The Beer List

7/30/08	Paris	Adelscott, biere au malt a whisky	I love bourbon barrel porters, so this caught my eye, but what a mistake. This is a flavored beer, aroma of whisky added along with sugar. So it is sweet, smoky, cloying…makes me shudder. Intriguing at first and then dumped the rest.
7/30/08	Paris	Heineken	Very clean, brightly carbonated, bitter, refreshing. A true classic.
7/30/08	Paris	Hoegaarden Biere Blanche-witbier	A classic European wit – clovey and banana phenolic esters. Refreshing on a hot evening in our apartment in Paris.
7/29/08	Paris Disney	1664, Kronenbourg	Beer in Disneyland!?! At McDonalds!?! I love the French.
7/28/08	Paris	Leffe Biere Blonde	Okay, we had this one earlier in London on tap at Belgo and this time ‘round it was a liter bottle in Paris. It is a wonderful beer for food, especially cheese. Malty, nutty, mildly alcoholic, with the phenolic character of many Belgian ales.
7/27/08	Paris	Fischer, Alsatian ale	A malty, moderately alcoholic lager (6%). Wonderful foam. A refreshing break from a hot afternoon watching the Tour de France, but on an empty stomach…modestly intoxicating.
7/26/08	Paris	1664, Kronenbourg	A cleaner, fuller, but also more refreshing version of the previous lager.
7/25/08	Paris	Kronenbourg	A slightly cloying light lager. Brewed with malt and wheat. Clean but not necessarily refreshing…and this opinion comes after the 6-pack test over several days.
7/24/08	London	Triple Karmeliet (Belgium, 8.0%)	You need to see the pretty glass because it is only matched by the lusciousness of the beer…AND, it is fantastic with mussels.
7/24/08	London	Hoegaarden Grand Cru (Belgium, 8.5%)	OMG! Good, but not quite as luscious…oh, like when you have had a bunch of great beer and quick delicious food. Cap it off with one to roll home on the Tube with.
7/24/08	London	St. Feullien Blonde (Belgium)	Balanced, clean, sharp, a tad acidic on the nose but brilliant on the palate. This beer pairs well with fries, followed up with a course of mussels.
7/24/08	London	Grimbergen Blonde (Belgium)	Hoppy & dry with hints of candy @ the climax (back label talk). Mid-level clove and banana, alcoholic and hefewizen-esque. A hint of root-beer. Between the eyes juicy fruit in the nose. I’d have a stick (of juicy fruit) with mussels
7/24/08	London	Dekonnick (Belgium)	Another fine lager from Belgium – Antwerp…the Beer of Kings. Malty, hint of clove, clean…lovely with mussels
7/24/08	London	Critsal (Belgium)	A clean light lager, mildly bitter…lovely with mussels
7/23/08	London	Organic, Persian Beer (brewed under contract in London)	Not particularly inspiring. Beer originated with the Sumarians, so is this a taste of its roots? Interesting that Islam has removed this beverage from much of Persian culture.
7/22/08	London	Carling Black Label (draft)	It was 11:30 PM and this place seemed to draw us in on the way home from dinner. Mildly inebriated and feeling high from a successful meeting and the IBD’s Exec. Director’s suggestion that we would be meeting in Berlin for our next meeting, we all drank a round of Britain’s top selling brand, standing in a circle, joking, teasing, laughing. Can’t remember the flavor of this one other than cold, wet, bubbly, and cleanly bitter.
7/22/08	London	Foster’s lager (draught)	Clean but unidimensional – light malt and dry but slightly piercing bitterness. Everyone is drinking lager…so even though it is London, when in Rome…The Board of Examiner team for the Diploma in Packaging is relaxing, socializing before heading out to dinner.
7/22/08	London	Green King IPA (cask)	Given that everyone is drinking lager, it was surprising albeit comforting that the barkeep tasted this one before serving it to us and then came over and spoke with us about the cask beers. This one had the hint of lactobacilli growing – a slightly sour funk on top of tutti-fruity hoppiness. Not entirely satisfying
7/22/08	London	Fuller’s London Pride (cask)	Returning to the almost warming, comforting sensation of British malt. Clean, pleasant, quintessential London. Gina and I snuck in a break from the kids, walked to nearby pub and took in the experience/ambiance
7/22/08	London	Beer’s at IBD office
7/21/08	London	Jennings Lakeland Ales Cumberland Traditional Ale	Pronounced sulfurous aroma plus strong skunky-3MBT (packaged in green bottle). Thin in color and flavor. Not pleasant. Didn’t finish this one. With dinner in the Bayswater apt.
7/21/08	London	Jennings Lakeland Ales Sneck Lifter, Strong Ale	Malty plus roasted. Very dark ale verging on porter. Pronounced roasted notes without acrid bitterness. Alcohol is 5.1% and noticeable. With dinner in the Bayswater apt.
7/21/08	London	Fuller’s London Pride	Very malty, biscuity, slight hop aroma. Light, but noticeable bitterness. With dinner in the Bayswater apt.
7/20/08	London	Marston’s Pedigree	The classic, Burton-on-Trent Pale Ale. Still made using the Burton Unions. Their label describes the aroma as Burton sulphury and the palate as biscuit, malty, dry bitterness, spicy hop. This was pretty close. Little in regard to hop aroma. Very clean, dry finish without much lingering. In our apartment in London struggling to stay awake.
7/19/08	Berlin	Berliner Kindle Pils	Not as pleasing as the Shlutnerheisse but nonetheless a classic German Pils
7/19/08	Berlin	Shlutnerheisse Pils	Refreshing, clean, strong dry bitterness Drank along with our first picnic on the floor of our pension room
7/19/08	Berlin	Berliner Kindle Weisse, Green	Whoa! Syrupy sweet, aromatically herbal, Gina was a bit repulsed. Had this along side food court food at the top of a department store – the opposite experience from the afternoon before.
7/18/08	Berlin	Kombacher Pils	Thick foam, clean flavor, welcome to Germany! Had this at our first meal in Europe…a slightly formal restaurant on Rudesheimer Platz that was serving mittagsessen until 5:00 (and it was 4:30). It was a very inexpensive meal, wonderfully prepared, and served in a restaurant that was empty but for us.