Until then, quick beer pick for you, if you’re in Asheville, NC, head over to the Wedge Brewery in the River Arts District. They have a couple delicious beers available straight from the source in their tasting room.

Another day, another beer review! This Belgian beer comes from the St. Bernardus brewery. The beer pours very well, with a good pillowed head, and a soft brown color. Take a whiff, and you’ll already smell a bit of the nuttiness that to come.  It’s a dubbel style beer, with 6.7% alcohol. The first sip will give you a nice bitter bite that gives way to a smooth, creamy finish and a nutty taste. You’ll probably also get a taste and smell of oatmeal – which reminds me of the more mass-produced Samuel Adams Oatmeal Stout, but with a bit more depth and punch. Effortlessly drinkable, I could sit down and do several of these back to back. The taste lingers just long enough. Very nice! (8 of 10)

Image not mine, got our glass on draft at the Thirsty Monk in Asheville

Another beer sampled on our recent Asheville trip was Echt Kriekenbier, brewed by Brouwerik Verhaeghe. This beer was definitely the most unique of the bunch and too my knowledge was the first Sour Ale I have ever tried. The ABV of this drink is 6.8% and, as the picture above shows, the beer has a very reddish color and a pour with little head, which gave it the appearance of wine after letting it sit for a spell. I myself had only a couple sips and allowed feature beer review guest reviewer (was that redundant?) Emily Moore to give her expert opinion on this beverage – Emily?

As far as fruit beers go, it’s refreshing and different because it’s not too sweet.  However, it does taste a little flat.  After a few sips, you are hit by the very sour cherry taste. The finish is clean, but the cherry just becomes too strong. I would use it as a dessert beer in very small amounts. (4.5 of 10).

So Brouwerij Verhaeghe, you haven’t found your biggest fan in Emily – but I’m sure you make many other fine beers that she would enjoy. Don’t feel too bad, really. It’s not you, it’s her. She’s just in a strange place right now and isn’t looking for your Kriekenbier.

To add my two cents, I would agree that the beer is a nice shift from the overpowering sweet of some Lambic style beers, however overpowering is still what I would say the sour cherry taste becomes. It moves from a nice change of pace to (sorry Brouwerij Verhaeghe) an almost cough-syrupy overkill on the cherries. If you have some, order a bottle and share it with multiple people. Or make sure you’re eating something else at the time to cleanse your palate. You won’t find me arguing with Emily’s assessment!

Continuing the beer sampling that took place this past weekend at the Thirsty Monk, next up is a dark one, the Buffalo Belgian Stout- and it pours and looks just like a good stout should. And a sip of this beer will hit you hard at first, and has a good bite right on the tip of your tongue. The flavors of this beer are really just as dark as the color. Thought it almost had a smokey taste to it,  however the taste definitely turns about halfway through and a more sweet taste rises to the top. This beer is polished off with a smooth, clean finish. I’d say this is a great slow sipping beer, a great nightcap beer (7.5 of 10)

Nice looking bottle, however my taste was a draft pour

 Headed up to Asheville, NC this past weekend to check in on my brother. Since I was in Asheville, I had to make a stop in at the Thirsty Monk and grab a couple flights for my drinking pleasure and to give the masses some new information before bellying up to the bar on their own.

The Thirsty Monk has had Delirium on tap every time I’ve gone, but I hadn’t given the Tremens a taste until now. Like all the beers at the Thirsty Monk, this is a Belgium-style Strong Ale (9% ABV). On pour, the Tremens had a darker golden color (I had a glass of Leffe Blonde in front of me at the same time, which is a little lighter, brighter gold than Tremens). The beer had a sweet, almost flowery scent to it and the taste was very light on the tongue, especially for a 9% ABV beer. It was extremly drinkable and there was no aggressiveness to it. The only drawback came on the finish, where the aftertaste lingered a little too long and turned a little metallic/chemically tasting. Still, this beer will give you a nice warm feeling on your belly and if it hadn’t been for the aftertaste (problem with the beer or the glass or the tap, who knows?) this would have scored higher (6.5 of 10)

Soon, I will devise a way to get you out of my house devil alarm. Why didn’t you just stay dead? Why did you return from the grave to rob me of my sleep? Ghosts? Bleh.

Anyhow, besides Zombie Alarms, Sierra Nevada’s Brown Saison is back at Pizza Peel – I wrote a review about it a few weeks back – it’s pretty darn tasty. Go have one. Headed to Asheville this weekend – will plan on stopping in at my favorite place there, the Thirsty Monk.

In size alone, the bottle is menicing – listed at 1 pint & 6 fluid ounces (American or English Pint? Good question, I have no idea.) it is plenty for two servings. And, as worded on the bottle

Maharaja is derived from the sanskrit words mahat, – “great” and rajan – “king”. Much like its namesake, this imperial IPA is regal, intense and mighty. With hops and malts as his servants, he rules both with a heavy hand. The Maharaja flaunts his authority over a deranged amount of hops: tangy, vibrant and pungent along with an insane amount of malted barley – fashioning a dark amber hue and exquisite malt essence. This newest Avery Dictator completes the “Dictator Series” joining the likes of The Kaiser & The Czar. Be aware that The Maharaja is a limited release only available for the summer. Welcome to his kingdom!

As listed on the bottle, the alcohol content is over 10%. The pour was very good, beer itself was a dark amber color. Then it was time to take a sip.

Sweet Jebus they hopped this thing up. I think (after checking other people’s reviews online) that I may be one of the few out there that think this beer is simply too heavy handed. Something should be said about having hops accentuate certain flavors, but in my pour, it simply killed all other tastes. The finish was pretty harsh and led me to actually avoid another sip until I had a chance to take a bite of pizza or a sip of water. I wish I could tell you about the other tastes in this beer that partnered with the bitterness of the hops but it washed over everything.

If you’re in the mood for a strong armed, punch to the gut, incredibly intense pale ale, then you’ll probably love this. However, if you’re looking for an even sip with complex tastes look elsewhere. I will next time (3.5 of 10).

Basically, Samuel Adams (The Boston Beer Company) is looking to see which beer will be added to the “Brewmaster’s Collection” you probably have seen at your local grocery store. Last year, it was the Blackberry Witbier (which, had I voted in that, I probably would have considered whatever option B was). This year the choice is between a Pilsner and an IPA style beer.

We received a taste of each, and first tried the Pilsner – according to our representative, it was first brewer by brewmaster Jim Koch himself for his daughter’s wedding. Very smooth to drink, a little sweetness to it, but not overwhelming, and a very clean finish that definitely led me to want another sip.

Next up came the Samuel Adams Ale, which although an IPA, was an amber color, with a much more aggressive IPA style bite to it. Like most IPAs, it left that lingering hops taste after the finish (am I the only one that sometimes feels like that aftertaste is almost a “spicy” one?). A very good beer to be sure, however we could only vote for one…

And out table of 8 went, unanimiously I believe, for the Pilsner. From the sound of our representative, I think the Pilsner has been laying waste to the Ale competition since they started this event.

Overall, the evening went very well, my sister won a Samuel Adams T-Shirt in a raffle (the XL size of the shirt means pajamas, I suppose) and I had a few other brews on draft, including a Leffe Blonde Belgium style Pale Ale (Thumbs up) and Founder’s Red’s Rye Ale (Thumbs down).

But, on my vacation, I did manage to sample a couple beers and I’ll be posting very frequent updates here over the next few days, so more to come!

Also, I’ve never heard of Saison-style before, a quick Wikipedia search gave me:

Saison (French, “season”) is the name originally given to refreshing, low-alcohol pale ales brewed seasonally in farmhouses in Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium, to refresh farm workers during harvest season. Modern-day saisons are also brewed in other countries, particularly USA, and are generally bottle conditioned, with an average range of 5 to 8% abv, though saisons at the more traditional 3.5% strength can still be found.

Although saison has been described as an endangered style, there has been a rise in interest in this style in recent years, with Saison Dupont being named “the Best Beer in the World” by the magazine Men’s Journal in July 2005.

Historically saisons did not share identifiable characteristics to pin them down as a style, but were rather a group of refreshing summer ales. Each farm brewer would make his own distinctive version. Modern saisons brewed in the USA tend to copy the yeast used by Brasserie Dupont, which ferments better at blood warm temperatures (85 to 95 Fahrenheit) than the standard 65 to 75 Fahrenheit fermenting temperature used by other Belgian saison brewers.

So, definitions and confessions aside, let me simply say that I loved this beer – beautiful brown draft pour, with the perfect slight head to top it off. The beer itself, upon tasting, was pretty complex. Definitly a lot going on and the spice flavors and ale tastes combined nicely. The big payoff came on the finish, where it was unexpectedly dry and delicious. I almost felt as if the taste evaporated off my tongue, encouraging me to have another sip. Remember I’m drinking this at a place where the Beer Club gives points for trying different beers… I wound up ordering nothing but the Sierra Nevada Brown Saison for the rest of the evening. If your local pub is serving it, give it a try. If you’re in Charlotte, check it out at the Pizza Peel in Cotswold.

Rate: 9.5 of 10 - One of the best, if not the best, Brown I’ve ever had.

Saturday, we had quite the night. After a morning of taking care of Gunther and Heidi, Emily and I headed uptown and had lunch at Zink. Pretty good food, ended up filling me up quickly – only had room for the pita-hummas appitizer and half of my pulled pork sandwich. Still a very nice place to go eat and have a drink before…

DUHHHHHHHHHHH DUH DUH DUH DUH Dahhhhhhhhhhhh

The Phantom of the Opera was back in Charlotte, I haven’t seen it in a long time, long enough to not remember half of the plot, and Emily loves the show so it worked out perfectly. Our seats were in the Orchestra section, left side, very close to the stage, really good seats – we were able to see everything. I thought the production was done very well, impressed by Christine, a little let down by the Phantom – but not his singing, his acting was a bit on the hammy side. I thought the Phantom was supposed to be all badass and cool and all furious when Christine took his mask off, but this Phantom decided that losing his mask meant he was supposed to stumbled around like she blinded him or something. Still, a great show.

Afterwards, we met friends over at Nikko’s Uptown for Katie’s sushi birthday dinner, Emily was getting a bit tired after that and headed home (we had drinks before Phantom, drinks after Phantom at PJ’s, drinks at the bar at Nikko’s, drinks during dinner – she was probably the smarter person to stop there) while I decided to continue the party. We moved the party to Mez uptown and then, finally, the XYZ bar located in aLoft uptown. Somehow, I found my way to an ATM and a taxicab and headed home to pass out. Good birthday times – and I know Jon has some ridiculous pictures that I’ll have to link to once he uploads.

Sunday – woke up feeling pretty bad – although I have felt much worse. And I decided to work through the hangover by using…. manual labor. Mom & Dad were extending a retaining wall in their backyard so I was brought in to move and place the 80-lb blocks. Amazingly, this seemed to help me sweat out the leftover booze and left me feeling better. Then it was back home for a little studying before Pops in the Park. “Magical Night Music” was the theme, definitly some good stuff. Theme from Harry Potter, Pirates of the Carribbean – my favorite was Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2. You know it from many different cartoons (Donald Duck – Daffy Duck dueling pianos in Who Framed Roger Rabbit).

Monday was full of work and studying, we had another softball game that didn’t end in a tie, but like the game the previous Monday, it got ugly quick. Ended up beating Morningstar Lutheran something like 41-6. They played the whole game a man short and didn’t have many hitters on the team (but the ones who could hit, smashed some serious HRs) I think I wound up 5 of 5 or something, and that includes the two times I came up to bat and TRIED to get out. Not the best fielders.

Tuesday was my test, and Jon Harding and I started another home brew. I believe it’s based off Rouge Hazelnut Brown. I’ll be posting my thoughts on our current brew, Dante’s Honey Whear Beerferno soon and I’ll have to coin a name for the batch that’s currently fermenting.

Whew, sorry for the novel, but now I’m caught up and will remember to post more frequently so I don’t have to jam everything into a huge post.