Charger's Wine (and Beer) Club

[Charger]

Charger's Wine Club Christmas Beer Edition part 6!

And we are moving on with our Christmas themed Wine club again.
This time we have a dark lager from Vaasa Finland called BOCK's TALVIOLUT (Winter Beer).
Bock's brewery has a long tradition in beer making dating all the way back to the 1800s.

This dark lager is very dark brown in color with tastes of licorice, yeasty bread, some coffee and smoky herbs.
As with most seasonal beers this one too has a lot going on. But it is not overpowering. You can taste the beer underneath which is a good thing. The slightly higher alcohol content of 5.2% adds maybe a bit of tang.

This is a pretty good seasonal dark lager with a good balance in taste.

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[Charger]

Charger's Wine Club Christmas Beer Edition Part 7.

In the final edition of the Christmas beer special this time we have yet another domestic beer, this time from the Lapin Panimo (Lapland Brewery) in Rovaniemi called Lapin Joulu (Christmas In Lapland).

This dark lager is a very traditional Finnish christmas beer in both taste and color.
Very dark brown with a taste of some dark bread, chocolate, plums and soft maltiness with mild hoppiness.
I'd say out of all the Finnish christmas beers this is the best one. Very rounded flavours with nothing over power the other. Very balanced good tasting seasonal beer that you could actually drink other times as well.

Considering the Lapin Panimo has only been operational since 2016 they've mastered the craft of good seasonal beer making surprisingly well.

So the old saying good is worth the wait was definitely the case here, our last beer is the best on of the lot too!

* * * * ½

[Charger]

Been a while but...
Charger's Wine Club Beer Edition is back!!

This time we have a domestic product again this time a brand new one in fact from Mattson Brewery in Lahti Finland called Mattson Imprerial Porter.
A very dark near black in color and very velvety smooth in taste this porter is quite near a stout even. There is no crispness or tang present what so ever which you normally get from a porter.

There is a slight strongness to the taste which comes from the high alcohol content of 7.0% but even that is not over powering.
That being said I would like to taste this with a lower alcohol content as well as it might be somewhat smoother still.
Finland isn't best known for it's porters but this is quite an introduction to a new brewery and quite the first product too I might add.

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[Charger]

This time we have an ale from Greene King Brewery in Suffolk England called ABBOT ALE.

This nice deep amber brown colored beer has a slight caramel taste with mild hoppiness and sweet maltiness. You can even taste a hint of citrus on the aftertaste.
This is a very smooth and well balanced ale with an alcohol content of 5%. Tastes milder even which is not a bad thing.

One of the better English beers for sure this one.

* * * * ½

[Typhon]

^^^^^^
Well I hope you are not drinking while on the job.

[Charger]

Hahah! Nope...day (or should I say night?) off tonight and tomorrow!

[Vyn]

Hahah! Nope...day (or should I say night?) off tonight and tomorrow!

 

[Charger]

Been a while but we are back and this time we have a very interesting Stout from Porterhouse Brewing Company in Ireland called Oyster Stout

A very dark brown colored stout which has a surprising carbonated quality. There are quite a bit of bubbles present and the texture is similar to cola even. Very unusual for a stout.
The taste has some chocolate, liquorice and maltiness.

It is reported that actual Oysters have been used in making of the stout and that it should provide it with a minerally taste, I honestly can't tell but there is a slight earthiness to it, almost dirt-like taste which might be the result of the oysters

A very unusual beer in a lot of ways, but honestly it is nothing special taste wise...but it's nothing bad either. Maybe bit bland for something this strange.

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[Charger]

Charger's Wine Club near Easter Edition has arrived.

This time we have a Finnish beer again in the form of Mustan Virran Panimo's (Black River Brewery) PääsiäisPortteri (Easter Porter).
Black River Brewery is located in Savonlinna in center Finland and is a small brewery specialized in special seasonal beers.

Pääsiäsiportteri is a very dark in color with a very strong taste of coffee with some bitter and hops. One thing that leaps out from the very first taste is a high ammount of acidity almost like a coke...not something I am overly fond of. Also there is an almost ashy kind of an aftertaste present which leaves much to be desired as well.
Porter's can be really good and aromatic and smooth. This is...well...neither to be honest.

Maybe paired with smokey food or rich meats like easter lamb or something it might work better but as a sipping beer..no. It is not a very good one I'm afraid.

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[Charger]

Charger's Wine Club Beer Edition!

A while back we had a great lager from the Czech Republic called Kozel, now this time we have it's darker brother, aptly called Kozel Dark. (Clever naming I know!)
A very dark, near black in color this dark lager has a very nice smooth soft almost sweet taste with just a hint of bitter.

Just like the lighter Kozel this too is a very well balanced basic beer. There are no tricks no gimmicks, just a great smooth tasting beer.
In fact the difference between the regular Kozel and the Dark is basically the color and the bit more characteristic sweeter taste.
All in all yet another win from the Czech beer legend Velkopopovicky. It is no surprise Kozel is one of Finland's most popular import beers.
Be it light or dark this is pretty much pure gold.

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[Vyn]

I had plans for a business trip to the Czech Republic the first week of May. Among other things, I was looking forward to sampling some local brew.

Of course that trip was cancelled a while back due to that thing that everyone in the world is dealing with.

So it's a little consolation to read your impressions. In fact, you do a fantastic job reviewing all of the sophisticated adult beverages you've posted about Charger!

[Jack the Stripper]

^^^I concur Vyn, his reviews are great and he should be doing them for a magazine or website or something.

That is a very cool looking kozel can btw. Might have to see if I can get my hands on some here.

[Charger]

Hahaha! Thanks guys!

I think my reviews aren't quite indepth enough for magazines or websites though...my palate ain't sophisticated enough for that!

But it means a lot that you enjoy reading them...I'll keep posting them then.

[Jack the Stripper]

^Don't sell yourself too short Charger. A lot of these professional magazine and online reviewers waffle on way too much about aromas and aftertastes and hints of this and hints of that where’s yours are short and to the point.

At the end of the day, most people just wanna know if it’s a fucking good drop or not 

[Charger]

^^^
Thanks Jack...yeah that's kind of my point too...don't want to be overly complicated and make up words and tastes and what not...I'm a simpleton and I like to keep my reviews simple as well!

And on that note:

Charger's Wine Club Beer Edition!

This time we have a lager from Germany called Spaten Munchen.
This golden colored lager has some sweet tastes of mild herbiness, slight maltiness and even some grassy hops and honey. But all in a very mild form.
Spaten is a very well balanced easy to drink, basic lager with a slightly higher alcohol content of 5.2%.

Germans quite like the Czech really know how to make good tasting basic beer. Sure both also have their more gimmicky stuff but they usually aren't as good truth be told. But basic lager is what they know best and here's another fine example.
There is nothing special on this one, but because of that there is really nothing gripe about either.

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