Charger's Wine (and Beer) Club

[Charger]

We almost hit 100F today, which is 37.78C. Plenty of warm nights to go here!

Last night it was 4.5C (40F) here....not so warm..

Charger's Wine Club Beer Edition!
This time we have a domestic beer again and it's from Malmgård Brewery in Loviisa Finland called Malmgård Cream Ale.

This slightly murky golden brown colored ale has flavours of caramel and some fruitiness. There is also some hoppiness and slight bitter maltiness at the end.
What seperates this ale from most others is that in addition to barley this also has both oat and spelt malts which aren't all that common in beer making.
Both work rather well in beer as they aren't so overpowering and frankly disgusting tasting as wheat is. BUT would I still just rather have beer made from barley. Yes, yes I would thank you very much.

There is a bit of a strange bite in the taste right away which probably comes from the spelt and in lesser extent from the oats. But is soon fades away and the beer almost turns bit watery until the final bitter edge comes along.

This bit of a mixed bag really. It clearly has a lot of things going on and some of them are good some of them are not.
This might work with some barbeque or meaty foods but as it is it's nothing spectacular...

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Should have bought some scottish beer for today as now I'm off to watch LOCHDOWN!

[Typhon]

Hey Charger, thought you and the other beer drinkers on here would get a kick out of this little report on beer labeling regulation problems here in the U.S.   

[Charger]

^^^
That is pretty ridiculous...I'm glad the beer maker has won his battles though. I respect that a lot.

[Charger]

Well after a few month break due to health issues I thought I'd bring this up again...it's christmas and I can't do christmas sober no matter what my health says! So time for some beer and fuck the rest!

Charger's Wine Club CHRISTMAS beer edition!

This time we have a christmassy beer from Norway...that's right folks NORWAY! Don't think I've ever had a beer from Norway before...This is called GOD JUL Christmas Ale from the Nogne brewery in Grimstad Norway.

This very dark, almost completely black Ale has flavours of chocolate, plums, coffee and crisp maltiness.
This ale has a rather high alcohol content of 8.5% and it does have a rather strong taste. However it is also quite sweet just with a hint of bitterness...it is actually rather strange as the bitterness in the beginning and fades away underneath the sweetness.
This does contain both barley and wheat which does add a slightly tangy taste....and as you might know I am not a fan of wheat malts at all.
All in all I would say that this is a rather odd duck even in the realm of christmas beers. But the main problem is that it just can't really decide whether to be bitter or sweet and that does leave a bit of a mixed taste in the mouth too.

*  *  *

[Zzzptm]

Being Norwegian, maybe it's having a laugh?

[Charger]

Charger's Wine Club Christmas Beer Edition New Year Eve special:

This time we have a domestic beer from Pyynikin Panimo in Tampere Finland called Slow Smoked Santa.

This dark lager has a soft slightly smoky flavour with a nice sweetness to the aftertaste.
What makes this lager special is that in addition to barley they've also used a small ammount of wheat AND oats. But neither is over powering the flavour profile so the beer still stays well balanced and isn't ruined by the wheat. Instead they're both giving a nice softness to it.

There isn't all that much going on flavour wise but that's okay. Also the smokiness here is very mild and that's not a bad thing either. I've had smoked beers where the smoke has been overpowering and pretty much ruins the beer in Slow Smoked Santa that is not the issue. In fact it just compliments the taste.

All in all a very good seasonal lager with a nice twist.

*  *  *  *

[Typhon]

Hey Charger, I'm starting my own line of beer.  What do you think? 

[Zzzptm]

Hey Charger, I'm starting my own line of beer.  What do you think? 

River Styx Brewing, I love it!

[Charger]

Hey Charger, I'm starting my own line of beer.  What do you think? 

Haha that's brilliant!

I'm personally not a fan of IPA's but I think I'd give that a try anyways!

[Typhon]

Seriously though, a neighbor of mine is always trying various alcohol products.  He knows my email address starts with Typhon, so he saved a couple of empties for me.  When I asked him how the beer tasted, he said it was on the heavy side. 
I think I will display these 2 cans behind the bar in my game room.   

[Charger]

You should indeed! They look very cool!

[Charger]

It's been waaay too long since I've done this so time to kick things off again on the beer front.


Charger's Wine Club CHRISTMAS BEER Edition Part 1

Part one is actually a rerun...

Charger's Wine Club Christmas Beer Edition Part 4!!

This time we have an all time classic of a christmas beer, it's the BAD ELF WINTER's ALE from Ridgeway Brewing Company in Oxfordshire England.
This is a very murky golden in color and a strong yeasty and somewhat bitter hoppy taste with a hint of citrus.
For a normal beer I'd say there's bit too much hopps but for a season ale it works.

This is probably my favourite IPA style beer and that's probably because I only have it once every few years. But it is something of a christmas classic.

* * *

Not much new to say about this...But as I stated this is something of a tradition every few years so it was about time...and I do like that label though... a lot.

[Vyn]

Still waiting to find some Typhon beer!

[Charger]

Charger's Wine Club Christmas Beer Edition Part 2.

This time we have a domestic beer from the Island of Åland called Stallhagen Julbock.
This very dark cola colored dark lager has a very deep roasted malt flavour with hints of nuttyness and some sweet caramel. But this being a bock there is some bitterness present as well which does hit the palate at first but it does give way to the sweeter aftertaste.

This is quite rich bock. There's a lot going on which is typical for a season beer, especially with bocks and  other dark lagers. Also this does have a slightly higher alcohol content of 6.8%

This isn't something you could drink several bottles of as it is quite "heavy" and the sweet aftertaste might get bit much...it's not among the finest dark lagers or bocks I've ever had but it's not among the worst beers I've ever had either...

*  *  ½

[Charger]

Charger's Wine Club Christmas Beer Edition Part 3.

This time we have a Lager from Bayern Germany called Hohenthanner Winterfestbier!
This isn't so much a christmas beer as it is winterbeer. That means it is seasonal but it lacks some of the more heftier christmassy elements and flavours. For one it's not a dark lager, it's more of an amber brown in color and the flavour profile is much more on the milder side.

But you can still clearly detect flavours of vanilla and caramel sweetness along with some fruitiness. This is mildly hoppy with some honey maltiness. Over all tone is sweet but not over poweringly so. This is something you could easily pair with seasonal food and/or just drink as it is. Very easy going with a nice aftertaste.

Extremely enjoyable beer nothing overly fancy.

*  *  *  *  ½