Beer Snobbery

David Chang wrote in news:e4eqvb$hrh$ snipped-for-privacy@news.yaako.com:

1. Rochefort #10
2. Westmalle Dubbel
3. Dogfish Head Raison D' Etre
4. Old Dominion Oak Barrel Stout
5. Great Lakes Eliot Ness

DB

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not in any particular order:

Westie, Rochefort, just about anything from Bamberg, 't Ij bok, Alt style from Duesseldorf.

[and then Czech micro breweries but to drink their nice beers you will have to travel. or Innis & Gunn, now being exported to a handful of countries.]

cheers :)

[snip]

Why is listing your top 5 beers beer snobbery? Is listing the top 5 vegetables you like "Veggie Snobbery"? Would it only be veggie snobbery if I listed broccoli as number one and everyone else derided me for it?

_Randal

"David Chang" schreef in bericht news:e4eqvb$hrh$ snipped-for-privacy@news.yaako.com...

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3 Fonteinen Framboos, Cantillon Vigneronne, Cantillon Lou Pepe Framboise, 3 Fonteinen J&J Oude Gueuze "Blauw" and Russian River Supplication - in no particular order. Orval should be there somewhere too.

According to at least one person with whom I've discussed such things, if you prefer a pub with a good range of craft beers on tap to, say, Bud Light, you're a beer snob.

Snobbery is in the taste (or lack thereof) of the beholder, apparently.

Hmm.

3 Fonteinen Schaerbeekse Kriek, Cantillon St-Lamvinus, Schlenkerla Ur-Bock, Full Sail Black Gold Bourbon-Barrel Imperial Stout, and Silver City Whoop Pass Imperial IPA.

At least for today, anyway. I'm already regretting not including Ritterguts Leipziger Gose in the list.

Random order:

Diamond Knot IPA Redhook ESB Windmer Hefeweizen Shiner Kolsch Summit Maibock

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And some of the worst "beer snobs" are those who only drink one brand of beer (often Budweiser, Miller Lite, Coors Light, Heineken, Corona, etc.), many times will accept it ONLY in a certain container (CANS only!) and ridicule anyone who drinks anything else. They also find it hilarious that someone would drink a beer with a wacky name and a funny cartoon animal on the label (Sea Dog? Sly Fox? River Horse?)- sometimes I gotta agree with 'em on the last point....

dgs wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@individual.net:

Now THERE'S some snobbery.

FWIW, Cantillon has yet to make something worthy of my $12 [1]. Your snobbery may vary.

Snott

[1] [2] Do the upside-down mash thing. Step up dregs from Cantillon anything. Pitch. Wait one year on primary. Bingo - you have hard 'beek indistinguishable from Cantillon. Add fruit if you must (pun). Yar. You've got five gallons of marinade on your hands. You're a half-step away from a boutique vinegar shack out back. Impress your buddies. Call Lew. Feh. [2] OooooooOOOoooOOOooooH! But it's SO AUTHENTIC!

Since nobody took Scott's bait, I'll just have to agree with him. Monodimensional dreck. Hey, it's sour. Whoopee.

Discuss. If not for me and Scott, do it for Jason.

I shared a bottle of Cantillon Gueuze (sp?) with some people Friday evening, including a certain recent "wild beer" author. Informed assertion: it was not mono- dimensionally sour. There was depth and breadth. It was appreciated by most. I agree that some vintages of some of their beers have been monodimensionally acetic. Hey, IAVB,M by its very nature.

I did it for you and Scott. Who's Jason?

Acceptable. You can also leave off the first 'u'. Carry on.

Agree with the kitchen microbiologist, not the one paid for it. There's a lot more going on with Cantillon, indeed many lambics and gueuze currently imported into the US, than meets the wooden pallet [sic]. Sure, the 2002 unblended lambic on tap a couple weeks back was teetering into astringent 1D-land, but the 2003 and the others I've had recently show some actual honest-to-goodness complexity. A little citrus (orange, lemon), some other fruitiness, a warmth and surprisingly fuller mouthfeel than you might expect from your Heinz White bottle in the back of the cupboard.

Think he died a few years back 'round that Camp up by Crystal Lake. They say it was his mom what did it.

Witzel

I had it once at a boutiquey beer bar a fair walk from center in Brussels served in a wicker basket. It was like being beaten about the face with a foam fungo bat till it makes you pucker and wince. It taught me the essence of sour complexity (that was the heart of the Berliner Weisse that my grandfather would rarely drink neat, but which most other Berliners would take with the Raspberry or Waldmeister syrup) that probably also constitutes the Leipzig Gose style, which I have never had. Since then I enjoy lambics a bunch (which directly parallel the Berliner Weisse with syrup, but are far more blessed) and will never forget that first Cantillon.

"Jon Binkley" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@h76g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

I'm the master...oh, crap.

FWIW, I stand by my upside-down assertion. If you like Cantillon, you can make Cantillon for far fewer drachmas than $15/750ml. Try pitching some Brett if you think it will make a difference. I did. It didn't. Twice. Feh.

Not sour, but hard. Lactic in large quantities I can handle. But vinegar is vinegar. Cantillon has such a following - Part of my "we're beer geeks and think we should like it" theory.

Joel says he got a good bottle of the Gooz(ah) (rhymes with "cursor"). That's fine, I believe him, but I gave up on Cantillon a long time ago.

Scott

There's always some of that going on with any beer. I like to think I'm usually above (below?) that. For instance, I will readily 'fess up to not liking beers that a lot of beergeeks fawn over, like Allegash Curieux and Avery The Beast.

See, that's where I think you're doing the brewery a disservice. Lambics by their very nature are variable beers, so I'd expect it to change at least to some extent over the years, or from year to year. I do think a lot of Cantillon is mono-dimensional (the Kriek in particular), but am willing to buy a few bottles each year to check in on it. In the case of the Gueuze (I looked up the correct spelling this time) I'm very glad I did.

snipped-for-privacy@see.headers (Joel) wrote in news:e6c1ip$na3$1 @badger.ncsa.uiuc.edu:

You're right, of course. It may depend on the last rain, or whether or not the bats are mating, or the temperature three/fifteen/two hundred days after "pitching", or...

I've just been so consistently disappointed in Pierre that I've given up. Probably a mistake.

Scott

I have had some really great Cantillons. But to be honest, I haven't found them to be as consistently impressive as others. I've rarely been disappointed in Drie Fontainen or Girardin, and before they went under, Oud Beersel was consistently good with moments of greatness as well. Ditto Hanssen's and Boon.

Now, most of those are blenders. It should be easier to come up with something consistently good.

Cantillon, when you get a great one, is outstanding. I just have found it more difficult to find one compared to others.

-Steve

Prepare to be happy: Oud Beersel is being revived. The brand had already been revived/preserved by Frank Boon, but now a couple of entrepreneurs have come in to revive the Oud Beersel cafe and probably will do some of their own blending (IIRC).

The only one of those you mention that is exclusively a blender is Hanssen. Drie Fonteinen has a small brewery and also blends. Girardin and Boon both brew.

The only other lambic maker that blends exclusively is De Cam.

Yep. Had a superb Lou Pepe Gueuze a couple of Fridays ago. Not at all one-dimensional. I've also had good luck with the St. Lamvinus.

But for consistent lambic happiness, I've been pretty pleased with Drie Fonteienen, especially the Schaerbeekse Kriek I had a few weeks ago.