Friday's Beer

Just like last year .... took me by surprise when I found it in the MLC store.


Half Pints Burly Wine ....

For truth in advertising this should be called "Beergasm"....






The bottle is sealed with wax and once opened pours a very rich amber/brown/caramel with a slightly cloudy body. The head is rich cream froth that thins out and laces around the glass.

The nose comes across very intense with powerful banana peel and citrus hops over top of those bakeshop malt aromas that make the salivary glands spasm the way standing next to a beautiful woman and inhaling perfume from her neck makes other glands react.

This is essentially sex in a glass if you are a red blooded man.

The first taste is a strong rush of the hops with the malt/caramel combination climbing over the top for your attention ..... POTENT!

It reminds me a lot of the Belgian strong ales like Piraat and Gulden Draak. This is beer to satisfy your hunger and fill your senses to keep you warm and feed the fires of lust and joy!

From a small craft brewery in Winnipeg yet!

Now back to www.dustmybroom.com for FNB&B

Lyrical Highlight ....... "I'm going to poison your dog babe, I'll put sugar in your gasoline. I'm going to tell everybody, you the low downest thing I seen!"

OMMAG

Piraat Beer !

Well this is another sampling from the folks who brought us the Heavenly Gulden Draak!

The brewery Van Steenberge makes some of the most interesting brews I've ever seen and here's a sample of what they say about their own pirate's quaff:

"A strong beer like the Piraat has been brewed for a thousand years to be taken out
to sea. The Vikings in particular were well acquainted with this type of potent beer.
Piraat has a high nutritional value, keeps well for years and strengthens the body
and morale of pirates and other seafarers. It is a healthy energy booster."

Piraat is a live in the bottle beer that keeps it's balance and may improve with age.
It's in a 330 ml bottle and boasts 10.5% ABV.
In an auspicious start The bottle chilled to 40f opens with a satisfying pop and releases a nice little hssst of spicy vapor!
Following up with a smooth pour into the large mouth pilsener glass the creamy blonde head forms aggressively over a beautifully golden body..... one sweet treat so far eh!
As things settle down a bit the head settles into place over the steady effervescence coming from below and it's time to take stock of the other senses. Beginning with the nose it's all good and getting better! That unique Belgian floral scent of hops that no other beers seem to get.....strong hints of spices and a symphony of unidentifiable perfumes that lie just under the surface!

Up she goes and over the palate now ........... Oh! My! yes indeed ..... the pleasure goes on!

Sweet tropical fruits and mysterious spices mingled with nuts and berries combine in a silky smooth rush of pleasure over the tongue. It's all good and clean and wonderfully alive!



This beer is too damned good for louts and thugs! This is beer for hero's says I!!

Argh and Avast ye lubbers !

OMMAG

Friday's Beer - The Flatlander's Beerfest

Well ..... Not really A beer ..... we tried these out yesterday at the Flatlander's Beer Festival :

My rating system = up to ++++ considering nose/palate/ flavour/ overall pleasure

Half Pints Brewing Strawberry Amber Ale - Winnipeg Canada ++++
Half Pints Brewing Grewsome Scotch Ale - Winnipeg Canada ++++
Half Pints Brewing Pin - Mole Stout - Winnipeg Canada ++++

Big Rock Honey Brown Lager - Canada +++

Cooper's Sparkling Ale - Australia ++
Innis & Gunn Oak Aged Ale - Scotland ++++

Paddock Wood Brewing's Czech Mate Pilsner - Saskatoon Canada ( this was a stinker... as if emulating the worst of Eastern European beer is a good idea! )

Erdinger Weissbier - Germany +++
Erdinger Dunkel - Germany ++

Gulden Draak Ale - Belgium ++++


My goal was to introduce myself to a few new products and my friend the Marginalized Action Dinosaur to something new. Dino's not a real big beer fan so I figured that like myself if you're going to limit your quantity for whatever reason then you should elevate the quality as much as possible. And so we went looking for something to please our senses.

The layout of the event was similar to a wine expo with a few dozen booths that had an inconsistent sort of organization that resulted in odd parings ranging from commercial domestics to fairly exotic imports residing at the same table ... no rhyme or reason to the layout. There were standing height tables to taste and take notes at and rinsing stations to clean your cups which was absolutely necessary as for at least one sample I took three rinses to get the malts aroma clear.

There were booklets provided with space for note taking and you were given a pencil and 5 coupons for samples. Extra sample coupons were available at five for 3 dollars.


Some highs some lows and some general observations

First thing is the price they put on admission which was too high in my opinion for something essentially showcasing the Manitoba LCB beer menu. Call that one a low since 27.95 is just too much for what they were offering.

Second thing is the fact that they expect you to use a dinky little 5 oz plastic sampler cup to test your beers. It's semi opaque and too small by 100% to get any good sense of the pour or the nose of the brews. Cheap yes and cheapening the whole experience besides reminding me of the urine sample cups at my doctor's. If people are paying nearly thirty bucks just to get in and try 5 samples give us a glass or at least let us buy a proper glass. Call that one a low.

Third not all the folks working the booths had even a passable knowledge of the products. Many were unable to provide any more information than you might glean from the labels and some were hopelessly uninformed.

Fourth there was no food worth mentioning and I did not see anyone taking advantage of the vendor.

Fifth that some booths really shortchanged you on the sample size barely providing an ounce of product ... completely unacceptable. Also at least ONE tried to demand TWO coupons for a sample somehow thinking this was justified by the MLB pricing on the product . Also not acceptable.

On the plus side there is a pretty broad selection at the MLB stores and the local guys from Half Pints were the class of the event. Take note Fort Garry ... the Half Pints guys outdid you in every way.

I'm still kicking myself for not taking my camera .......

Beer Notes And the Most Noteable

Dino and I made the Half Pints Strawberry Amber Ale our first stop. I found it completely satisfying with all the attributes of their usual well chosen malts and hops plus the addition of real local grown strawberries to the mix. This is a truly outstanding specialty beer and the only thing wrong with it is that you cannot buy it outside of the limited production. Dino was thrown off by the strong flavour but I think it left an impression.

Innis& Gunn Oak Aged Ale left a big impression on Dino .... he could tell this was a quality product and the unique flavours and nose really made it a hit with him ... ditto for me.

Back to Half Pint's with their Grewsome Scotch Ale. Again built on the high quality malts and hops they are famous for with an extra shot of something that makes the oak and heather come to mind.

The single most powerful taste experience was Half Pint's Mole Stout. A truly outstanding body slam of flavour with chocolate cocoa, cinnamon, and bloody chili peppers..... It is Great but when and where to drink it outside of a tasting event? Desert maybe???

Awesome ... sadly once again a limited production brew.

To cap off the evening my personal favorite Guulden Draak from Belgium .... it's strong, bakeshop malty and has some heavenly blend of floral hops that make me think of angels breathing in my face.

Cheers For Now ! And remember! It's Friday Night Blues & Beer with the Broomers

Note this post has been spell checked by Larry ....

OMMAG

Fridays Beer ! Extra

Oh joy! A new treat from the Boys on Keewatin St. in Winnipeg....
Half Pints Brewing



Yes indeed the Half Pints Brewing Company has come through with something brand new and I am excited like a 6month old puppy about it.










You see I've never had a "Burly Wine" before and know nothing about it except that for the Half Pints it's priced at about two times most of their other brews....... about $8 for the 660 ml bottle with 10.5% abv.

The bottle is sealed with wax and once opened pours a very rich amber/brown/caramel with a slightly cloudy body. The head is rich cream froth that thins out and laces around the glass.

The nose comes across very intense with powerful banana peel and citrus hops over top of those bakeshop malt aromas that make the salivary glands spasm the way standing next to a beautiful woman and inhaling perfume from her neck makes other glands react.

This is essentially sex in a glass if you are a red blooded man.

The first taste is a strong rush of the hops with the malt/caramel combination climbing over the top for your attention ..... POTENT!

It reminds me a lot of the Belgian strong ales like Piraat and Gulden Draak. This is beer to satisfy your hunger and fill your senses to keep you warm and feed the fires of lust and joy!

From a small craft brewery in Winnipeg yet!

Now back to www.dustmybroom.com for FNB&B

Cheers!

OMMAG