#65: St Louis Kriek

Whoooooaaaaa it has been a long time since I have posted… There’s a million excuses I could give, but really the only reason(/excuse) I could really offer is a crazy work schedule, where after a whole day of talking beer, wine and whiskey …I just haven’t really felt like a beer…

…well that’s not completely true, I have had the desire to drink beer, and some great ones at that.
In fact I seem to remember(ish) putting a pretty serious dent in a keg of Epic Mash Up this past weekend…
…I just haven’t really given them the time or appreciation that some of these beers deserve…
But tonight, I decided I needed a bit of a break, and that I would simply have a Friday night in. Catch up on some blogs I like to follow, maybe watch a little trashy TV and generally (for lack of a better term) blob out…
A concept I am not 100% familiar with…

I quickly found myself feeling a little bored…
I was feeling pretty worn out, almost like I had been dragging some huge weight around with me these last couple of weeks. But “downtime” just did not seem to be the cure… and I couldn’t figure it out…?!?
Until, I was reading a blog, and I came across the a phrase that seemed to bring a little clarity: “Downtime is the enemy of success“.
Take from that what you will, but to me it kind of said: Why do nothing? Why not do something relaxing/productive?
But as I sat there aching like an old man, I found myself thinking: how productive can I really be right now?

Why not write a blog post? …It’s been a while… And I have a fridge full of beer just begging for me to drink…?
I open the fridge door and standing there is a beer that suits the occasion, the St. Louis Kriek from Brouwerij Van Honsebrouck.
It pours a clear crimson red, with half a finger of pink-ish head that dissipates immediately. The nose is pungent red fruit, cherries (obviously) but lacking that lambic “funk”. In the mouth it’s much the same, quite sweet for a kriek, a little bit of sourness, and with a “lively” carbonation. There is an almost fake quality to the cherry that is not quite to the point that it is off putting …just there. Kind of reminds me of sparkling fruit juice more than anything…
The finish is quite short on this one too, but the acid lingers in quite a refreshing way. Overall an ok beer, not great, not terrible, lost in the middle there somewhere. But it suit’s my mood tonight. Simple, refreshing, and a little fruity.
Good to sip on as I get lost in an Italian movie, which sadly I could not find any subtitles for… (still pretty entertaining though!) and lazily write my first blog post in quite a long, long time…

Enjoy (like me) a little cheesy Italian music with your beer tonight!

#1 Hello World!

My first post!

I have been trying to get this started for a little while now, but I have been a little busy with other things …like drinking beer! …I’ll bet Mum is so proud to see that on the internet…
Not just drinking beer, but “tasting”. Last week was a good week of Beer education for me. On Monday, I sat down for a tasting of the entire Moa range with Josh Scott, founder of Moa Brewing Co. Now, before you get all starstruck, and my name dropping gets me in all sorts of trouble. Giving you some sort of crazy idea of what this blog is going to be… I should explain: The manager of Pumice Bistro had organised some staff training with the guys from Moa, and kindly offered that I sit in with them. However, now that I am writing this, over a week after it happened, I am wishing I had taken my trusty note pad with me… Which means that there is very little I can report in terms of tasting notes… But! I can say this: I thoroughly enjoyed every beer, and cider, they had to show. And I am not just saying that, because it is pretty safe to say, my little blog probably won’t be showing up on their radar any time soon.

There were some stand-outs for me, particularly the Five Hop, St Josephs Tripel, and probably my favourite …the Imperial Stout! I know this is quite a list for “stand-outs” but as I am writing this over a week later, they are the ones that have simply stuck in my head all this time …which I like to think, means they were pretty good…
If I had to pick a low point from their line up, it would be the Breakfast Beer (ironically one of their most successful), the cherry tasted a little fake to me. It wasn’t offensive or even particularly bad, infact a couple of others at the table said it was their favourite, just wasn’t quite my cup of tea.
The Blanc Evolution was a bit of a star for me as well. As a rule I don’t really enjoy wheat beers, there is a flavour which just doesn’t grab me… I can’t put my finger on what it is, or even how to describe it, but it’s there and I don’t like it! The Blanc Evolution however, doesn’t seem to have it! It has the slightly fruity characters typical of a wheat beer,  but I can enjoy it! And enjoy it I did! Exclamation marks! Yeah!

The boys from Moa were in town for a Beer vs. Wine dinner at Pumice with Tony Bish of Sacred Hill. And I was Lucky enough to sit at the table with the Moa guys. There were three courses that were matched to both a beer and a wine …kinda wishing I had taken my trusty little notepad for this one as well… Because while I remember having a great time, the beers (#1-Moa Blanc Evoloution, #2-Moa Pale Ale, #3- Moa St Josephs Tripel) and the wines (#1-Sacred Hill Halo Chardonnay, #2-Sacred Hill Halo Syrah, #3-Sacred Hill Halo Pinot Gris), even that I gave it to the beers on all three counts …but for the life of me, I can’t remember the dishes! I remember: Scallop entrée, Venison Main, and Banana Parkin Pud for dessert (which paired amazingly well the St Josephs) but that’s about it… So sorry to the guys in the kitchen, all that hard work didn’t go unnoticed, I just need to learn to be a little more prepared if I am going to blog about these things… Anyway moral of the story, great night! If you get the chance, get yourself to one! (…I have heard through the grapevine that there may be something happening in April…)

And for the tasting portion of this post, I would like to offer up the Moa Imperial Stout. Although I can’t really remember much from the tasting with Josh, I just had to get one for myself, to “refresh my memory”. This post is already long enough, so I’ll try and keep it quick!
The pour is dark, dark brown, almost black with a thick tan head that kind of sticks around. The nose is full of coffee and chocolate aromas, reminiscent of a good mocha. It has a full, creamy mouthfeel, with those chocolate/coffee aromas following through on the palate lingering for quite a while. There is also a berryish note that sort of surprised me, until I remembered Josh saying something about the stout being aged in old Pinot Noir Barrels, and all was right with the world again… In short, well balanced great beer, highly recommended.

Apologies for the photo, hopefully my photography skills will get better with my writing…