BTN: Beers for wine lovers

Cantillon Grand Cru Bruoxcella

An odd bottle as it had continued fermenting and was fully fizzy like "normal" beer (usually it's almost flat). It had a strangely bitter note to it also, but was actually pretty much like the Gueuze. An oddity among the GCs I've had, but fully enjoyable anyway.

Saison Dupont

The nose is very sweetly hoppy, almost honeyed. Beautifully fresh and dry and hoppy taste. What a lovely beer.

Dupont some cuvée or other from 1997

Badly oxidised. Undrinkable. Molasses.

Thomas Hardy's Ale 1995

This is well oxidised - I love it! The fizz has gone almost completely, but the nose is sweet, rather winey (I finally understood why it's called barley WINE), rather complex if a bit unctuous. The palate was lovely: sweet but with a slight bitter edge keeping it fresh. Full bodied for sure, but the 12% abv didn't show at all. Lovely.

Ara Bier

A lovely, hoppy nose, rather sweet also. The palate has a touch of sweetness, is rather full bodied (8% abv), a bit too much carbonation. I thought it only a decent beer until the aftertaste which rocked! Immensely hoppy, dry, mineral even and intense and long.

Cantillon Gueuze (from 2005)

Bloody brilliant. As always. Smells a bit like Musar.

Thiriez Etoile du Nord

Also bloody brilliant. As always. The hops are earthy and almost peppery! I love hops.

De Ranke XX Bitter

We opened several bottles of this to verify what the first bottle led us to believe: it wasn't a very successful batch. It was sweet, the usually aromatic hoppiness wasn't there at all. How odd. It wasn't a bad beer (all four bottles were consumed), but it was utterly different from what it has usually been. Our host suggested that the hops used weren't fresh.

-Otto-(Cantillon rocks!)

Thomas Hardy's Ale 1995

This is well oxidised - I love it! The fizz has gone almost completely, but the nose is sweet, rather winey (I finally understood why it's called barley WINE), rather complex if a bit unctuous. The palate was lovely: sweet but with a slight bitter edge keeping it fresh. Full bodied for sure, but the 12% abv didn't show at all. Lovely.

I have some 1994 in the cellar that I just can't seem to make myself touch. Maybe I should but from your notes sounds like there is no hurry. Thanks.

De Ranke XX Bitter

We opened several bottles of this to verify what the first bottle led us to believe: it wasn't a very successful batch. It was sweet, the usually aromatic hoppiness wasn't there at all. How odd. It wasn't a bad beer (all four bottles were consumed), but it was utterly different from what it has usually been. Our host suggested that the hops used weren't fresh.

-Otto-(Cantillon rocks!)

Possibly the beer itself wasn't fresh. Bitter is best consumed within a few weeks of being bottled or kegged to get the full effect of the hop aroma. To get that fresh hop aroma, brewers will employ either late addition hopping (adding hops at the last few minutes of the boil, at flame out or employ the use of a hopback where the just-brewed beer is pumped through a container packed with fresh hops), or dry hopping where fresh hops are added to either the fermentor after primary fermentation and allowed to steep for a few weeks or added directly to the keg if the beer is meant to be consumed in a very short amount of time. This allows the aromatic oils within the hops to be released into the beer without being volatilized by boiling. The aromatic oils are very volatile and will degrade in the bottle or keg over time thus reducing the fresh aroma to the point of little or none being left in the beer.