Speaking of Beer

As you enjoy the ever-crispening breezes and golden splendor of leaves turning into yard work that come with fall (at least, if you live in certain parts of the northern hemisphere), find these two beers:

Blue Moon Harvest Moon Ale [alternatives: Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale, Saranac Pumpkin Ale]

and

Buffalo Bill’s Pumpkin Ale [alternatives: Dogfish Head Punkin' Ale, Schlafly Pumpkin Ale]

Now get out there and rake!

Prebeer Preamble: Love ‘em, hate ‘em, or get annoyed by the stereotyping of ‘em, Belgian styles of beer are here to stay, and widely held to be some of the best suds out there. A diverse selection of Belgian brews are breaking out of their country of origin and are being produced world-wide, from North America (Unibroue, Ommegang) to Japan (Hitachino Nest), to all points in between. Today I’m once again joined by Tom the Beer Guy’s Brother as we sample two Belgian beers, of similar style, brewed half a world apart. Do the storied brewers of Belgium have anything to fear from the scrappy upstarts from other parts of the globe?

Beer #1: Tom and I start with Ommegang Abbey Ale, from a converted Belgian-style farmhouse near Cooperstown, New York. Great buzz surrounds this brewery and this beer, which is generally acknowledged to be as “Belgian” as a crunchy waffle with powdered sugar on it. What do we think?

Interbeer Interlude: The Build-A-Beer Workshop. “Taste The Monkey Bastard” Our second BABW brew, the Monkey Bastard, is all ready for drinking. Since the recipe was based on an Arrogant Bastard clone, I thought it would be interesting to drink it alongside Stone’s flagship beer. Joining me in this potentially risky taste-test are Michael R. Mennenga, Brian Brown, Kris Mayo, and Doug Kress. Does the little Bastard stand up to its inspiration? Tune in and find out!

Beer #2: Representing the Home Team in this Panglobal Belgian taste-off is Gouden Carolus Carolus D’Or–Grand Cru of the Emporer. With a name that long, the beer better be good. So….is it?

Beer Geek Moment: “Wildfire Beers” The beers on this show got me thinking about how some styles can find a second, often more successful, life upon immigrating to a new country. This Moment is the result of these beery musings.

Postbeer Postscript: It all comes down to the scores, and after two big bottles of big beer, Tom and I are feeling pretty generous. There’s some serious enthusing going on here, but which strong dark Belgian-style Ale did we really flip over? Guess you’ll just have to listen….

 

 Show 37: International Belgian Beer: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (2253)

Thanks to Roving Beer Reporter Eric, here are some tasty beer links:

Link 1: There’s going to be a National Toast to honor Beer Hunter Michael Jackson on September 30th. Cheers (in advance)!

Link 2: One thing I try to stress on the podcast is that “there’s a time and a place for every beer.” Sure, I’m on record as saying I don’t really like Fat Tire, and that my favorite thing about Sam Adams Boston Lager is that you can get it just about anywhere. But as recently as the last episode, I’ve been trying to get out the message that there are no evil beers, and even in this age of Stone/DFH, the craft beer “pioneers” have much to offer. Well, beer blog The Buzz says it better than I could: Don’t bash on a beer just because it’s reasonably popular. Bash on it because you think it sucks, but be prepared to defend your argument.

Link 3: Along those lines, another beer blog, Beer Appelation, ponders if Blue Moon is a craft beer or not by invoking an analogy with 60’s folk combo Peter, Paul, and Mary. Go read it; it makes sense.

We’ve got a couple of “big bottle beers” this week. Scrape up, if you can some

Ommegang Abbey Ale [alternatives: Chimay Grand Reserve (Blue), Unibroue's Trois Pistoles]

and

Gouden Carolus Carolus D’Or–Grand Cru of the Emperor (a.k.a Gouden Carolus Carolus D’Or – Cuvée Van De Keizer) [alternatives: What, are you kidding?]

Both of these beers are completely worth the hassle of locating. If you can’t find them in your local area, check out the beer trading at BeerAdvocate.com. Serioulsy, you want to find these beers.