Interesting nuggets of trivia all about our favorite beverage are right here.

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America makes some of the world’s finest beers. And now those beers are getting the conveyance they deserve—cans.

Bottles are fragile, heavy (620 grams compared to 366 grams on average for a standard 12-ounce bottle), let in light that can skunk your beer, and are harder to pack in and out on float trips and hikes. Bottles don’t stack in the refrigerator. Plus if you drop a can it doesn’t shatter into a hundred tendon-lacerating shards.

I’m sure the craft brewers have given thought to this idea, but the investment in new equipment and raw materials must be cost prohibitive. Only time will tell.

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Instead of jumping into the narrow craft beer aisle, I went straight for the cooler. I knew they’d have some crafy beer already cold that I could snatch and grab and pay and be gone. I didn’t have to look very hard. On one of the shelves in the middle was a four-pack of beer brewed by the fine French-Quebecans, Unibroue. I remembered their Maudite which I loved and I also remembered their La Fin du Monde which I had a little trouble with. I decided to give them another chance and this time I purchased the four-pack of Blanche de Chambly, a witbier. It will be hell knowing that Friday night will be a night of sleep instead of drinking and writing about beer, but it will be time well spent.

Saturday gave me plenty of time to examine and research. I grabbed a chilled bottle of B de C and looked it over. The front label rather proudly proclaimed:

White beer on lees. 5% alc./vol.

Obviously a beer that’s been bottle fermented.

The back of the label confirmed it:

Blanche de Chambly is a beer containing a deposit of fresh yeast; the result of refermentation occurring in the bottle. This beer is only partially filtered to enable it to retain the benefits of its natural ingredients.

Now comes the personal paradox. This Blanche de Chambly is a witbier, or white beer. Is a white beer a wheat beer and vice versa? According to Wikipedia:

Witbier, white beer, (French: la bière blanche), or simply witte is a barley/wheat, top-fermented beer brewed mainly in Belgium. Wheat beer is a beer that is brewed with a large proportion of wheat. Wheat beers often also contain a significant proportion of malted barley. Wheat beers are usually top-fermented. The flavor of wheat beers varies considerably, depending upon the specific style. The main varieties are weissbier, witbier and the sour varieties, such as lambic.

I guess then, that you could call a witbier a wheat beer, but not the other way around.

There we have it. I’d say then, that based on the above info, I’ll be choosing a wheat beer glass for tasting tonight’s concoction.

At the appropriate time Saturday night, I grabbed the first bottle of B de C and uncapped it. Hmm. A twist-off. Some marketing manager’s decision, perhaps.

The beer poured up carrying with it a majestic fluffy white head which dissipated rather quickly. The liquid was the expected foggy yellow, but the color leaned more towards orange than yellow. Kind nectarine-y. A bazillion microbubbles rose as if from a mini undersea volcano. The aroma had scents of a little wheat and a little sweet. Ahh, fields and orchards.

The first sip was delightful. Slightly tart with an overlying wheat flavor, all that surrounded in a tinge of mild citrus. The tartness of the beer flavor grabbed along the sides of the tongue while the sweet middle lingered, um, in the middle.

There was a lot going on in this beer. The wheat flavor of the beer was front and center and its main character, but the citrus flavors also starred in this cast. I’d say that the sweetness coupled with the tart alongs the lines of a tangerine or nectarine. Not a lot, but just enough to stimulate a whole raft of taste buds.

Halfway through the first glass, I wished I had more left than just the three. Each sip went down nice and smooth and clean and left the tongue begging for more. More notes of biscuit or bready flavors came through. But still, the overall flavors of wheat and tart fruit held firm and carried the taste along.

This is definitely a summer beer and could almost be considered a lawnmower beer if it just didn’t cost so damn much for the quantity.  At two and a half bucks a bottle, swilling down three or four of these is entirely possible but not very cost effective. This beer is, however, a wheat treat and very possibly a taste treat that the ladies would enjoy.

Pick this one up if you’re feeling flush with your wallet, after a lucky night at the casino or after finally selling that old clunker that was in the driveway for so long. Or, if you’d just like to try it right now, borrow a sawbuck from the old lady and treat her to 25% of the loot. She’ll love how you spent her money.

Blanche de Chambly is a great thirst quencher with a unique flavor and a memorable taste. It’s a very viable contender in the witbier/wheat beer style. At 5% ABV, it’s a slammer in a tinfoil topped disguise.

The SixPackTech ratings for Unibroue Blanche de Chambly are:

Taste: A > This beer should be packaged in a juice box.
Smoothness: A- > All that’s missing is the whipped cream.
Drinkability: A- > They’ll go very quickly.
Bang for the buck: C > Ten bucks – four beers. Sheesh.
ABV: 5.0%

Wife’s all-encompassing opinion: Oh, yeah, that’s cloudy. (sniff) OOH! Smells kind of sweet, but not sugary. (sip) WOW! Wait a minute! This is pretty good. (sip) I was expecting bitter. (sip) Oh yeah, and it’s good and cold too. (sip) I really like that. (Settle down woman. The neighbors might hear.)

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Now have some fun following along:

Blanche de Chambly – About the Beer

Blanche de Chambly – About the Legend

Blanche Devereaux

Shambling Mound

Shambling mound – a D&D carnivorous plant.

He will reassure her when she feels insecure and comfort her after a bad day.

He will inspire her to do things she never thought she could do; to live without fear and forget regret.

He will enable her to express her deepest emotions and give in to her most intimate desires.

He will make sure she always feels as though she’s the most beautiful woman in the room and will enable her to be the most confident, sexy, seductive, and invincible.

No wait… sorry… I’m thinking of beer.

Never mind.

(B&P)

A show of hands of people who are worried… meh!

Read the whole story here.

The Bleeding Deacon’s beer list. Hmm. No Bud, no Miller, but Coors Light is OK. Pfft!

Already, some of the autumn seasonal beers were on display. Jesus Helvetica Christ, where did the summer go? I’m not ready! Hell, the hair on my wrists have finally grown back after last winter’s stint of sweatshirt sleeve elastic did its damage. I will wait. I’m not ready to let go of summer, even as brutal as it was.

My eyes fell upon one of two sixpacks on the second tier, both from the same company. This one would fit in perfectly with unwillingness to face the upcoming change of season. The beer was called Dog Days Dortmunder Style Lager and the cartoony picture of a dog asleep in the shade beside his chewbone set the stage. Brewed by the Two Brothers Brewing Company out of Warrenville, Illinois, this beer had its origin not too far from Morris. Hmm. Brewery tour noted for the future.

Checking the label:

Brewed in the style of Dortmund, Germany, this golden lager has a delicate caramel malt character balanced by a light body and mild German noble hops, creating a crisp, refreshing finish.

Hmm again. I wonder about that caramel. I paid the required 10.5 bucks for the group to Alessa with Lauren looking on, and bade adieu to the on-duty babes of the MBS. Sigh.

What exactly is behind the Dortmunder style of beer? I needed a refresher course in beer styles. In a nutshell, it’s the noble hops which tend to set this style of beer apart from other lagers and pilsners. This nobility is limited to just a few varieties of hops. The distinction of different hop tastes and characteristics is something I’ve been trying to learn for quite some time. After having some Sam Adams Noble Pils a while ago, I am expecting this beer to be no less delicious even at its rated 17 IBUs.

The afternoon hours slowly dwindled, taking along some more of the summer with them. I would like to wait  at least until the daily temps drop below 80° before diving into the autumnals. But tonight was another evening in the low 80s out in the Manly Garage and I was going to celebrate the dog days of the August summer with Some Dog Days beer.

The beer was purchased warm at 2 p.m. but a half-hour term in the freezer along with six hours of refrigerator time should be enough to prep this beer for proper consumption. With a freshly plucked and rinsed lager glass in hand, I trudged out to the garage, popped open the first beer and poured.

The beer pour yielded a beautiful golden yellow color and beneath the rather sparse and loose head rose an army of all sized bubbles, some of them quite large. The aroma was just barely there and had just a hint of light maltiness to it. Hmm. The head damn near went away and became just a small puddle of white suds right on top.Don’t worry about tilting the glass on this one, lads.

The first sip was extraordinary. This was your typical full flavored lager that folks have been drinking for decades only with more. The entire middle of the sip was comprised of a hearty, and robust, lightly malted lager taste. A slight bit of sweetness came forward and added to the maltiness making this seem like a truly enjoyable refreshment. I hope nothing changes as we went on.

Each sip had a subtle crispness to it and after a short time, some hints of hops came forward. If that slight hoppiness were the noble hops coming through, it’s a taste that I will have to remember.

But as each sip went down, it reminded me of those early tastings of my dad’s beer and just how great this beer would be after a hard day at work. This was straight, pure unadulterated beer flavor. Middle of the road beer with a wonderful full flavor, this beer should be stocked in beer fridges across the country.

As the sips went on into the second glass, there was no one flavor or taste nuance that became unappealing or gritty. No caramel tastes rose up to greet my palate, but I’m sure it worked its magic in with the malted body of the beer. Sip after sip was pure beery goodness. Straight, pure beer, enough to put a smile on the face of the grump that hides within. Thirst quenching and refreshing. I could see slammin’ a few of these after a hot day at work but I’m sure the robustity of the flavors would cause one to slow down after a while. Even at 5.1% ABV the majority of a sixer could be made to disappear before one realized it.

Don’t let the absence of a big head deter you from this beer. I’m sure it has a little to do with the malts and their inherent sugars. Although this beer won’t blow you away, it just may make you raise one or both eyebrows even after the first sip.

In my opinion, the Two Brothers have hit a homer with this beer. Light and refreshing yet so full of good, beery flavors, the beer goes down nice and easy and will put you in a happy place. This beer is available April through August so there’s a little time left for beer store reconnaissance mission. Snatch up a sixpack of Dog Days before they’re all gone just like the summer itself.

The SixPackTech ratings for Two Brothers Dortmunder Style Lager Beer are:

Taste: A- > Liquid gold. The perfect summer quencher.
Smoothness: A- > Slick as a freshly waxed fender.
Drinkability: A- > They just go right down.
Bang for the buck: B > The ABV notwithstanding, the price may give some pause.
ABV: 5.1%
Wife’s all-encompassing opinion: It’s light. Hmm… Kind of… ooh! Kind of sweet. Actually it’s pretty good. I kinda like this. It’s got a sweetness almost like honey to it. This is really pleasant. If only it were colder… (The colder is coming, Dear. Just wait.)

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Two brothers

Dog Day Afternoon (Language)

Dog Day Afternoon

Hoping to let rush hour traffic die down a bit, I waited until about 6 p.m. to make a beer run. I knew that the Four Seasons Beer Store would have some sort of craft beer nicely chilled and waiting for me in their giant cooler. As soon as I got there, I started my scan.

A few of the unfamiliar beers were untried IPAs. I omitted those from my selection process because tonight, I wanted malts and not a lot of hops. Some of the beers I mentioned last week were now replaced by some of the beers I’ve already tried. A couple of chilled beers caught my eye; Lagunitas Censored, a beer from Unibroue (Chambly) and a few more.

I settled on something from a can. A nitrocan. I opted for a beer I haven’t heard of, namely Wexford Irish Style Crème Ale . I checked the label imprinted on the can in a Medieval or Renaissance font:

Based on a traditional Irish recipe from County Wexford that dates back to 1810, we use only the best ingredients to ensure that our Wexford Ale has a smooth mellow creaminess we believe you will enjoy.

Hmm. An Irish beer brewed by Greene King Brewing Company in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, U.K. I must admit, it was the Crème part that sold me on this beer, not the 5% ABV. I winced while I paid the required $9.49 for four cans of 14.9 ounces each and made my way back home.

Once I recovered from my Internet carousing, There was just enough time for a quick frozen meal, a NYT crossword puzzle and some vanilla ice cream. Gastrically satisfied, I selected a pub pint glass from the cabinet and began this odd tale.

I popped the top and held my ear close to the opening. There was that familiar sound of gas escaping  from the nitro widget within. As I poured the beer it looked almost like an off-white foam coming out of the can. Into the glass and the show began. The majority of the liquid looked like a rootbeer float. A cascade began from top to bottom as the brown liquid slowly started to appear at the bottom. The final act of the show was displaying what looked like frozen ice-beer below the head. That finally disappeared and a thick, creamy slightly off-white head stood all proud in it’s 3/4”’s worth.

The liquid showed an amber-brown tint. Then, an optical illusion. Thick foamy head on top, no carbonation below. Fascinating. The aroma was slight and reminded me of a mild brown ale. Tons of small bubbles clung to the inside periphery of the glass despite the thorough cold water rinse the glass received just minutes before the pour.

The first sip was odd. It felt creamy right away in the mouth and the lack of carbonation was apparent. But the taste was something else. There was some hint of sweetness that reminded me of apple. Or was that the zing of the hops? The body was nicely malted and the swallow went down like whipped cream.

There was a slight sweetness at the front and then the malty taste came in. Mixed in with that malt was that strange slightly green-apple flavor and also a little bit of tart bitter. The swallow was always a nice, mild, creamy one. The secret in this beer is the malty apple tartness that plays with the tongue during every sip. The non-carbonation may be missed by some but it’s my opinion that carbonation would needlessly complicate the great taste of this beer.

I had a little trouble opening the second can. The poptop disengaged from the top and became useless as an opening lever. The can was still shut. I had to punch the stamped top opening with my pocketknife and thumb that lid into submission. The cascade on this second beer was not quite so dramatic, only involving the upper half of the glass. The clinging bubble jungle was not present with this second beer, but the head, the malts, the apple and the cream were just as before. I blamed the change on the heat in the garage which is sitting at 84°F right now.

To call this an ESB would be slighting this beer. The creaminess of each sip is the most charming feature. The malts, with that apple somewhere in there comes in a close second. Each sip slightly tart, slightly sweet and easy going down. Let’s not forget that there’s a show in every can right at the pour.

Wexford Irish Crème Ale is a treat if you’re looking for something slightly different. The mysterious apple hint, the cascade circus at the pour and lack of carbonation will give you something to remember for a long time. Mild, slightly tart and refreshing, this beer should come in a sixpack of widgetized cans. According to my calculations, a sixpack would run $14.25. That would be a little too steep for a 5% ABV beer, widget or not. But at $9.50 for just under a half-gallon of taste, that may give you reason to look, or look elsewhere.

The SixPackTech ratings for Wexford Irish Style Crème Ale are:

Taste: B- > Malt and creamy, tarty goodness.
Smoothness: B- > The lack of carbonation is the secret here.
Drinkability: B- > Four will do nicely, thanks.
Bang for the buck: C > Once you’ve seen the show, it’s time to move on.
ABV: 5.0%
Wife’s all-encompassing opinion: Not a lotta smell. It hits you at first and then it kind of fizzles. Kinda watered down grapefruit juice. A little bit of tang then nothing. (Potato, potah-toe. Apple, grapefruit. Pfft!)

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For comparison, here’s a typical Guinness cascade:

Here’s tonight’s Wexford cascade with bad camera aim:

The Model Dictionary of Wexford Slang

Wax Ford. Groan!