Before I start the diary, a list of five, as has become tradition.
Five favorite Hoosier Beer Geeks (in order)
1) Chris - doesn't mind if you throw up in his car, former guitarist for Alanis Morissette.
2) Jim - watches soccer, great dancer.
3) Kelly - apparently knows everyone, can perform emergency dental work.
4) Jason - helpful to strangers, quotes Shakespeare regularly.
5) Gina - stalks me, part robot.
On to the beer...
2 September 07 Location: Home
Two Brothers Brewing Co. Domaine DuPage French Style Country Ale (bottle labeled "Best by 8/15/04") - A trip to PartiPak last night brought home a mixed 6 pack featuring 4 beers I've never had before. This is one of the four. Really nice bottle - golds and maroons, a classy presentation. If I had seen the "best by" marking, I probably wouldn't have made this purchase, but nevertheless... pours extremely fizzy in the glass, more like a 7 Up than a beer. Thick pillowy head on top of a cloudy, dark pumpkin-colored body. A while back I had a beer at Brugge called "the sour" - this is the closest thing I've had to that beer. But this isn't nearly as good. Sour dominates both the nose and taste, but not in a pleasant, sour candy sort of way... just sort of a sour apple taste - I drank half and gave Gina the rest.
11 September 07 Location: Home
Stone Pale Ale - I've decided to only drink beers I've heard Jeffery T talk about - thus, Stone Pale Ale. Dark golden color, with a thin lacing. Light, slightly hoppy nose. Smooth, surprising taste - dry, earthy popcorn, with just a tiny kick of a hop aftertaste. Taste kinda stays with you. Pretty mild. Not bad, but wouldn't be my first choice - though my pale ale experience is pretty limited.
15 September 07 Location: My childhood home, Trenton, IL
Bell's Octoberfest - Left over from our tasting at Big Car. 5.8% ABV, pours like a soda with a head that quickly settles - this beer looks quite active and bubbly, with a dark copper color. A sweet yeasty, bready nose that follows into the taste. Then the alcohol notes come out - this tastes like a stronger beer than it is. I don't think it's very good, but maybe I should have let it chill a bit longer.
20 September 07 Location: Brugge Brasserie, Indianapolis
The Black - To be honest, every time I visit Brugge I worry that the beer won't be as good as I remember it. The Black is (obviously enough) black and opaque in color, with a tiny bubbly and pillowy head. At first taste, this isn't the beer I remember. Heavily alkaline - a penny-like taste that overpowers everything else. But the beer was served colder than in my previous experiences, so I gave it a minute to warm up. In earlier reviews of the black my fellow beer geeks noted chocolate, coffee, and nuts - but I don't get that at all. I think the beer has a sweet, slightly plum-like nose and taste - with none of the stout-like characteristics found in earlier reviews. The plum hints might make you think of other Belgian-style beers, but this isn't an overpowering fruit taste like some of those other beers - the beer is perfectly mild and endlessly drinkable. But it also packs more punch than any other beer I can think of - after just one glass the walk to the restroom becomes slightly more entertaining than it should be. I still don't know the ABV of this beer, but I suspect it's over 10.
Ratebeer.com says 7% - I don't buy that at all. Besides, ratebeer.com give the black a 69/100 score, which is a travesty.
I have to wonder if there's some inconsistency in the different batches of the beer - the alkaline taste that I got off the top wasn't something I remember from before, and this beer was really my introduction to good beer back before I was writing for Hoosier Beer Geek. I just can't imagine liking it so much back then with this much metallic taste.
Despite the inconsistency, drinking this beer is always a rewarding experience - I just wonder which version we're going to get once it's bottled. Despite my much larger beer background, the black is still a favorite.
Ommegang Hennepin - This is the first time I've had someone else's beer from the tap at Brugge - I'd imagine they're running a bit low on the home-grown stuff while they get things in line at the brewery in Terre Haute. Ommegang is a New York brewery brewing Belgian style beers, so the beer fits Brugge's concept pretty well. Hennepin has a cloudy lemon color, with a thin flat head. A sweet and mild fruit nose preceeds a full but not heavy mouthfeel. I wrote the word "mild" three times in my notes - it's just a refreshingly pleasant and agreeable beer; a perfect summertime drink. It's almost hefe-like in its drinkability and taste - fruity, but not overpoweringly so, and minus the banana hints of a typical hefeweizen. Hennepin calls this a "farmhouse saison" - and I don't have enough saison experience to compare this to anything else. But I do know it's pretty fantastic stuff.
Showing posts with label The Black. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Black. Show all posts
21 September 2007
19 October 2006
KOTBR Review #5: Brugge's The Black
Jim, Kelly, and I met up at Brugge Brasserie, located in Broad Ripple, for the most recent beer review. That night, we decided to try The Black. Below you will find our reviews:
Jim: This week’s meeting of the Knights of the Beer Roundtable took place at Brugge Brasserie, the Broad Ripple brewery and gastro-pub with a Belgian twist. The pub, which opened in April 2005, is owned by brewmaster Ted Miller and actor Abraham Benrubi of “ER” fame (the two were Broad Ripple High School classmates). Brugge offers handcrafted Belgian beers and Belgian style food, including crepes, steamed mussels, and Belgian sub sandwiches called mitraillettes. And then there are the fries, or “frites” as they are properly known in Belgium. Oh, the frites! The Belgians invented French fries, and the frites offered at Brugge are of the highest caliber. They are served in a paper cone along with your choice of sauces, which range from the traditional European side, mayonnaise, to roasted garlic aioli to homemade ketchup.
While the food at Brugge is excellent, we were at the pub for the beer, of course. I arrived first and had a seat in the bar. Normally, Brugge has football of the round variety (i.e., soccer) on the bar television. But on this Thursday evening, pointyball was the type of football in demand, specifically college football. So while I waited for Chris and Kelly to arrive, I went ahead and ordered my warm-up beer and settled in to watch a little of the game. I chose Brugge’s Abbey Ale on the suggestion of the bartender. The Abbey, which I have never seen on Brugge’s beer menu before, was a pleasant amber ale that was on the malty and dry side. It was an appropriately mellow prelude to the feature beer, which was pretty powerful stuff as I’ll explain here shortly.
I had drained almost half of my Abbey Ale when Chris arrived. Not much later, Kelly joined us and we got a round of the feature beer, the ominously named “The Black.” The Black is dark brown in color and has a nose with primarily chocolate, coffee, and nutty notes. The head is light brown and dense. At first sip, The Black nicely grabs a hold of your tongue with an almost perfect balance of hops and malt. There is a good hoppy bite to the ale, but it’s not overwhelming. As might be expected of a dark ale, The Black follows its coffee-like nose with a slightly coffeeish taste. It also has a bit of a sweet taste, too. The Black doesn’t approach barley wine sweetness, but it’s not too far off from what one might expect from a barley wine style ale such as Young’s Old Nick.
Brugge’s beer menu doesn’t disclose The Black’s ABV percentage, but it must be at least seven percent if not more because the ale will sneak up on you if you’re not careful. I had a fairly intense buzz going after finishing off three quarters of the glass. So if you order it, drink with care!
So to the rating – This is a four mug beer for me. I can’t give it a five mug rating because I’ve had only one perfect beer in my life (North Coast Brewery’s Old Rasputin Imperial Stout, Millenium Release) that nothing else has ever been able to measure up to. But The Black is a high quality, very drinkable ale that most beer geeks will enjoy.
Kelly: Fall is by far my favorite time of year for many reasons—not the least of which is that I typically start preferring darker, more substantial beers. (it's just hard for me to really enjoy a double black stout in the middle of a heat wave, or to relax on a balmy summer evening with a dunkelweisen!) So it's appropriate that my second meeting of the Knights of the Beer Roundtable took place on one of the first windswept, blustery, leaves-starting-to-change days of fall.
I met up with Jim and Christopher at Brugge Brasserie, a Broad Ripple stalwart that I had never visited before (okay, not true—I had frequented the place quite a bit when the bottom floor was Net Heads, but I refuse to acknowledge that geek that dwells deep within.) The décor is pretty eclectic—I was expecting it to be more upscale, but they've got big, rustic wooden tables, interesting wall art, and plenty of TVs turned to the sports of the moment (apparently, this is THE place to be if you're a soccer fan!) There was a table of extremely, uh, vibrant imbibers across the room, and ever so often, they'd break into a rousing rendition of "Ein Prosit" which made us wonder if they knew the difference between Belgium and… well… Germany.
I started off the evening with an American Wit, which was a little lighter and fruitier than I was expecting, but it was excellent—much reminiscent of a Blue Moon. The beer up for review, however, was The Black – Jim's favorite. And I can see why! At first taste, the earthy chocolate taste was a little bitter, but I took Jim's advice and let the beer sit to just colder than room temperature. What a difference! The malt and hops had a good balance, and it was actually very light on the palate (deceptively so, even.) The ABV percentage wasn't listed on the chalkboard, but I'd venture to guess this one is pretty high, as it knocked me for quite the loop. Good thing I was walking over to the Rouge for a show afterward. All in all, The Black gets the maximum amount of mugs from me, plus one extra for the fun fact below:
According to Brugge's website, The Black is brewed with a bit of poplar syrup, one of my dad's favorite fall treats. See? Even my beer gets into the fall spirit!
Chris: From the instant The Black touched my lips, I knew I had found my next 5 Mug beer. This is absolutely a perfect beer (if you like dark beers). The Black is approriately named, fore it is truly black. Completely opaque in color.
I kept getting a hickory and chocolate nose off this beer. I think I may be totally off on the hickory, but I swear I smelled it, and it smelled good.
The beer is thick, not quite chunky, but it is very full-bodied and hardy. I found it crisp to the tastebuds, particularly those in the middle of the tongue. That may be from the good carbonation in the beer.
I kept comparing this in my mind with Spaten's Optimator (see KOTBR #2). It's a very similar beer. Obviously from my review of Optimator, and now of The Black, I love dark and brooding beers. As Jim & Kelly both mentioned, the ABV wasn't listed, but I promise you it is high. I'm a beer drinker. And I'm a drinker of beers with high ABVs. And I had a pretty damn good buzz started by the time I finished my beer. This is, similar to the Optimator, one of those beers that gets better the warmer it gets. I'm guessing it isn't meant to be consumed while chilly.
Again, another perfect beer. Pure and simple - 5 mugs!
Jim: This week’s meeting of the Knights of the Beer Roundtable took place at Brugge Brasserie, the Broad Ripple brewery and gastro-pub with a Belgian twist. The pub, which opened in April 2005, is owned by brewmaster Ted Miller and actor Abraham Benrubi of “ER” fame (the two were Broad Ripple High School classmates). Brugge offers handcrafted Belgian beers and Belgian style food, including crepes, steamed mussels, and Belgian sub sandwiches called mitraillettes. And then there are the fries, or “frites” as they are properly known in Belgium. Oh, the frites! The Belgians invented French fries, and the frites offered at Brugge are of the highest caliber. They are served in a paper cone along with your choice of sauces, which range from the traditional European side, mayonnaise, to roasted garlic aioli to homemade ketchup.
While the food at Brugge is excellent, we were at the pub for the beer, of course. I arrived first and had a seat in the bar. Normally, Brugge has football of the round variety (i.e., soccer) on the bar television. But on this Thursday evening, pointyball was the type of football in demand, specifically college football. So while I waited for Chris and Kelly to arrive, I went ahead and ordered my warm-up beer and settled in to watch a little of the game. I chose Brugge’s Abbey Ale on the suggestion of the bartender. The Abbey, which I have never seen on Brugge’s beer menu before, was a pleasant amber ale that was on the malty and dry side. It was an appropriately mellow prelude to the feature beer, which was pretty powerful stuff as I’ll explain here shortly.
I had drained almost half of my Abbey Ale when Chris arrived. Not much later, Kelly joined us and we got a round of the feature beer, the ominously named “The Black.” The Black is dark brown in color and has a nose with primarily chocolate, coffee, and nutty notes. The head is light brown and dense. At first sip, The Black nicely grabs a hold of your tongue with an almost perfect balance of hops and malt. There is a good hoppy bite to the ale, but it’s not overwhelming. As might be expected of a dark ale, The Black follows its coffee-like nose with a slightly coffeeish taste. It also has a bit of a sweet taste, too. The Black doesn’t approach barley wine sweetness, but it’s not too far off from what one might expect from a barley wine style ale such as Young’s Old Nick.
Brugge’s beer menu doesn’t disclose The Black’s ABV percentage, but it must be at least seven percent if not more because the ale will sneak up on you if you’re not careful. I had a fairly intense buzz going after finishing off three quarters of the glass. So if you order it, drink with care!
So to the rating – This is a four mug beer for me. I can’t give it a five mug rating because I’ve had only one perfect beer in my life (North Coast Brewery’s Old Rasputin Imperial Stout, Millenium Release) that nothing else has ever been able to measure up to. But The Black is a high quality, very drinkable ale that most beer geeks will enjoy.
Kelly: Fall is by far my favorite time of year for many reasons—not the least of which is that I typically start preferring darker, more substantial beers. (it's just hard for me to really enjoy a double black stout in the middle of a heat wave, or to relax on a balmy summer evening with a dunkelweisen!) So it's appropriate that my second meeting of the Knights of the Beer Roundtable took place on one of the first windswept, blustery, leaves-starting-to-change days of fall.
I met up with Jim and Christopher at Brugge Brasserie, a Broad Ripple stalwart that I had never visited before (okay, not true—I had frequented the place quite a bit when the bottom floor was Net Heads, but I refuse to acknowledge that geek that dwells deep within.) The décor is pretty eclectic—I was expecting it to be more upscale, but they've got big, rustic wooden tables, interesting wall art, and plenty of TVs turned to the sports of the moment (apparently, this is THE place to be if you're a soccer fan!) There was a table of extremely, uh, vibrant imbibers across the room, and ever so often, they'd break into a rousing rendition of "Ein Prosit" which made us wonder if they knew the difference between Belgium and… well… Germany.
I started off the evening with an American Wit, which was a little lighter and fruitier than I was expecting, but it was excellent—much reminiscent of a Blue Moon. The beer up for review, however, was The Black – Jim's favorite. And I can see why! At first taste, the earthy chocolate taste was a little bitter, but I took Jim's advice and let the beer sit to just colder than room temperature. What a difference! The malt and hops had a good balance, and it was actually very light on the palate (deceptively so, even.) The ABV percentage wasn't listed on the chalkboard, but I'd venture to guess this one is pretty high, as it knocked me for quite the loop. Good thing I was walking over to the Rouge for a show afterward. All in all, The Black gets the maximum amount of mugs from me, plus one extra for the fun fact below:
According to Brugge's website, The Black is brewed with a bit of poplar syrup, one of my dad's favorite fall treats. See? Even my beer gets into the fall spirit!
Chris: From the instant The Black touched my lips, I knew I had found my next 5 Mug beer. This is absolutely a perfect beer (if you like dark beers). The Black is approriately named, fore it is truly black. Completely opaque in color.
I kept getting a hickory and chocolate nose off this beer. I think I may be totally off on the hickory, but I swear I smelled it, and it smelled good.
The beer is thick, not quite chunky, but it is very full-bodied and hardy. I found it crisp to the tastebuds, particularly those in the middle of the tongue. That may be from the good carbonation in the beer.
I kept comparing this in my mind with Spaten's Optimator (see KOTBR #2). It's a very similar beer. Obviously from my review of Optimator, and now of The Black, I love dark and brooding beers. As Jim & Kelly both mentioned, the ABV wasn't listed, but I promise you it is high. I'm a beer drinker. And I'm a drinker of beers with high ABVs. And I had a pretty damn good buzz started by the time I finished my beer. This is, similar to the Optimator, one of those beers that gets better the warmer it gets. I'm guessing it isn't meant to be consumed while chilly.
Again, another perfect beer. Pure and simple - 5 mugs!
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