A Baltimore Blizzard Beer Review

It's Saturday. There's a blizzard outside. In preparation for the long weekend I moved a couple bottles from my cellar into the refrigerator to settle the yeast. This morning, I pulled the bottles to let them even out to drinking temperature. When I opened the door, snow came into the house as if to say, 'This is mine now.' I cleared a path to the backyard for the dog. She didn't use it.

I have selected three bottles to sample today.

First the gouden tripel from Bavik-De Brabandere (Petrus). It pours pale gold and is carbonated on the high side. I happen to have a Petrus glass so I couldn't help myself. The head started at about a centimeter and fell over the course of several minutes ending in a persistent ring. The aroma is a pleasant honey-like malt scent with background yeast character. The unevenness of these sensations is nearly reversed in the first sip with the yeast character being far more noticeable and the honey-like malt flavor taking a more moderate role. It is far more evident after a few more sips that the malt flavor is delicately tempered with little maillard. The hops are gentle and most certainly a modestly bitter flowery continental variety. The hops contribute little in the way of spice that doesn't distract but instead improves the sweetness of the beverage. Overall, this beer is incredibly enjoyable. It has an effortless balance of sweetness, bitterness, and yeast character.

The second beer is Stillwater Artisanal's Cellar Door. It pours deep gold and is not carbonated much. I reused the Petrus glass after a fast rinse. The head is barely existent and runs the rim of the glass. This beer has a lot in common with the previous beer but is darker and has spicy notes that weren't there in the Petrus. However, in addition to a honey-like malt sweetness it has a distinct spiciness to the malt. The yeast character on the nose is a delight, having a likewise background role. I want to say that the yeast contribution is musty but I'm uncertain that it isn't just the power of suggestion. The flavor is likewise a balance of bitter, yeast, spicy, and sweet. This beer adds a dimension that the gouden tripel didn't have but adds a lot of every category to drive the balance. Overall this beer develops brilliantly as it reaches room temperature.

Last is the Oud Beersel's Oude Gueuze Vieille. It pours a pale gold and is pleasantly carbonated with a fine head and small bubbles. The nose is bright, musty, and a little grassy. The first taste has pronounced acidic notes and an earthiness foreground but with a background malt with no maillard. I'm hesitant to use the term barnyard but it's a sort of dank earthy flavor that I can't characterize any other way. The yeast character is certainly brettanomyces lambicus and it wafts from the glass without effort. The highlight of the beer is the bouquet of complex barnyard scents that is complemented wonderfully by the backbone of malt and lingering remnants of hop bitterness that are remaining. Overall the only fault I can see is that the sour is a little too pronounced, taking a front seat to the otherwise brilliant balance afforded by the apparently very patient brett. I'm taking dregs from this.