The Stash: Day Three

Father-in-law and I shared a 750ml over dinner.  His first comment is that Brooklyner Schneider Hopfen Weisse sounded like the name of a law firm.  His second comment was that it was an excellent beer.  I'll agree (and so did my mother-in-law).  Loads of foam.  It pours a very nice head, which sticks around for quite a while.  It's hazy like a typical Munich weissbier and the same color that I find difficult to describe. (bronze?)  But the nose was much spicier.  My amateur guess is that I'm getting quite a lot of yeast, but as the yeast is a Schneider, I'm not so sure.  Perhaps there's just more of it?  In any event, quite a lot more olfactory fun than what one typically gets in Munich.  A lot of body, nice thick beer.  The taste was, to me, peppery and sweet (which makes it sound like mint, which it most certainly isn't), some clove, but virtually no banana.  Very nice beer.

I had read about this in a beer magazine about a year ago.  They had an article about the sorry state of beer in Germany and as a beer enthusiast in Munich, I felt vindicated.  I'll not bore anyone with another rant about the bland German beer scene, but I will make this point: this beer is the result of cooperation between an American and a German brewer.  I can buy a bottle of the stuff in Boca Raton, Florida, but I probably can't track it down anywhere in Munich.  That's a shame.  I'm certain that the good people at Schneider would have brewed this in accordance with Reinheitsgebot and whatever other constraints they felt would have lead to a better product.  Meanwhile, Garrett Oliver would have ensured that the end result tasted good and offered something new.  This is a brilliant example of exploiting the best ideas that two fine brewing traditions have to offer, but one of those traditions will likely not benefit from the result.

A mental check of the calendar informed me that I need to pick up the pace if I'm going to finish the stash before I head on to Kentucky.  So, I also cracked open Three Philosophers from Ommegang.  I think I might not be all that wild about the big Belgian darks.  Sure it's nice, I just don't think I can stand up and shout about this.  Nice roasted coffee flavor, a bit of the molasses.  A nice sweet, sticky beer, but overall a bit of a miss for me.  I've got three more Ommegang to try.  We'll see how they do.

And meanwhile, I had a Sam Adams Summer Ale with lunch at Tarpon Bend.  Rather nice, with a pleasant bit of citrus.  The malt reminded me a of a Kölsch.