An interesting assortment of beers, Honkman. Always enjoy reading your tasting notes and seeing the cans. I have had a few Oskar Blues IPAs, haven’t come across Dale’s pale ale.
Some photos from a tasting at Solo brewery in the Cretan capital. Actually, just a short taxi ride from the capital. Hardcore beer fans make it there. And I’m glad I did.
Everyone who works there is friendly and chill. The employee who took care of us said he had to make a photo of my setup because no one had ever ordered everything like this and it’d probably never happen again.
Almost all the beers we drank that afternoon were good or great. There was also a Gose and something else but I forgot now. “Plethora” was available in bottle only, which we got to take back to the lodging.
Head brewer was around and working but he gladly provided us a free tour of the small brewery. It’s not like a typical just-a-business-transaction kind of tour. He talked about all kinds of things related to this brewery and his long brewing career. Not only that, he poured each of us generous glasses of beer straight from the tank. Answered questions and volunteered insights and information.
Head brewer is seen in this set. He’s Norwegian and travels around to brew for different breweries (in different countries). His NEIPA and DIPA are lips-smacking delicious. I drank and drank and couldn’t seem to stop. NEIPA came straight from the tank (bottom left corner), super cloudy and tasty.
All the beers we drank, 10 bottles and 2 glasses to go. A free personal tour. All in all it was a great experience. The total cost was about 55 euros. Will go back when we are in the Cretan capital again.
Drank some more bottles in the next 2 days and took the rest with us to Santorini (where everything costs 2 or 3 times more).
I notice there are a few of us who drink (craft) beer so why not talk about it here. No need to “review” the beer, or post photos if you don’t want to. I either like the beer or I don’t. Besides, I also enjoy beer photography so why not combine the two, yes? I try to find info to go with the photos whenever possible.
[Freigeist Hoppenditz ]. Craft beer from Cologne, Germany. I have been to the pub myself (photos taken on a pub crawl in Cologne in 1 file [
I notice there are a few of us who drink (craft) beer so why not talk about it here. No need to “review” the beer, or post photos if you don’t want to. I either like the beer or I don’t. Besides, I also enjoy beer photography so why not combine the two, yes? I try to find info to go with the photos whenever possible.
[Freigeist Hoppenditz ]. Craft beer from Cologne, Germany. I have been to the pub myself (photos taken on a pub crawl in Cologne in 1 file [
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Welcome - what beers do you like ?
I like Laško and Union the most, that is meer from Slovenia
Great milkshake IPAs can combine the hoppiness of a hazy IPA with the mouthfeel of a milk stout. Unfortunately there are also example like this one which just taste like a melted strawberry milkshake made with milk gone bad - overly sweet with an odd aftertaste. No indication that this has ever seen any hops. One of the worst beers in a long time
312 Lemonade Shandy by Goose Island Beer Co (Chicago, IL) - Shandy / Radler
Start like your typical shandy/radler with a mix of sweetness of the lemonade and some bitterness from the ale but this shandy adds grassy notes from the wheat and an unusual aftertaste which reminds of dextrose tablets. Not bad but the aftertaste feels out of place.
I’ve had one milkshake beer and decided I didn’t like the style. Not sure if it’s me but the taste is too artificial. Will post the photo when I (finally) organise photos from memory card.
Can’t remember the back story but the head brewer said it was stronger than quadrupel. This is the “barrel-aged” version, 3/4L bottle (left). The other one is wild fermented barrel-aged sour ale. 35 euros each.
I drank the pentadrupel the next day. Knew I wouldn’t like it but wanted to try anyway. At 16% the only thing I could taste was sugar and alcohol. This small bottle is not “barrel-aged”, only the big ones like in photo above. Not sure how one can finish the 3/4L bottle. Need a group of 10 to share with.
Disco Ninja by Revision Brewing Company (Sparks, NV) - IPA
Very good NEIPA with lot of juiciness (mango, peach, pineapple, orange) upfront but well balanced with a piney, resiny bitter bite towards the end. Not too sweet, not too bitter.
Cosmic Distortion by Mighty Squirrel Brewing Company (Waltham, MA) - DIPA
Normally I really like the sours from Mighty Squirrel but also wanted to try some IPA from them. It was good but not on the same level as the sours. Some fruitiness (mango, pineapple) combined with citrus upfront but then taken over by strong malt, bread, even hints of chocolate and coconut and a longer finish with medium bitterness.
Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Lentbeer by Schlenkerla (Bamberh, Germany)
Rauchbeer is a unique regional speciality in some parts of Germany but especially around Bamberg in Franconia. The malts are dried over open flames which give this distinct smokey flavor. This beer had a good balance of campfire smoke upfront with some caramel, bread, toffee sweetness and some malt flavors. Some light bitterness in the finish but still well balanced with the smoked meat aroma
Bamberg has a dear place in my beer-loving heart, for that’s where it opened the floodgates not only to beer but also all things German. Bamberg has become a sizeable city and is EXtremely touristy but I still love this place unconditionally. Good food and amazing beer culture. But an even better experience is visiting the smaller villages to eat and drink at the “Wirtshäuser” or “Gaststätte” where they also have own (often small) breweries.
I spent 2 consecutive Christmas holidays in Bamberg and went back a couple of times on day trips when staying in some towns in the area. Schlenkerla is always, always, always full. Of all the times I had been there it was a total of 3 times that I could actually sit down inside.
Always full not only in the main dining hall but also in the small room where they keep the wooden casks. The local regulars occupy this room, the beer is dispensed from the cask in this room, which is separate from the main hall. “Schwemmer” is an area in between these 2 rooms and it’s also full of standing people. The street outside is full, too, since there’s absolutely no more room to stand. It’s quite insane. You have to queue for a while to get your beer and queue again to return the glass to get your deposit back. It’s so time consuming I had to go to other restaurants and beer spots to drink Schlenkerla.
The most anticipated beer of the season (winter) and it’s so good. One has to drink minimum 2 glasses (half litre x 2) in one sitting after all that trouble. We usually drank 5 or 6, but also something else in bottles.
Sister Wednesday by Laughing Monk Brewing (San Francisco, CA) - IPA
Really nice mix of west and east coast IPA characteristics - a lot of juicy peach, mango und orange flavors upfront which is really well balanced by strong, piney, resiny bitterness which is quite long lasting - Great IPA
Mother Pumpkin Ale by Blue Point Brewing Company (Patchogue, NY) - Pumpkin Beer
Tasted like a “middle-of-the-road” ale with bready flavor, some light malts and very faint taste of roasted pumpkin. Hardly any spices recognizable. Boring, unimpressive ale with hardly any connection to pumpkin.
Presents to myself arrived this morning!
I bought the beer glass at the brewery all those years ago. Good quality. Still looks almost new and I use it all the time.
Next time, no mixed box again. Just the Urbock and Marzen. Though I also like the lager.
Too bad they don’t have Lebkuchen from some local bakery. That’s one of the things I miss about Franconia. They have the best Lebkuchen in the country.
I try to find info to go with the photos whenever possible.
