Charger's Wine (and Beer) Club

[Charger]

^^^Yes I do prefer beers that don't taste like urine...and even better if there actually is NO urine in them...


This time we have a domestic beer called Rocking American Lager from Rocking Bear Brewery in Pori Finland.
This murky golden colored lager has flavours of citrus and grassy moderate hoppiness.

This is taste wise bit closer to IPA actually than your traditional American lager to be honest. There is also a quite a strong yeast flavour present that overpowers the malt.
Rocking is something of a bastard son of an IPA and a Lager...not really sure what to make of it. Nothing too great but not as horrid as you might think either. The label is what got me to buy this....and honestly the label IS the best thing about this one.

*  *  ½

[Zzzptm]

That is one party lion on the can!

[Charger]

Charger's Wine Club....WINE EDITION! Been a while hasn't it!?

It seems that Finland has again been treated with some new wines from the United States so that ofcourse means returning to the old wine club days...

This time we have a red blend from Modesto California called Bear Flag Dark Red Wine Blend.

This is a blend of several grapes including Petite Sirah, Zinfandel, Syrah and Tempranillo! Not a very common mix I would say. But all of those grapes are among my favourites.
The medium bodied red has some flavours of blueberry, plum and rasberry and some average tannins...there is also a bit of acicidy especially during the after taste, which adds a nice additional element.  This isn't overly sweet but it most certainly is on the sweet side, which isn't a bad thing.
 
I would say that this would probably fit better as a barbeque wine or maybe with some spicy food than as a stand alone wine but very nice above average red blend from California non the less.

As usual I'm giving my wines the wine magazine rating of between 85 and 95 and this one gets a strong
91.

[Zzzptm]

a barbeque wine

My immediate thought was of someone putting barbecued wine out on the table and everyone talking about how good the smoke flavor in it was. I get crazy imagination flashes like that.

Now I wanna try barbecued wine...

[Charger]

Okay...now I'd like to try some too...bet it would taste like shit but still...

[Zzzptm]

Okay...now I'd like to try some too...bet it would taste like shit but still...

Do you smoke your wine with hickory or walnut wood?

[Charger]

Maybe apple wood...adding that cider taste...

[Zzzptm]

Maybe apple wood...adding that cider taste...

Mmmmmm! What goes best with barbecued wine, red or white meat?

[Zzzptm]

Holy crap, Charger! I was goofing around with a friend and did a search for "evil doughnut" and THIS came up:

https://uncrate.com/evil-twin-imperial-doughnut-break-beer/



11.5% ABV and it's a coffee doughnut porter!

 

EDIT: Found a review: https://beer-zombies.com/2014/09/09/review-imperial-doughnut-break-evil-twin-brewing/ Guy seemed enthusiastic about it... interesting... doughnut beer, who knew?

[Charger]

Haha! Doughnut beer! Good lord!

Honestly I'd love to taste that. I mean I love doughnuts and I love beer...so they must go well together...right?

[Charger]

Charger's Wine Club Beer Edition.

This time we have a domestic beer again from the Mallaskoski Brewery in Seinäjoki Finland called Heller Heller Bock.

This amber brown Heller Bock beer has a mild but likeable flavour palate some sweet caramel and herby undertones and a very slight soft maltiness.

All in all a very well balanced and nice tasting beer.
What surprised me the most with this is that it also has some wheat malts in it...I usually HATE and I do mean HATE wheat beers as the taste of wheat is not meant for beers but in this it is very mild and you can taste that the most of the malt is barley. You can actually smell the wheat more than you can taste it, which is good.

I went into this beer thinking I wouldn't like it, but much to my surprise I do...


*  *  *  ½

[Charger]

This time we have a Dunkel from the Anheuser-Busch brewery in Munich Germany called Spaten München Dunkel.

This dark brown beer has flavours of rye, sweet caramel and even a slight nutty undertone with a slightly bitter after taste.

As usual with these darker german beers, especially Dunkel there is quite a bit going on flavour wise and it's quite often a rather strange fight between sweet and bitter.
At first there's a clear sweetness that almost overpowers the taste and then the bitterness hits but still leaving this almost syrup-like feel to your lips.

This is something that might go very well with some barbeque, especially sweet and sour stuff...but as a stand alone beer it's not all that enjoyable to be honest. It's like it needs something meaty on the side.

*  *  *

[Zzzptm]

Anheuser-Busch is also in Germany? I did not know that, thought they were 100% American.

[Charger]

Anheuser-Busch is also in Germany? I did not know that, thought they were 100% American.

Well it says since 1397 on the bottle so I'm assuming it was originally from Germany then...unless it was the indians over there that started the brewery....

[Zzzptm]

Did some sleuthing... OK, Googling...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AB_InBev

Spaten brewery has been running since 1397, but its ownership has been changing since 1997 or so. Now it's owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV.