Gone Fishin’

Due to excruciating page load times around these parts, we’ve set up shop at Blogger. See you there!

SHINY NEW BLOG!

 

The Other Site & Some Beer Thoughts

In all honesty I cannot say why I’ve never signed up at Beer Advocate before now. RateBeer is what I found first when I plunked “good beer” into the Yahoo search page and, satisfying my needs for a beer rating website, I looked no further. (Yahoo? No search bar? Must’ve been the stone age!) Nor can I really explain why I signed up at The Other Site just a few days ago.

So far there seems to be a little more content at BA (articles, news, guides) and fewer ratings, forum chatter and Europeans. The travel-oriented BeerFly section appears to be downright barren when it comes Finland and there’s a not-so-subtle lack of Finnish beer entries as well. Perhaps that will give me something to work on, though the queue of 557 establishments waiting to be verified for BeerFly is slightly discouraging.

On a more positive note, I certainly appreciate their take on the beer reviewing process. Specifically, BA policy seems to encourage users to be a little more careful and polite with their words and to take style into consideration, though not to rate strictly by style. BA’s minimum character count is also larger (250 vs the 75 of RB) and many actions that are unrestricted on RB are somewhat guarded. Will any of this make a difference in the actual quality of the reviews? Time will tell. I do fancy the ability to flag other user’s reviews as inappropriate if necessary, by the way.

While in the process of setting up my roost at BA I came up with six truthsthoughts about beer and reviewing, inspired by my recent rating renaissance. If heeded, the world just might be a prettier and happier place…hah. Well, the quality of ratings everywhere would improve at any rate.

 

Quickfire

We stopped by Plevna today after a morning of getting things done. J ran to her hops, I found solace in malts. Four quick words on…

Severin I.P.A.

good american breezy tingly

Plevnan Stout

roasty oily bitter chocolate

Okay a couple more words. That dry stout is an absolute roast-bomb. At 7% abv it’s nearly twice as strong as its distant Irish relatives and it shows the whole way through. Today was my second time to sample it, and it scored a 68 compared to a 70 previously. I don’t say this about many beers, but I think it might genuinely be a “food beer”. I’ve had my share of intense over the years, but there’s some je ne sais quoi to this stout that’s begging to be restrained a bit by a hearty meal. Something I’ll have to take a swing at when I get the chance. Cheers.

 

It’s been a while… — by B.

The home front has been hectic as of late; marriage, residence permits, beer-rating-mid-life-crisis and so on. Hopefully I’ll return to a more normal use of this, my corner of the Internet in the near future. So what’s new, beer-wise?

.I’ve got a new rating style for starters. I had grown tired of listening to myself blather on about various reticent aromatics and how many shades of straw can be fit into one glass and it became rather a chore to rate everything that way. So I stopped. Now I aim to accurately portray the whole experience in as few words as possible. Currently that means one sentence each for appearance, aroma, flavour, mouthfeel and overall impressions. …Yes, that is an entire paragraph, I know. But it’s short, for me. Here, look, this one’s from last night:

 

Haandbryggeriet Norwegian Wood — by B.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record (Haand this, Haand that), I must put down some words on this beer before branching out. This one, as J mentioned earlier, was a surprise find on the cooler’s bottom shelf in Gastropub Praha. I was quite excited because Norwegian Wood was on my short mental list of “must try beers”; short due capability, not finickiness. Sadly, it did seem to be the last of its kind in the cooler. But let’s get on with the tasting notes then.

I believe my first word was ‘amazing’. This was before I had even tilted the bottle, having only inhaled thin streams of aroma emanating from the mouth of the bottle. A careful pour gave me a cloudy, nearly muddy, amber hued beer topped by a light tan, foamy head of modest proportions that diminished rather quickly — much as I would expect from a beverage of such self-proclaimed traditional heritage. Smoke is at the forefront of the aroma in a manner that reminds me of snuffed candles. Strong sweet and fruity elements follow, peaches and bananas being most prominent to my nose, both reinforced with the sugar rush of saltwater taffy. In the background lurk some rusty, oxide aromas. After that, the experience starts to get really strange; a hodgepodge of smoked salmon, brined olives, pine needles and cedar wood. Intoxicating aroma on the whole and quite a rush to experience. Initial flavours mimic tangerine, cedar and taffy in a moderately sweet combination. Some notes of pine and peach shine through as acidity along with tart and dark berries, skins intact. Around mid-palate the smoke really jumps in, tinged with sea salt and oranges. The finish is mostly dry with a little Meyer lemon-like sweetness. I find more saltiness, light smoke and berry skins in the lingering aftertaste. No foray into tannic territory is ever made, thankfully. A divinely velvety texture is kept playful with a medium weight and crisp carbonation that reminds me of biting into a firm apple. Expertely crafted and infinitely intriguing.

This beer managed to stay off of my “must try list” for as long as it took me to pay for it and open the bottle. I shall be needing more, oh yes. 92 points.

 

Gastropub Tuulensuu

This past Friday J. and I attempted to grab some lunch at Gastropub Praha — a Czech oriented beer bar here in Tampere — and failed miserably having not checked the hours of operation before getting there. Feeling a bit disheartened, but slightly hopeful for other options (and even hungrier still) we hopped a bus across the river and downtown to see what was open on that side. Sadly, but logically, Gastropub Tuulensuu was fermé aussi. This one’s more of a Belgian-French-Dutch beer bar, with plenty bottles from some top notch Scandinavian brewers as well. We finally ended up settling on some fancy ordeal with small servings and nigh-inoperative heating. But the food was tasty nonetheless and afterwards we headed across the street for a mug of joe and dessert. Dessert happened to be a cherry crumble thing and was well deserved after waiting patiently behind a caravan of gypsy-like folk with a not-so-good understanding of personal space. I was afraid of the Curses and said nothing. The not-speaking-Finnish-thing might have had something to do with it also. Anyway, the beer, yes…back to that.

In a stroke of astoundingly good timing, one of the very active Finnish Ratebeerians (sadly I’ve added this word to my browser’s automatic spell-checker) emails me that he and at least one other person will be at Gastropub Tuulensuu Saturday afternoon. Score. J. and I ran a little late getting there, but this was okay because 1) we had some delicious and fairly authentic Americanised Mexican food just prior and 2) no right minded craft beer enthusiast travels to a different city and only drinks for an hour. (Even the décor of the Mexican joint was surprisingly genuine to my stringent taste of exactly what a cheesy cantina ought to look like.) The two gents we were meeting were indeed easy to spot; vigorously taking notes, multiple bottles, multiple beer glasses, water glasses…the calling card of a beer geek.

Ah, so, the pub. In a few words: comfortable, well stocked and slightly more organised than the French. Overall the pub has an open feel with few walls, high ceilings and large windows. Yet, there’s a distinct sense of cosiness emanating from the dark wooden furniture and hand-scrawled chalkboards with menu and draught beer choices. Space can be a little cramped around the bar itself — more than a few times I was right in the way of the bartender, though I suspect they’re quite used to this — but nothing to worry anyone with even the most fierce case of claustrophobia. Even with other patrons chatting away the noise levels seem quite low and it’s relatively easy to hear everyone in your party. I will say that it was somewhat annoying how easily food aromas permeated the entire bar, but that’s one of my very few knocks on the place. At least they dissipated quickly.

And the beer? Quite a lot of it. Quite a lot indeed. Mostly Belgian with some French and Dutch offerings as well. There was also the odd German and American offering to be had. Mikkeller, Nøgne Ø, Haandbryggeriet and Ølfabrikken were also well represented. Oh and they had Cantillon. On draught. I would return for that and that alone. Much of the bottled beer was split between two patron-accessible coolers, but there were other coolers behind the bar and more, different beers stocked in the back. The distinct lack of a beer list made this set-up somewhat frustrating, but there seems to be at least one place online where notable additions to the line-up can be reviewed; I’ve added that as link on the right, oluttampere.net. Easy enough to navigate, even for a dolt like me who doesn’t speak a lick of Finnish. I didn’t try any of their food, though J. had a dessert something-or-other. Ok, I had a bite of that…tasty. The staff seemed professional enough and didn’t mind our insane number of request for additional glassware or all of the bottle splitting that we did. I don’t know if this is the norm over here, but I’ve been to a number of places in the States where they get quite fussy about such things. Oh, and there was a large cigar humidor, if that happens to be your sort of thing.

All in all, a really nice place and I’m already dying to visit again. Next time in the sole company of J. and to manage some food as well. The prices were… Well, alright, I’m still quite accustomed to the American manner of seeing prices before tax and tip so the prices looked scary…but considering that Finns don’t tip and the tax was already included (and that it’s common to tip a bartender 30%+ in the States) prices were about where I’d expect them to be. Perhaps even, dare I say, good? Especially as most of those beers aren’t to be found at any Alko. An afternoon well spent.

 

Haandbryggeriet Dark Force — by B.

The back-story: a month or so before I escaped from my previous, undesirable, living conditions (i.e. university in France) J. informs me that some imperial stout from Haandbryggeriet has shown up on the Alko shelves. As I was then in a beer-wasteland, my immediate and natural reaction was, “I can has stout?!1?” It turns out, I did has.

Hugely dark, a black hued body lurks with a light freckling of a frothy, tan head. Expressive nose, the wheat components come across with unexpected force. Great combination of spices, fruits, dark roast and chocolate. I’m thinking: chocolate covered bananas, coffee and clove cigarettes. Underneath, caramel and toast–some black cherries too. Not as overly sweet as some imperial stouts get; it has a pleasant light dryness that keeps it almost, dare I say, refreshing? The chocolate aromas and flavours really step up with some warmth. Tangy acidity throughout, just like expected from a wheat beer. In a way, I’m reminded of Fantôme Chocolat and that wonderful spicy-sweet combination. Some hops start to stand out as the beer comes to room temperature–earthy and spicy. Medium to full bodied with a soft, velvety texture all lightened by lively carbonation. Interesting, fun, different…thanks J. 50cl bottle, goblet, brewed sep. 07. @RateBeer.com

So yeah, this one was great in my book and definitely warrants a revisit in the near future. I’ve only had two beers from Haandbryggeriet so far, but they’ve both been innovative and tasty; I’m excited to try more. I’ll give this one a score of 86/100.