Tonight was the first night of family vacation, which means it's going to be a long entry. There's a phenomenal beer store a couple miles from the house we rent, and I made sure to hit it up before they closed tonight. I put together two mixed six packs, which between my and my uncle have been totally killed tonight. I started off with a Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse as something light to drink before dinner. It turned out to be one of the worse beers I've had in a while. This is a brewery that doesn't date their bottles at all, or provide a "best by" date, and they're happy to ship their stuff out on transatlantic trips in inferior green bottles, so maintaining product quality clearly isn't a top priority. The traditional banana and clove notes from the yeast were way faded (even more so than the Kellerweis from last night), so I'm assuming it was an old bottle, but I have no way of knowing. There was an unusually large amount of caramel sweetness, which I don't necessarily mind in my beers, but it's not something I look for in a hefeweizen. There was also a faint smell/taste of skunky beer, thanks to the green bottles. All in all Franziskaner is probably the worst hefeweizen I've ever had, and one I doubtful to ever try again.
Beer #2 on the evening was Duck Rabbit's Amber Ale. This is a brewery I always look forward to trying when I come down to North Carolina. They bill themselves as the "dark beer specialists", and eschew the norm a bit by forgoing any kind of pale ale or light colored beer, and stick with darker, traditionally maltier beers. Their amber ale is just such a beer, as many breweries use the style as an excuse to make a slightly darker beer than a pale ale, but still hop it to hell. This one stays true to its malty base, and has prominent biscuity and caramel notes. It's not one of the best beers I've had lately, but it's a solid one that I'd come back to again.
Next up was Westmalle Dubbel. A Belgian abbey ale brewed by a trappist monastery, the trappist beers tend to be high in quality so I was looking forward to this one. Belgian abbey ales are, to me, some of the most artfully crafted beers out there. They manage to have both a dry finish, and a fruity, sweet base for the aroma/flavor, and balance that all with some spicier phenolic notes thrown off by the yeast. Westmalle's Dubbel though finished just a touch too dry for me, and bordered on becoming a spicy mess. It still wasn't a terrible drinking experience, but it's still not a beer that I'd reach for over a Chimay Red, or Ommegang Abbey Ale.
Last up (at least as far as beers that I could really appreciate) was the other Westmalle brew, their tripel. While the best of the style have a similar idea of balance as a dubbel, this pale beer tends to favor fruity flavors such as apples and pears, rather than plums, figs and raisins. This one was a bit better balanced than its younger brother, it had a fairly prominent fruity base, but it still had a bit of an aggressive yeasty profile. Still though, something like this, or a beer like La Fin Du Monde would be killer to serve instead of some white wine. While the tripel wasn't my last beer of the night, it was the last one I could enjoy enough to really focus on and dissect. I'm sure be back tomorrow night with a whole new set of beers!
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