This pours a not quite crystal clear rich golden hue. This has tons of fresh citrus with sweet lemon and orange peel dominating with spicy herbs and yeasty / bready notes. On the palate this is thick and rich and low in acid but, counter-intuitively, has tremendous energy. Low in alcohol, I could drink this all night. Finishes strong with the yeasty notes and citrus again. One of the best < $15 bottles I’ve had in a long, long, long time. It also makes me ponder relative value for a lot of bottles I own.
After drinking only 1 glass of our last bottle of Morderee Tavel rose and knowing that I never need to buy that wine again (just too ripe, alcoholic, candied and bitter for me), we changed lanes and opened this delight. I have a lollipop for the first person to get close to what this is.
Some are closer than others, but no one is really close. I think the most notable characteristics that distinguish this are that is in fact quite golden, quite hazy, quite full bodied, and very fresh. In time it smells of peaches, bananas, cloves, vanilla, coriander, orange peel, lemon peel. We powered through the bottle while watching an excellent movie (Black Book) and I would open another bottle if we had it.
BUT, I am really struck at times by just how good a $10-$12 bottle of beer can be, and how far you can search for wine that good and how much you can spend. I never find myself with beer that has green tannin or too little acidity or heat or too much oak… I can’t REMEMBER the last time we poured out or failed to finish a beer because it was flawed / not our style / not the right mood / etc. It makes you really wonder about all the expensive wines you own!
Plus I got to pondering whether low alc% was meant in terms of an absolute scale or relative to wine. Lots of fun games to play with how to interpret the linguistics of a note.
Agree Completely about the value of artisanal beer. It was nice to see a tasting note on a beer in here. I think there are far too many wine lovers who take a dismisive posture towards beer or who even claim not to like the stuff at all!
Personally, I can’t fathom the idea that a wine lover would not like fine beer as well. Surely, there is room on ones palate for two complex beverages. You see some of this us vs them mentality with beer lovers as well. I think it’s more that many beer enthusiasts don’t understand the purpose of paying so much for a fine bottle of wine, when an equally great beer can be had for a song, rather then the mentality that it’s an inferior or worthless beverage. I for one can’t imagine a life without either.
I find that beer is better with food since there are no real pairing rules. Virtually any beer can be paired with virtually any food. Sure some choices are better then others but you have try hard to find a “bad” pairing. Having a light fish dish for dinner? A lighter bodied beer will certainly work; be it a simple domestic lager, a wit beer, or a German Kolsch. An Amber ale wouldn’t be my first choice but it works just fine. It certainly wouldn’t clash. A hoppy Pale or India Pale ale? Perfect pairing in my humble opinion. A robust porter or stout? Yes. It’s counter intuitive but oysters and Porter is an absolutely divine pairing. How about a brett brewed wild flemish ale or a french farmhouse ale? Check. A fruit beer? Check. All the above would also work with poulty, steak, cheese, shell fish, swansons frozen dinners, you name it. And don’t get me started on Thai Food! According to wine orthodoxy you have the choice of semi-dry Riesling and Gewurtztraminer as a pairing. You can keep that pairing! Riesling is too damn delicate and gets overwhelmed by the heat. Gewurtzraminer might have the sugar to cool the palate but not nearly enough acidity. It’s funny how countries that predominately eat spicy fare have no wine traditions and drink mostly beer. I think that drinking wine with very spicy food is like trying to install drywall with a pair of scissors. Try a Saison Dupont instead. This is the ultimate wine drinkers beer. It’s complex, refreshing, high in acidty with a bit of brett giving it some earthiness and posseses a peppery spice note holding it all together. This beer Kills with spicy asian cuisine and should never cost you more than $9.99 for a 750 ML bottle.
