Gouden Carolus Cuvee Van De Keizer Blauw/Blue

Gouden Carolus Cuvee Van De Keizer Blauw/Blue 2009 (75 cl bottle) 11%
This beer was part of a news release at Systembolaget last year. I also have a bottle of their red beer that I will rate soon.

Style: Belgian Strong Ale

Cost: ? SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 3/5

Dark hazy amber liquid with a small dirty white foam.

Smell: 8/10

Dried fruit, raisin, plums.

Taste: 8/10

Dried fruit, yeast, plums and wine.

Mouthfeel: 4/5

Medium smooth and medium carbonation. Puckering mouthfeel.

Comment:

A fruity and nice belgian ale. Lots of flavour and none of them bad. Despite the high alcohol this was fairly easy to drink and it didn't feel very boozy. This beer is probably best on it's own but probably works great with some cheeses.

Total: 3,9/5

Van Diest Früli Strawberry Beer

Van Diest Früli Strawberry Beer (33 cl bottle) 4,1%
This beer was released at Systembolaget on the 24th of March and is now part of the permanent supply. It's a belgian wheat beer with strawberry juice. According to the pamphlet I got with the bottle it's real fruit juice and no essences where used while making this beer.

Style: Fruit Beer
Cost: 14,90 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 3/5
Hazy red-orange liquid with a small pink foam that left no lacing.

Smell: 5/10
Very sweet smell of strawberries and fruit candy.
Taste: 5/10
Strawberries, rasberries. Very sweet and thirst quenching.

Mouthfeel: 4/5
Smooth mouthfeel with a medium body and low carbonation.

Comment:
I'm not sure how to rate this beer or if I should even call it a beer. I know that is a comment allot of people have with lambics and similar beers. Then I just smile at them but this time I'm the one asking the question: Is this beer? Well it is, it's just the fruit juice that is throwing me off. It basically smells and taste like a very good soft drink. Very fruity and sweet, but it has a thicker body and a deeper more complex flavour compared to a soft drink.

Even though I don't give the highest score to this, I actually believe I will buy more bottles in the future. It's extremely easy to drink and very thirst quenching. Would consider it with a dessert or even just sitting on the porch on a hot summer day.

Concerning suitable food companions it's obvious this is a dessert beer. The pamphlet suggests vanilla ice cream or using it as an ingredient in a sorbet. Both sounds very nice and I'm actually willing to try them out. I also have a feeling this would work very well with chocolate. Possibly not the fantastic combo that kriek and chocolate is, but it should be close enough.

Total: 2,7/5

The Original HY Super Beer Cuvée (HΨ)

The Original HY Super Beer Cuvée (75 cl bottle) 11%
This beer was part of a middle of the month release at Systembolaget sometime last year. It is only available at the three biggest Systembolag and through ordering. I know that Regeringsgatan still have a few bottles.

It has been brewed by a Belgian brewery on order from an Italian firm.

Style: Belgian Strong Ale

Cost: 179 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 3/5

Hazy dark amber with a trace of a dirty white foam on the edge of the glass.

Smell: 6/10

Wine, fruity, wood and honey.

Taste: 5/10

Wine, sugar, fruity, honey and caramel. Very sweet.

Mouthfeel: 4/5

Medium smooth, medium body and medium carbonation.

Comment:

This seems to be the same concept as their other beer. A fairly low quality brew but in a fancy package and at a high price. However I have to admit that the Cuvée was better then the Original Beer. It's definitely drinkable but not excellent, a bit to sweet for my taste.

Considering the high price it's not worth to buy and it seems like that is an issue since there are still bottles left at Systembolaget. A faith that seem to hit most Italian beers that Systembolaget takes in. After drinking this one as well I'm sticking by my assumption that this beer was brewed aiming for an Italian upper class. I wonder if it has been successful?

Total: 2,8/5

The Original HY Super Beer (HΨ)

The Original HY Super Beer (HΨ) (75 cl bottle) 11%This beer was part of a middle of the month release at Systembolaget last year. It was brewed by a Belgian brewery on order from an Italian firm.

Style: Abbey Triple
Cost: 149 sek

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 1/5

Clear golden liquid with a small white foam. Not appealing.

Smell: 2/10

Smelled like any macro lager. Fairly weak with some white bread.

Taste: 7/10

Completely different from the smell. Fruity, apples and very sweet. Well hidden alcohol.

Mouthfeel: 3/5

Medium smooth with a medium body and low carbonation.

Comment:

I'm puzzled about this beer, it looks and smells like a cheap cheap lager but it tastes like a fruity Belgian tripel or similar.

I'm not sure they created the beer this way and what customer group they are aiming for. The price is very high but it isn't matched by a high quality product. Maybe it's brewed for high end restaurants and hotels that get allot of customers that don't care about a high price tag and will enjoy the prestige of being able to order a very expensive bottle.

Either way I'm not very impressed with this beer.

Total: 2,3/5

Alvinne Struise Pipeworks Pipedream

Since Karin hadn't showed up yet I figured I could try some more beer. I asked the bartender for an american hopped up beer and he suggested this beer:

Alvinne Struise Pipeworks Pipedream (Bottle) 7,8%
The description in the beer list said IPA and he assured me it would be a hopped up type of IPA. That is the same description Ratebeer has. But I was surprised when I tried it, since it was more of a Belgian style ale. Well anyway the beer has been brewed as a joint project between Alvinne, Struise and Pipeworks brewery.

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body
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Appearance: 4/5
It poured a hazy golden liquid with a soapy white foam that left a lacing that quickly disappeared.

Smell: 4/10
Weak smell with just a faint hint of yeast.

Taste: 7/10
Yeast, malt, hint of hops. The relatively high carbonation took over and hid allot of flavours.

Mouthfeel: 1/5
Very stingy mouthfeel with lots of carbonation. Hard to drink until the carbonation disappeared.

Comment:
Slightly hard to rate this as I was expecting something completely different. However it didn't take me long to reset my expectations. The biggest problem with this beer was the extremely high amounts of carbonation that hid all the other flavours. After a while it disappeared and became drinkable. Felt unbalanced, maybe it needs some time to mature. Not sure what kind of food would work with this, probably best on it's own.

Total: 2,7/5

Testing St Bernardus

When Per turned 25 we visited Akkurrat for a couple of beers. The last two beers I tried before heading on home was these two:

St Bernardus Triple (Bottle) 8%
It poured a hazy golden liquid with a creamy white foam that left lots of lacing.

Smell of yeast, dried fruit, wood and honey. The honey scent was quite strong.

The mouth feel was semi-smooth with just a bit of roughness. It had a medium body and low bitterness. Tasted similar to the smell and the most dominant flavour was definitely honey. Lots of sweetness.

Very nice beer, one of the best triples I have ever tried.
Total: 4,3/5

St Bernardus Abt 12 (Bottle) 10,5%
It poured a hazy brown-amber liquid with a small beige foam that left very little lacing.

It had a smell of figs, wood and nuts.

It had a semi-smooth mouth feel, medium body and low bitterness. Tasted of red wine, figs, druid fruit and nuts.

Also a very nice beer but the triple was better.
Total: 3,9/5

Both of these where very affordable at 78 and 88 sek each and the triple became a favourite amongst my friends. I went to the bathroom to come back and see four of them sitting with a glass each.

Sorry about the lack of pictures I forgot to put the memory card in my camera.

Per turns 25

On Saturday Per turned 25 years old. He has been quite frequent on this blog since he tend to follow me to various beer festivals. Since he is also a beer geek we decided to meet up at Akkurat together with some friends. Actually quite allot of people came, allot more then I expected. I even bumped into Hå-Ge and Berith from Närke Kulturbryggeri. As with every other time I've visited Akkurat it was a great evening. I started out trying their supply of real ales. Since I forgot to put my memory card and can't find the cord that connects my camera with my pc I dont have pictures to show you. But here are some short reviews of the beer:

Inveralmond Homecoming (tap) 4,2%
A classic bitter with a taste of grassy hops. An easy to drink beer with a lasting bitterness.
Total: 3,6/5

Cairngorm Trade Winds (tap) 4,3%
A fresh, fruity and flowery real ale with some citrus and hops. Easy to drink and also with a lasting bitterness.
Total: 3,6/5

Cairngorm Black Gold (tap) 4,4%
A dark liquid with tastes of chocolate, coffee, dark bread and something burned. Smooth like the others and a bit stronger flavour, but still easy to drink.
Total:

Then I went for some Christmas beer:

Nögne Ö God Jul (tap) 8,5%
Nice Christmas beer with a taste of chocolate, coffee, something burned and liqourice.
Total: 3,8/5

Winterkoninkske (tap) 8,3%
It smelled like "Julmust", sweet and spicey. But it tasted more like red wine, spices and grapes. Fairly smooth mouthfeel.
Total: 4/5

N'Ice Chouffe (tap) 10%
Sweet beer with tastes of red wine, spices, yeast and grapes.
Total: 3,4/5

La Rülles Noël de Coeur (tap) 7,3%
Complex belgian Christmas ale with tastes of wood, nuts, red wine, grapes, dried fruit and yeast. Interesting and nice.
Total: 3,8/5

After these beers I wanted to finish off with something interesting. They had two bottles of St Bernadus that I always wanted to try. But more about thoose tomorrow.

Christmas Beer 2009, part 7

Corsendonk Christmas Ale (Bottle) 8,5%
It poured a very dark liquid that was a bit red if you held it up towards the light. It had a medium sized dirty beige foam that left a nice lacing.

The smell was a bit weak. The mouthfeel was stingy at first and got better as the carbonation was released. Tasted sweet with dried fruit, yeast and spices. But the spices felt more belgian rather the spices that are common in swedish christmas beers. This beer worked well with the chocolate and nuts after christmas dinner.
Total: 3,3/5
La Caracole Nostradamus (Bottle) 9%
It poured a dark hazy amber liquid with a medium sized light brown foam that left a nice lacing.

It had a smell of cognac, booze and wood. Very alcoholic smell.

It had a smooth mouthfeel with a medium body and low bitterness. It tasted of cognac, booze, sugar and with a very strong alcoholic finish. For me the alcohol was a bit to overpowering.

I'm not sure when this would work during Christmas, maybe after trying 30 other christmas beer and you need something with a bit of sting to it ;)
Total: 2,4/5

Bush Prestige and de Nuits

Both these beers where released as a middle of the month release at Systembolaget in November. I have tried the Prestige one before. I have also had a clone called Bluff Prestige at this years SC in Homemade Beer. Both where really nice so I have been looking forward to trying these bottles.

Bush Prestige (Scaldis Prestige) (Bottle) 13%
It poured a slightly amber liquid with a small dirty white foam.

It had a smell of ripe fruit, vanilla, spices, fruit candy and peaches. It was quite a sweet smell with an alcoholic finish.

The mouthfeel was smooth with a light body and low bitterness. It had a taste of ripe fruit, dried fruit, well it was quite fruity and sweet in general. I also sensed some dragon fruit and raisin.

Just as with last time I really enjoyed this beer. It has a nice mouthfeel and a nice balance and variety of tastes that I enjoyed.
Total: 4,2/5
Bush de Nuits (Bottle) 13%
It poured a hazy amber liquid with a small dirty white foam.

The smell was quite sour with fruit, cognac, wood and vanilla being the most noticable flavours. It also had some alcoholic warmth to it.

The mouthfeel was quite fizzy and stingy with allot of carbonation. It had a taste of ripe fruit, wood and wine. The taste of wine was quite strong.

Nice beer but Prestige was better.
Total: 3,5/5

Both of these beers are quite good specially Prestige, however the prices are quite steep at 179 for Prestige and 199 for de Nuits.

Trappist summary

I have now tried beers from all of the trappist breweries. I'm still missing a few beers but so far this is a summary of my scores:

Achel 8 Blonde - 3,9/5
Achel 8 Bruine - 4,2/5

Chimay White - 4,1/5
Chimay Red - 3,4/5
Chimay Blue 2008 - 3,9/5
Chimay Blue 2009 - 4,4/5 (Best in test)

La Trappe Blond - 3,5/5
La Trappe Bockbier - 3,4/5
La Trappe Dubbel - 4/5
La Trappe Trippel - 3,5/5
La Trappe Quadrupel - 3,7/5
La Trappe Witte Trappist - 3,6/5

Orval - 4,2/5 (Personal favorite, keeps getting re-rated as I try more of it)

Rochefort 6 - 4,1/5
Rochefort 8 - 4,2/5
Rochefort 10 - 4,4/5 (Best in test)

Westmalle Dubbel - 4,1/5
Westmalle Trippel - 3,7/5

Westvleteren 6/Blond - 3,5/5
Westvleteren Extra 8 - 4,3/5
Westvleteren 12 - 4,2/5

Rochefort 10 and Chimay Blue 1999 are the best beers in this test and now that I think back that feels just right. Both of them gave me one of thoose 'WOW!" feelings.

Now lets see which has been my favorite trappist brewery. A bit unfair since I have tried allot more of some breweries. But here is the average score for each brewery:

Rochefort 4,23/5
Orval 4,2/5
Achel 4,05/5
Westvleteren 4/5
Chimay 3,95/5
Westmalle 3,9/5
La Trappe 3,62/5

Looks almost like I would put it. But I think I would switch place with Westvleteren and Achel. Rochefort and Orval are two beers that I tend to buy at Systembolaget when I got nothing else to buy (news for instance). They are my go-to beers when all else fails. La Trappe gets a slightly unfair low average score due to having more beers represented.

I decided to not include the Urthel beers even though they are brewed at the same brewery as the La Trappe beers. However I wasn't very impressed by thoose beers anyway. I also have a bottle of La Trappe Isid'or in storage but I will have to wait with reviewing that beer for now.

Chimay, part 2

Chimay Blue 2008 (Bottle) 9%
It poured a very dark red hazy liquid with a medium sized light brown foam.

It had a smell of yeast, ripe fruit, apples, oranges and nuts.

The mouthfeel was smooth with a thick body and a medium amount of carbonation. It had a taste of caramell, ripe fruit, plums, yeast and something sweet. Complex and nice beer.
Total: 3,9/5Chimay Blue 1999 (Bottle) 9%
It looked almost exactly the same as the 2008 version the biggest differenc was the foam. 1999 had a nicer looking foam with some craters and big bubbles.

It had a stronger smell compared to the 2008, fruity with red berries.

The mouthfeel was smoother with just the slightest sting from the low carbonation. It had a medium body and a low bitterness. It tasted sweet and fruity with red berries, ripe fruit, wood, nuts, vanilla and other spices. A very nice beer, complex and great smell and taste. Best of the four bottles I tried.
Total: 4,4/5

The 1999 version was allot better then the 2008 one, I wonder if it is just through maturing in the bottle or if there is something else. If it has been stored in any special way or anything done to the recipe. If it's just about storing I'm going to buy a couple of bottles and store for 10 years. Anybody got any more info on this?

Chimay, part 1

Chimay is the last of the trappist breweries for me to rate. I will post a summary in a few days. I managed to get 4 bottles of their beer, the white, red and blue bottles including one from 1999.

The monks at Abbaye de Scourmount has been brewing beer and making cheeses since 1862. I've tried one of their cheeses and it was amazing. Apparently they wash it in Chimay beer. It smells a bit like sweaty feet but the taste was extraordinary. To bad I couldn't get any before this tasting, but if I'm lucky there will be some at next years Belgofest in Uppsala.

Chimay Triple/White (Bottle) 8%
It poured hazy orange liquid with a huge icecream looking foam that rose like a mountain above the rim of the glass. As it receded it left little craters and lots of lacing along the side of the glass. This is a great look for a beer, very appealing.

It had a fairly strong smell of yeast, oranges, other citrus fruits, malt and a hint of hops. There where some more smells which I couldn't quite place.

The mouthfeel was smooth, despite a medium amount of carbonation. It had a medium body and medium bitterness. It tasted similar to what it smelled, yeast, oranges, citrus and a hint of hops. Not very sweet, a bit dry and felt complex. There where more tastes that I couldn't put my finger on. I really enjoyed this beer. Great looks, great smell and great taste, a very nice beer.
Total: 4,1/5
Chimay Red (Rouge) (Bottle) 7%
It poured a dark hazy reddish liquid wiht a medium sized dirty white foam that dissapeared very fast. So fast it dissapeared before I had a chance to take a picture of it.

It had a sweet smell of caramell, spices and wood.

The mouthfeel was fairly smooth with a medium amount of carbonation. It had a medium body and a low bitterness. It had a sweet taste of caramell, vanilla, tea, sugar and wood. Not as complex and interesting as the white one.
Total: 3,4/5

I have one Red bottle left that I will save for a few years and try later. Unfortunately it's not part of the standard suppy at Systembolaget anymore. Tomorrow I will review the two Blue bottles.

Testing Achel

Achel is the last trappist brewery for me to taste but the second last for me to rate. During SBWF 2009 I managed to get my hands on their Bruin. But they where all out of their other beers.

Achel 8 Bruin (bottle) 8%
It poured a dark hazy brown liquid with a white foam that lasted a long while.

The smell was srong with yeast, pepper and other spices.

It had a smooth mouthfeel, and tasted of yeast, caramell and spices. It felt round and very well balanced. A very nice beer.
Total: 4,2/5

Last saturday when I visited Bishops Arms I managed to get my hands on their Blonde.
Achel 8 Blonde (bottle) 8%
It poured a hazy golden liquid with a big white foam that left allot of lacing. Also some yeast in the bottle that dissapeared when I poured it.

It had a fruity smell of oranges, apples and yeast.

The mouthfeel was stingy with a high carbonation, which hid the flavours at first. But after swirling it around a bit it got better and the beer started to blossom. The fruits where the first come out and I noticed some citrus, oranges in particular and apples. It also had a yeast taste.

Once again a nice beer but the Bruin was better, would have been fun to try them side by side though.
Total: 3,9/5

Now I have rated beers from all the trappist breweries except for Chimay. But I got four bottles waiting in storage. I just need the right opportunity to try them.

Saxo Bio

I tried another one of the news beers last friday. This one an ecological belgian blonde.

Bio Saxo (Bottle) 7,5%
It poured a very hazy golden liquid with a big foam with lots of big bubbles.

It had a strong smell of citrus, mostly lemon. Also some yeast and soap. It was sweet and a bit stingy.

The mouthfeel was stingy with lots of carbonation. The biggest part of the taste was lemonade with allot of citrus, there where also some soap and salt. At first I didn't like this beer much, but after a while the taste of soap dissapeared and the mouthfeel got allot smoother.

All in all a decent beer, but the bad mouthfeel and the taste of soap draws down the points.
Total: 3/5

Pannknektarnas Kaffeporter

My friend Chrille has made his own beer together with Pyrre at Närke Kulturbryggeri. It’s a Coffey porter and I heard that they add the coffey through cold boiling it. Which means that they put the coffey beans in cold water for 24 hours before removing the coffey beans and adding the liquid to the beer. The beer was recently released at Bishops Arms in Örebro so after bottling DBH2 we decided to try it out.

Närke Pannknektarnas Kaffeporter (tap)

It poured a picth black liquid with a creamy light brown foam. It had a strong smell of coffey. It had an extremely smooth and creamy mouthfeel, felt great in my mouth. It tasted of coffey and lots of it, also a hint of chocolate. It had some sweetness but not allot. The body was medium thick. I normally don’t drink coffey but this was quite nice. I can imagine someone who likes coffey would like this.

Total: 3,4/5

While sampling the beer Erika showed up and tipped my father of two De Dolle beers they recently got in. Since my father was driving I tried their Ara bier:

De Dolle Arabier (bottle) 8%

It poured a hazy golden with a very small white foam. It had a strong sweet smell of honey and fruits. It tasted strong with honey, figs, yeast and some sweetness. Lots of carbonation. Nice beer!

Total: 3,6/5

An Australian in Stockholm, part 1

An old friend from Australia, Dave the Bushman, visited Stockholm for a few days. Of course we had to celebrate this with trying some beer. We started out by walking to Monks Café on Wallingatan. They had an american festival going but the real reason for going there is their own beer. I quickly spotted something new:

Paulines Hoppy White Ale (tap) 5,8%
It poured a very cloudy golden liquid with a small and creamy white foam. It both smelled and tasted of foam banana, citrus and a bit of coriander. It was smooth, mild a bit watery with a low carbonation and an alcoholic finish. Pretty nice a summer time beer.
Total: 3,4/5

Since they had an american festival I asked for the beer menu to see if we could find something interesting. Dave reacted to some of the prices which I agree are a bit over the top. He was also suprised to see that they had allot of beer from south america. I was personally suprised to find so many dutch and belgian beers in a list of american beer. However they did have a few on sale and I spotted Struise Mikkeller at a reduced price of 99 sek. We also figured we should try an american beer and I wanted to try Lagunitas a Little Sumpin' Extra! Ale. But they where all out of it. Instead the bartender recommended Maximus from the same brewery.

Struise Mikkeller (bottle) 9%
It poured a hazy dark golden liquid with a small foam that lasted a while. It had a strong smell of caramell, vanilla, something sweet and it was all covered in some warm alcohol. It had a strong taste as well of fudge, caramell, vanilla, apples and something sweet. It had a smooth and thick moutfeel, very enjoyable. Nice beer, but I'm suprised to see it labeled as a DIPA, it felt more like a barley wine. Well not exactly like a barley wine but not that far off.
Total: 4/5
Lagunitas Maximus (bottle) 7,5%
It poured a clear golden liquid with a medium sized white foam that left very little lacing. It had a medium heavy smell of hops, fruits, caramell and bread. It tasted mostly of fruity and flowery hops and just a bit of grassy hops. Also sweet of butter scotch and caramell. It was smooth with a medium-full thickness and tickled the top of my mouth. Also had an odd kind of funky taste, not sure what that was. Not one of the better DIPAs I've had but still a decent beer.
Total: 3,4/5

SBWF 2009, part 5

After our extended stay at Oliver Twist we headed over to Galatea to try some trappist. I had already seen that they had some beer from La Trappe that I hadn't tried before. I tested a bunch of La Trappe beers in this post. While testing I had the pleasure of meeting some guys from Strömsholms Brygghus. Unfortunately I got a bit distracted so I didn't have a chance to chat very long with them. Here's a picture of three happy beer lovers:

La Trappe Bockbier (bottle) 7%
It poured a hazy dark brown liquid with a small light brown foam. It had a fairly weak smell of yeast and spices. It had allot of carbonation and a taste of spices, caramell and yeast. An ok beer.
Total: 3,4/5
La Trappe Witte Trappist (bottle) 5,5%
It poured a hazy pale yellow liquid with a white foam. It smelled and tasted of yeast, coriander and spices.
Total: 3,3/5

La Trappe Blond (bottle) 6,5%
It poured a hazy golden liquid with a small white foam that left some lacing. It had a spicey smell with some yeast. It had a smooth mouthfeel and had a taste of yeast and spices. Quite alright beer.
Total: 3,5/5

Liefmans Goudenband (bottle) 8%
Total: 3,4/5

Vedett Extra White (bottle) 4,7%
Total: 2,9/5

SBWF 2009, part 2

After Hantverksbryggeriet we decided to walk to Monks Café. Last year they had a very busy booth at the end of the evening so I thought we should try them early this year. I had also heard that they had allot of their own beers that I hadn't tried yet. Unfortunately they where on bottles and you had to purchase an entire bottle if you wanted to sample it. So we just tried two and then decided against trying any more. 33 cl is just way to much when it comes to sampling like this.

Monks Café Asterix & Obelix (bottle) 5%
This one was brewed by Charles Casino and Menno Olivier from De Molen. It's a dutch medieval beer without hops, instead they used a large amount of dried herbs.
It poured a haxy yellow liquid with a big white foam that left no lacing. It had a spicey smell of citrus, herbs, orange soda and lemon-lime. First taste had lots of carbonation in it, way to much if you ask me and it hid all the other flavours. I had to whirl it around a bit to let some carbo out and then it got better. An interesting beer but one of Monks better brews.
Total: 2,6/5

Monks Café Patagonian IPA (bottle) 6,9%
An IPA brewed with only cascade hops from Argentina.
It poured a dark golden orange liquid with a small white foam that left a little lacing. It had a fresh smell of grassy hops, citrus and grape. Same with the taste. It had a high bitterness with a stingy mouthfeel and left an acidic feeling in the back of my throuth.
Total: 2,5/5

We also tried these at Monks before deciding to move to another spot:

Ellezelloise Hercule Stout (tap) 9%
It poured a pitch black liquid with no foam. It was completely odorless or it was just to weak to sense. It tasted watery and boring, very bland. Smooth mouthfeel though. A big dissapointment.
Total: 2,2/5

De Molen Amarillo (tap) 9,2%
It poured a hazy golden orange liquid with a small foam with big bubbles. Had a round smell of hops but it felt old and not fresh at all. Also felt a hint of toilette, maybe it had started to go bad? It tasted of grassy hops with a low-medium bitterness. Ok beer but a bit boring, I expected some more freshness and taste.
Total: 2,8/5

Struise Black Albert

Before leaving Monks on saturday Per suprised me with an excellent beer.

Struise Black Albert (bottle) 13%
It poured a pitch black liquid with a small brown foam that left a little bit of brown lacing on the side of the glass.

It had a very strong and complex smell. Lots of different flavours where tugging at my nose. I found some chocolate, nuts, wood, yeast, soy sauce and something burned. It also had a spiceness to it that I couldn't quite put into place. Very nice so far and I have to admit my expectations where rising.

I tasted it and it was smooth and dry, it also had the complex taste similar to the smell. A mix of chocolate, smoke, nuts, wood, something burned and some liqourice fudge at the end. It also had this spiceness which I couldn't quite put words into. It had a long aftertaste and I could feel it even as I was sitting on the subway home. The alcohol was very well hidden and I almost choked on some beer when Per told me it had an alc of 13%. A very complex, well balanced and interesting beer.
Total: 4,4/5

Kriek and chocolate

I don't think I've made it a secret that I love kriek and chocolate. A couple of days ago we bought a bunch of luxury truffels from a store in Waxholm and on saturday it was finally time to try them out. I was prepared with two bottles of Timmermans Kriek, one sweet and one sour (Retro). I have already rated the sweet version and gave it a 3,9/5, but apparently I have forgotten to do the Retro one.

First of all the chocolate was really nice, my personal favorites where the chili and the lime truffels. The chili truffel had a very distinct spicyness which was really interesting. The lime looked like a lime with a green crust around a soft pale yellow centre, it was white chocolate with a fresh lime taste.

Timmermans Tradition Kriek Retro Lambic (Bottle) 5%
It poured a clear, yet slightly faded, red liquid with a medium sized light red foam that quickly dissapeared and left very little lacing.

It had a very strong sour scent which included cherries and a hint of wood.

It also had a very sour taste with a high acidicity. At first the cherries was a bit hidden by the high sourness but when I mixed it with the chocolate the beer really improved. It got much smoother and I could clearly distinguish both cherries and some marzipan. Fairly nice kriek but I prefer the original sweeter version.
Total: 3,4/5