Eric's Beer Blog

My online journal for beer (and other drinks) tasting, brewing, tourism, and general musings.

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Location: St. Paul, Minnesota, United States

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Long time, no post

It's not that I haven't been drinking beer lately, just haven't blogged about it. I'm going to try to get into a regular posting habit, especially since I just started my BJCP class. For those who aren't beer geeks, BJCP stands for Beer Judge Certification Program. The class runs for 12 weeks, at the end of which time I will take the exam. If I pass, I will become a Certified Beer Judge. One can then advance, earning points for each competition judged, and become a Grand Master and all kinds of other fun and geeky titles. Anyway, the class involves lots of beer tasting and beer evaluation. I'll learn lots of fun jargon and, more importantly, refine my palate and practice describing what I taste. So I plan to use my blog to practice some of the stuff I'm learning on beers I find.

Here's my live-blog (written as I go along) tasting of a new (to me) beer:

Tres Blueberry Stout, Dark Horse Brewing Company, Marshall, Michigan.

Appearance: inky black, utterly opaque; brown head appears and quickly leaves; incredibly thick as it pours

Aroma: pronounced blueberry aroma hits you even as you pour the beer; more typical stout aromas are present too (dark roasted malts).

Taste: a definite blueberry flavor blends seamlessly into the malt; a surprisingly high amount of hop bitterness; if you didn't smell the beer, I'm not sure you'd be able to identify blueberry, but it's definitely there. Quite interesting. Hints of spice, perhaps some chocolate and coffee.

Mouthfeel: doesn't taste as thick as it looks, but it definitely ain't thin. Hop bitterness lingers, blueberry doesn't: it's all on the front end and the nose.

Overall: a nifty beer. I've had blueberry beers before, but they've always been light. A blueberry stout is a new one for me, though I'm not surprised that it hasn't been done more. The blueberry really goes well with the stout flavors. Add this to the list of good fruits to blend with stout (I've had cherry and raspberry stouts that were superb).

4 Comments:

Blogger leigh said...

it even sounds yummy as i read your blog at 8am - yikes!

11:09 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I find your blog somewhat elitist. How about light, refreshing American lagers? When one gets home from WORK they want something light and delicious. They don't want a curry/saffron/mandarin/amber porter. It's similar to an analogy I have heard before. One cannpt eat Japanese Kobe steak and new potatoes every day. Sometimes you just have to have a Big Mac or a Whopper.

2:57 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Way to tell 'em Thomas! It's about time these beer snobs got a piece of the American beer drinker's mind. They need a diversity of opinion.

2:58 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

who are these people? the whole point of having a blog is to state opinions and preferences.

go write your own blog!!!!

1:29 PM  

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