The Lemon Fool

'The beer you are [NOT] drinking right now'.

My wife never used to like beer but then discovered Belgic/monastic type beers when we were living in Berlin. She still only drinks beer very occasionally but recognises a good thing. She has one such bottle in the fridge door, and it's sat there for perhaps 6 months now, taunting me - https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/202/656/ Tripel Karmeliet, rated at 94%, and it is an amazing beer. She's even taped a post-it note to it reading 'Hands Off!!!'. Taped, so that there is no risk the post-it might 'accidentally' drop off. It's been a kind of 'cruel and unusual punishment' opening the fridge this year

DiamondEcho wrote:'The beer you are [NOT] drinking right now'.

My wife never used to like beer but then discovered Belgic/monastic type beers when we were living in Berlin. She still only drinks beer very occasionally but recognises a good thing. She has one such bottle in the fridge door, and it's sat there for perhaps 6 months now, taunting me - https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/202/656/ Tripel Karmeliet, rated at 94%, and it is an amazing beer. She's even taped a post-it note to it reading 'Hands Off!!!'. Taped, so that there is no risk the post-it might 'accidentally' drop off. It's been a kind of 'cruel and unusual punishment' opening the fridge this year

I have my last bottle of that very beer sitting in my fridge as we speak. I will be drinking it tohight with a BBQ.

John

redsturgeon wrote:I have my last bottle of that very beer sitting in my fridge as we speak. I will be drinking it tohight with a BBQ. John

Ohhhh, why not rub the salt in? /

DiamondEcho wrote:

redsturgeon wrote:I have my last bottle of that very beer sitting in my fridge as we speak. I will be drinking it tohight with a BBQ. John

Ohhhh, why not rub the salt in? /

MMMMM! Hic!

DiamondEcho wrote: Ohhhh, why not rub the salt in? /

Salt? Isn't that for tequila

DiamondEcho wrote: Tripel Karmeliet

Now part of the Budweiser family, which means it's probably going to become much more available here - but even before it fell into the clutches of InBev I'd seen it in Waitrose's rotating Belgian slot, worth keeping an eye out in Waitrose. And also a bottle shop staple, of course.

Let's hope InBev don't mess with the brand...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosteels_Brewery
Bosteels Brewery (Brouwerij Bosteels) is a brewery in Buggenhout, Belgium. The brewery was founded in 1791 and was owned and operated by the same family till its seventh generation decided to sell to ABinbev in September 2016. Bosteels brew three beers: Tripel Karmeliet, DeuS, and Pauwel Kwak.

I've had the latter too, Kwak. V good but I still rate Tripel K a notch higher...
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/202/635/

Hallucigenia wrote:

DiamondEcho wrote: Tripel Karmeliet

Now part of the Budweiser family, which means it's probably going to become much more available here - but even before it fell into the clutches of InBev I'd seen it in Waitrose's rotating Belgian slot, worth keeping an eye out in Waitrose. And also a bottle shop staple, of course.

Oh no!

I'm not confident!

John

Went to a Green King pub Monday that had Abbot and Green King IPA, Abbot is normally fairly reliable but this was distinctly below average.

Much better last night, Triple fff Moondance in the lovely country pub free house that was my local when I was a callow 17 year old, many many many moon dances ago.

UncleIan wrote:Went to a Green King pub Monday that had Abbot and Green King IPA, Abbot is normally fairly reliable but this was distinctly below average.

Shame about the Abbot, that used to be my favourite beer, also long long ago. I haven't lived in the UK for quite a while, and on the occasional trips back over the years haven't seen it on sale. But when I next get to have one I hope my experience is better than your unfortunate one.

I've got a Bargain Booze down the road. Always thought it was cheap tat in there but they actually have a very good beer range - as good as most supermarkets - and they do the same 3 for £5 deal a lot of places do. In mine they have the four types Titanic beers for example. I had a bottle of Plum Porter last night. Handy.

GrandOiseau wrote:I've got a Bargain Booze down the road. Always thought it was cheap tat in there but they actually have a very good beer range - as good as most supermarkets - and they do the same 3 for £5 deal a lot of places do. In mine they have the four types Titanic beers for example. I had a bottle of Plum Porter last night. Handy.

As it happens the main topic of discussion last night was Why Plum Porter Isn't as Good As It Used To Be. It seems to have changed significantly just in the last few months, it's less plummy and more stouty - more dry and bitter which are not words I associate with porter.

Hallucigenia wrote:

GrandOiseau wrote:I've got a Bargain Booze down the road. Always thought it was cheap tat in there but they actually have a very good beer range - as good as most supermarkets - and they do the same 3 for £5 deal a lot of places do. In mine they have the four types Titanic beers for example. I had a bottle of Plum Porter last night. Handy.

As it happens the main topic of discussion last night was Why Plum Porter Isn't as Good As It Used To Be. It seems to have changed significantly just in the last few months, it's less plummy and more stouty - more dry and bitter which are not words I associate with porter.

I've not drunk it often enough to comment on that.

Salopian Free Fall cask ale now, before noon, because that's the way I roll. A bit farty on the bugle, solid good body and hoppiness for a 3.6% beer.

I noticed that at Morrison's Adnams Ghostship was gone and replaced by Oakham's Citra and Inferno - very good beers but there would've been better candidates to ditch than Ghostship, for instance all of those horrid Badger beers and everything in a clear glass bottle.

I'm back to Salopia tomorrow, all being well. I will be keeping a beer list. There appears to be a small distributed* beer festival on this weekend, so should be a few interesting ones

*ie spread around normal pubs, rather than being an 'in tents' experience...

Last weekend I tried Two Hoots Golden Ale from Joseph Holt and was very impressed. The brewer's description of the beer as "light, refreshing and beautifully balanced" seems accurate indeed. I also like the slogan on the label, which depicts a pair of owls: "With great beer comes great wisdom but we only care about the great beer."

Punk IPA. Did my weekend shopping at Sainsburys, and almost asked to see the manager to complain about the ale selection and demand, as a shareholder, the ale buyer to be sacked, or at least to be horse-whipped if sacking would've been too drastic. Mostly Greene king Badger boring twiggy brown beers in clear glass bottles. Also a price premium in every beer and not many special deals.

I only go there to recycle and to get rid of my empties, too embarrassing elsewhere, Sainsburys recycling area is so nicely and conveniently secluded. I honestly think the quality is better at Morrisons (chicken, beer, sirloin steaks...) although Sainsbyry's selection is wider.

JMN2 wrote:Punk IPA. Did my weekend shopping at Sainsburys, and almost asked to see the manager to complain about the ale selection and demand, as a shareholder,.

Just avoid. The worst beer deal of any of the majors except the Coop (which I suspect varies more between stores and regions).

From memory, the half-litre bottles I buy:

Sainsburys: three bottles for a fiver, very limited selection, keeps changing.
Morrisons and Tescos: four bottles for £6, better selection. Though some nasty Gotchas, including at Morrison mislabelling that wasn't fixed when I pointed it out.
Asda: four bottles for a fiver, excellent selection, no gotchas.
Lidl & Aldi: good prices but very limited selection, not much that I'd like

Guess where I go to buy beer.

Having said that, I have (yet to be tried) a couple of bottles of Weizenbier recently spotted at £1.25 in Aldi. If it's any good, I shall go back for more.

UncleEbenezer wrote:Having said that, I have (yet to be tried) a couple of bottles of Weizenbier recently spotted at £1.25 in Aldi. If it's any good, I shall go back for more.

Aldi Karlskrone? https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/karlskron ... ier/40224/