KegWorks Blog

Alright, so I am totally psyched up for next week…. I’m taking my very first week-long vacation since 2005, so it’s long overdue. This vacation is the epitome of vacations – I have no specific destination, and plan to completely relax for its entire duration…. ahhhh…. summer vacation.

Here’s the best part of all… to prep for my impending play time, I made the hour and a half journey to Rochester, to a great little store called Beers of the World. Upon entering, I was overwhelmed with beer, glorious beer, from every part of the globe. I couldn’t wipe the smile off of my face. I headed straight to the section full of Irish brews, to get myself some Imported Guinness Extra Stout - you know, the super extra stout - the one we can’t just get anywhere here in the states? Oh yeah, I’m truly a stout girl at heart. I love them all, and filled my basket with quite a few. Of course, it’s not every day I take a drive to Beers of the World, so I made sure to get some suggested by friends – some Franziskaner, Kostriker, Ayinger and Schwelmer, to name a few.

I’ve only tried one of my new brews so far. The Young’s Double Chocolate Stout poured deep, dark brown with a high, tan head. It had a rich, dark, bittersweet chocolate flavor, especially apparent at the end of the sip. I definitely look forward to enjoying more of this stout in the days to come.

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My boss called me into his office the other day and told me he had an important assignment for me. He presented me with a bottle of Weihenstephaner Kristall Weissbier and told me to drink it at home (not at my desk) and write a review of the beer. This is the type of homework assignment I could not argue with.

The beer was a kristall style wheat beer, which means the beer is brewed using wheat malt and then filtered for clarity. The major difference between this style of wheat beer and “hefe” style wheat beers is the yeast. “Hefe” means yeast in German, and hefe style wheat beer is a beer brewed with wheat malt in which the yeast is left in, so the beer can bottle condition with the yeast. This makes the beer cloudy when poured into a glass and adds a distinct ester flavor and aroma.

I poured the Weihenstephaner Kristall Weissbier into half liter Weizen glass. The color was light gold, bright and very clear. The head was white and high. The nose contained a subtle aroma of spicy German hops and was very similar to a good light pilsner with a hint of wheat. Many of the reviews for this beer I read described the nose as having hints of banana’s and spice like a Hefeweizen. I was expecting this, but I did not pick up on any bananas or spice. I even bought a second bottle to see if I could get a different nose, but I got the same result. The taste was overall very light. Tasted similar to a pilsner upfront with nice wheat malt and spicy hops finish that lingered a bit in my throat. Overall, I found the beer very smooth and crisp with a flavor I am more used to finding in an excellent pilsner than wheat beer. The mild flavor and 5.4% alcohol makes this a refreshing beer to drink on hot summer day and a homework assignment I would be glad to repeat.

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It states right on the bottle “Belikin - the beer of Belize” and they aren’t kidding. Belikin is “the” only beer available in most places in Belize. I was in Belize for 9 days and I only saw Belikin products and occasionally Red Stripe. Belikin Brewing makes 4 products: Belikin Lager, Belikin Stout, Light House, and Belikin Premium. The Belikin Company also produces Guinness Foreign Extra Stout under license from Guinness. Belikin Lager is by far the most popular beer you will find in Belize. Every place that serves alcohol will have it in bottles, and if you ask for a Belikin or just a “beer” you will get a Belikin Lager. The others can be more elusive, but are generally available at better bars and resorts. They all pretty much taste the same, the differences being that Light House is a light beer and the Belikin Premium comes in 12 ounce bottle with a alcohol content around 5.5%. I understand that Belikin on draft exists, but I never saw any draft beer in Belize.

Belikin Lager tastes pretty much like most tropical beers: slightly sweet with very low hops flavor and a clean finish, making it a refreshing beer you can drink a lot of in the tropical heat. I found the taste similar to, but even milder than, Miller High Life (which is my favorite summertime drinking beer). The lager goes great with the seafood and rice and beans dishes that are a staple of the Belizean diet. Belikin Lager’s alcohol content is a little lower in than most US domestic lagers at 4.8% alcohol by volume. The stout is a dark, very sweet stout with a higher alcohol content at 6.3% by volume. The stout is surprisingly good, but a bit too sweet to drink more than a couple of bottles in a row in the heat of Belize.

Belikin Lager and Stout come in the same bottle, the only difference is the bottle cap; green caps for lager and blue caps for stout. The bottles are the heaviest I have ever felt. They are the same size as a U.S. 12 ounce bottle, but hold 9.6 ounces. The locals joke that the bottles are as heavy empty as they are full. So, if you are US tourist looking to tie on a tropical beer buzz, be ready to put away few more bottles than you are used to drinking at home due to the smaller bottle volume and lower alcohol content. If you get sick of Belikin beer, Belize also produces many excellent rums.

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A little bit of Belgium from the heart of New York State! Cooperstown, New York is not only the home of the Baseball Hall of Fame, but also to the Ommegang brewery. Brewery Ommegang was purpose built to brew authentic Belgium style ales. Ommegang was opened in 1997 and sold to Duvel, a major Belgian brewer, in 2003. Now Ommegang is brewed and sold in both Europe and the US. Five beers are brewed year round at Ommegang: Ommegang Abbey Ale, Hennepin Farmhouse Saison, Rare Vos Amber Ale, Ommegang Witte Ale, and Three Philosophers.

All 5 beers are fantastic and have won multiple awards, but my favorite is the Ommegang Abbey Ale. This beer is double style brewed in the centuries old traditions of Belgium Trappist monks. It’s bottle conditioned in a cork sealed 750ml bottle and can be cellared like a fine wine. It is recommended that this beer be drank from a goblet like you would drink red wine from. This allows for proper head expansion and the full release of the beer’s aromas.

Ommegang Abbey Ale is lively beer, so tilt your glass and pour it slow. The color is very a very deep, dark, opaque brown with a rich, tan, frothy head. The nose has slight yeastiness with an overall malty roast character and hints of raisins and green apples. The first thing you will taste is the sweet creamy malt complimented with slightly sour yeasty sharpness. The hop character is minimum throughout, with just enough hops to balance out the malty sweetness. The beer finishes smooth and sweet with minimum hops.

This is a great beer for pairing with foods. Goes great with barbeque and grilled red meats in the summertime. Also great with dried fruits and sharp pungent cheeses like Gorgonzola.

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It’s summer time, and for a lot of beer drinkers that means it’s Hefe-Weisse time. I am a huge fan of wheat beers all year long, but I have to agree there is something particularly refreshing about a nice tall Weizen glass of Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse on a hot summer afternoon. Most people go for the far more commonly available light version, Hefe-Weisse Hell, which is outstanding, but being a fan of malty beers I prefer the dark or Hefe-Weisse Dunkel version. Like its lighter cousin, Hefe-Weisse Dunkel is top fermented ale made with wheat malt from which the yeast is not filtered out.

I began drinking Franziskaner while on a trip to Munich after college. I knew about wheat beer, but had never had Dunkel Weis, and once I did I was hooked on the dark stuff, and I especially enjoyed Franziskaner’s Hefe-Weisse Dunkel. Within a few months of returning home, I was pleasantly surprised to find the beer with the jolly monk on the label was beginning to show up at beer stores and some supermarkets with good beer sections. I was even happier to see that the dark version often appeared next to it’s lighter counterpart on store shelves. Franziskaner is most commonly available in the European size 16.9 oz (.5 liter) brown bottles. I have seen the Hefe-Weisse in 12 oz green bottles, but sometimes it has a slightly skunky taste from the green glass.

Pour a chilled Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse Dunkel into a Weizen glass - it is important to use a Weizen glass if you have one available. The half liter Weizen glasses are large enough to accommodate the larger capacity bottle with room for the lively head to expand. And the beer can be lively so tilt the glass and pour carefully or it will jump out of your glass. Imported or just your better Weizen glasses will have a half liter mark on the glass with about an inch above it for head expansion. As soon as you pour a Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse Dunkel you will notice the airy, foamy head, but don’t pour the beer in all at once - stop and swirl the bottle when about a third is left to get the yeast off the bottom and then finish the pour. The beer will be dark, rich, amber and cloudy from the yeast. The aroma has a slight banana and fruit smell from the unfiltered yeast balanced with sweet roasted malt and toffee from the dark wheat malt. The carbonation is tight and crisp on the tongue and very refreshing. The beer pretty much tastes like it smells. You immediately taste yeast and citrus with a hint of bananas and spice up front. The citrus bite and spices are balanced by sweet creamy roasted malt flavor. It is this smooth sweet malt that sets the Dunkel apart from the more crisp banana and spice taste of a light wheat beer. The Dunkel finishes clean with a hint of hops. The flavor does not linger and leaves you refreshed and wanting more.

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