, we had an impending beer club meeting to be hosted by our Sargent at Arms, Ross.
Ross started strong with an nostalgic offering: Lucky Lager. Lucky was at one time brewed in Victoria (Ross is from Campbell River), and it enjoys a dedicated following on Vancouver Island. In fact Ross is so confident that it tastes different out west than in Ontario, he had the Lucky transported from the Island specifically for this beer club meeting. According to Ross two 8 packs are perfect for the night with two left overs to leave inthe truck for the lake in the morning. Here is what the club officers had to say:

VP (Will): Tastes the way beer tasted in the 7th grade - even more if it were warm.
Dunce (Fergal): Tastes like a shot gun
Juggernaut (Ronan): Tastes so smooth...I cant wait to have my 16 pack and pass out in the bed of Ross's truck
TTC (Parks): God bless big red X
Pres (Joel): Tastes like the west coast. Soft water makes it marshmellowy. BC big brewery beer is always softer tasting because water used to 'water down' the beer is always local.
Secretary (Kim): all that is missing is a fishing boat
Ross: a little home sweet home

Group Criticism: cans are too small

Side note: beer was brought by Ross's parents who imported into the states and back to Canada.

Banks - Carribean Lager 4.7%...the barbadian water gives a unique taste. Kent at the LCBO helped Ross with this pick (none of us know Kent)

Dunce: Nice beer
(nice comment Dunce)

Secretary: very soft on the toungue
(that's what she said)

VP: refreshing and malty. Makes me wish I was on vacation.

SAA: heineken aftertast

Pres: beer has three technical faults *see, at least one of us is smart*
1. Beer is light struck which gives a skunkie taste, like red stripe. The flavour is associated with high end imported beer, but it may actually be UV penetrated...smells a bit like burnt rubber or a fart
2. Has Diacetyl in it which gives it  a butter/carmel flavour
3. Oxidized due to poor pump in process. Gives the beer a paper/cardboard taste.
It sounds like I'm shitting all over this beer, but I actually like it.

7:45PM - Ross unveils the new Clue board game. All af the Characters have been changed to members of the executive. We are blown away and compliment Ross on a great idea. Secretly though we all think that this is the work of his girlfriend Brittani.

Pumphouse Blueberry Ale from Moncton

This is from the 2005 brewery of the year. They munch up the blueberries, and let it sit, making the beer very high in fructose and dry.

All: Smells like PEZ

Dunce: Breakfast beer

SAA: Where's the syrup

TTC: I'd pour this on my cheesecake

VP: has thick aftertaste, like most friut beers not done right

Secretary: I don't normally like fruit in my beer, but this feels healthy. Are there any anti-oxidant properties in the blueberries?

Pres: I thought it was cider

Criticism - it doesn't come with a story

*snack interlude of smoked meat sandwiches*

WELLS IPA (bedford, UK)

-made with cane sugar/brown sugar originally because malt was taxed so this was cheaper
VP: it has a Rye/Whiskey taste

TTC: if i lived in a cardboard box and had $7 i'd buy one.

Pres: Crackerjack aroma, clear on the pallet and dry finish

Secretary: Smells and looks like mollasses

SAA: 2L bottle fits easily in backpack...twist of plastic cap means no unecessary tools for the road.

GINGER BEER 5%
-brought by Bridget as an offering to the Executive in hopes we woudl let her pledge 'the club'.
12 kilos of ginger are added to during the brewing process. Joel first brewed it in 1988.

VP: I like its dryness, and that it has balls

Secretary: Delicious. The pperfect pallet cleanser to wrap up beer club.

Pres: a great hot weather beer.

And with that, another beer club was cluncluded, but leaves us with a few questions:

*Why don't we drink Ginger beer more often?

*What becomes of Bridgit in her quest to become the clubs sole member?

*How far away is Parks from actually living in a cardboard box?

*Are we sure that Ronan attended this meeting?

For the answers to these and other questions keep looking for the minutes to the next beer club (which I promise will be up in less then 6 months)

Thursday July 29th was a special day for Beer Club, as it marks the day the club became official. The club's constitution was tabled and signed. Officers were elected. Please read on in quiet awe. The offices are as follows in order of election:

Dunce: Fergal
Secretary: Kim
Juggernaut: Ronan
Sargent at Arms: Ross
President: Joel
Vice President: Will
Treasurer and Technical Chair: Adrian

It should be noted that the voting for all offices was hotly contested with the exception of the Dunce office which Fergal managed to win in a unanimous first ballot.

Not only did this meeting provide all but one of the club members with an elevated sense of self worth as a result of their new titles, it provided them with the opportunity to sample some beer. And, by coincidentce it was the newly elected president's turn to host.

First on the list: Golden Pheasant. It is brewed in Slovakia, and has been owned by Heineken since 1995. The interesting thing about this beer, is that the brewery still makes its own malt, which is not very common these days. Here is what the club members had to say...
Juggernaut: Delicious. The beer is accessible to the public - accessible like the Arcade Fire, not like the Jonas Brothers

VP: an anytime beer. Similar bitter finish to Stella, but slightly fuller flavour.

TTC: Bitter finish, refreshing. Could drink alot of them

SAA: remins me of travelling Europe

Pres: Tastes like drinking fresh beer in Europe

Sec: Perfect patio/beach beer. Could drink all day int he sun

The next one to try was Ruddles County made in Suffolk, England. It is what you would call a classic english bitter. It has a sunset orange colour, lower carbonation, and is made with english hops.

Sec: Good for one. Too heavy a taste for more.

VP: likes it. could drink a couple. definite sweetness at the beginning. bitter finish and less carbonation. the smell is liek the secondary fermentation process.

SAA: Would love to drink at 9am watching footy. 

TTC: an indoor beer. couldn't have 6, but could have a few. Would like to 'cuddle with a ruddle'. If there was a Sex in the City marathon, it woudl pair perfectly.

Jug: a good beer after a dreary commute after work

Pres: Tastes the way secondary fermentation smells.

Next up was something none but the president had tried before. Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier - a German smoked beer. The malt is smoked over a beechwood fire, and then aged in wood barrels in the hills surrounding the brewery.

Sec: It's like a BBQ and a beer all in one. "This beer is giving me hot flashes"

TTC: when i drink a beer that tastes like meat I get excited

VP: are you FCKN kidding me. By far the most unique beer i've ever had. Feels like a beer that could be appropriate in any social situation...like 'Sultans of Swing' by Dire Straits.

SAA: Tastes like the best smokey BBQ i've never been to...and hickory sticks

Jug: Most unique beer i've liked the most on first taste

Pres: was surprised at such a positive response

With the tasting part of the gathering behind us, and the beer club constitution imprinted with a sufficient number of beer rings and spills, it was time to sign the document and make everything official. At this point, our new president (we were certain at this point we had made the right choice) pulled out a bottle of Thomas Hardy's Ale to toast the signing. The beer was brewed and bottled by Eldridge Pope and Co, in Dorcet England way back in 1987. They don't allow it out of the brewery for at least 2 years after brewing, and it is said to be best after 20. We were right in the sweet spot.
 
Sec: smells like whiskey, looks like red wine, tastes like history

TTC: tastes like Napoleon's balls

VP: it's over 20 years old. It transcends comment

Other Officers: Agree

And with that we concluded the greatest beer club meeting in the history of the universe.

Note the the club is now accepting applications for pledges

Next meeting August 25th hosted by the Sargent at Arms.

Stay tuned!