Monday, February 11, 2013

2/11: Flying Dog's In Heat Wheat

Hi all.  The team I coach is in a tournament now, so it is a hectic week. I am glad that my bocce team had a bye tonight, otherwise there might not be a post this week.  Seriously, tomorrow I have a meeting at 6, and basketball practice at 8; Wednesday is our multi-course pre-Valentine's Day dinner; Thursday is a basketball game; Friday is Card Party!; Saturday we have both a league game and a tournament game.  So enough about the rest of my life, you've probably come here for the beer...

In last week's post I mentioned beers that I had had, without saying anything about them.  Let me now talk about some of the beers that I've had in February...

 Trader Joe's 2012 Vintage Ale: 
They say...
Drawing upon centuries-old Trappist Monk brewing traditions, the Belgian-style dark ale is bottle conditioned on lees (aged in the bottle on fresh yeast). This year, it results in finely structured brew that presents rich, malty (mildly sweet) flavor, with notes of cocoa and mulling spices.

My reaction...
Being a "dark ale" I was surprised that it wasn't black or brown, but rather reddish/golden.  At 9% abv, it was a winter warmer, that was bubbly and spicy and a bit sweet.  It had red wine notes.  So their was a mulled wine aspect to this beer.  An interesting beer.

Killian's Irish Red:
It is a lager, and it tasted largely like a mainstream lager.  The difference was that the malt was slightly roasted, which showed up in some slight "toast" and "caramel" notes on the tongue and accounted for the reddish color of the beer.  But it looks more different than it tastes.

Tecate:
Is a Mexican lager.  The brand is not a craft beer.  It is a beer designed for quenching a thirst on a hot day, or cooling your mouth down after eating some spicy food.  It is not very popular with Anglos in America, but the brand is popular with Mexicans and Mexican Americans.  Tecate sponsors several Mexican soccer teams and advertises primarily on Spanish-language television.  But they are starting to advertise to Anglos with the tag line... "It's not beer, it's cerveza."  Can the guy who wrote "Foster's, it's Australian for beer" sue?

Flying Dog's In-Heat Wheat Hefeweizen:
They say...
Flavor notes: Huge banana and clove notes.

I didn't taste either.  Instead I tasted a subtle cotton candy note on the finish.  It wasn't cloudy like the
hefeweizens I have enjoyed before.  It was a good wheat beer, but it didn't strike me as a hefeweizen.

Happy Valentine's Day.  Have a good week.  Go Raiders!

-Jim from Milwaukee

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