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Episode 103 - Trappist Beers
124 Plays2 years ago
This week we're back in the studio together, minus Clark, to enjoy some Trappist beer styles.
Beers on this episode:
Achel 8 Blond
Tynt Meadow
Westmalle Tripel
Trappistes Rochefort 6
Theme music provided by Myke Kelli (@mykekelli)
Break and outro music provided by @FluidMinds
Check out all our episodes at www.themaltinghour.com
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Trappist Beers
00:00:00
Speaker
What does CC stand for? The plot of land that it came from. The sixth plot of land. But this definitely has like that Belgian... Wait, that's straight to question. I'm looking it up. I'm continuing while I look it up. So much sometimes. This week we're drinking Trappist beers. This is episode 103 of The Mulking Hour.
00:00:26
Speaker
What's the haps on the hops? Guy ease that speech This the molten hour where we talk about our drink And tell you what we think, every other week And if we get drunk, well we might slur our speech Gotten to get a cab, the friends who wish you had Join us for a drink, join us for a laugh Time is never wasted, way you're getting wasted The molten hour here, people, people taking places People, people taking places People, people taking places
00:00:54
Speaker
Welcome to the Malting Hour. I am one of your hosts. Tony Gold joined always with... Brandon Winnington. And to my left... Danny Pollack. Gentlemen, we're back. We're back together. In the same room. And drinking together. We miss you, Clark. I miss you, Clark. Do we? Do we miss Clark? Yeah, I miss Clark. I don't know. Do you miss Clark, Brandon?
00:01:17
Speaker
I miss having somebody that's going to give us answers to things when we have questions, but... Oh, speaking of Clark, though, didn't he get a new microphone for Christmas? He did, so next time he's in. So, that being said, he could probably sit at the bar now. Ooh, that's right. Now, I like him at his table. You guys, how was... How much do I... It's more convenient, gives us more space. It's true. How were the holidays, guys? How was it? Because, you know, it's February now. By the way, it's my birthday today. Did we...
00:01:48
Speaker
did we record the last time we recorded was it for christmas it was after christmas right it was after uh after christmas around new year's or for new year's yeah yeah i don't remember what he says i don't know it's knocked out a couple of malted minis one night got three of them in and we also had the howard street episode in january but this is the first time since december that we're together recording and uh let's do it
Brandon's Passion for Belgian Beers
00:02:10
Speaker
Brandon, this particular beer style is, I feel like, is very near and dear to your heart. Maybe not so much the Trappist part, but Belgian beers. My love for monks just carries over the beers. He does have a monk holding like a beer stein tattoo on his left butt cheek.
00:02:32
Speaker
I had to think about that when you were describing it before it became a tattoo. I was like, do I have a monk thing somewhere? I was like, maybe I do. I gave you the tattoo. Yeah, so specifically we are talking about, we're going to be drinking a couple of Trappist Belgian brews, specifically from Belgium.
Trappist Breweries and Recent Changes
00:02:49
Speaker
There are some Trappist breweries. No, there isn't. Is there all specifically Trappist breweries?
00:02:56
Speaker
Monks made them a couple of I mean there's a good lot that I got that are from Belgium Yes, and I think and I actually I don't even think the Trappist I'll I don't know if that's it's not specific to Belgium And I don't know if that's necessarily where it started it actually got its brand
00:03:13
Speaker
No, it was LaTrap. LaTrap like that. Because all the... That Trappist from LaTrap. We're not talking about SoundCloud music, right? Trapp. Right, right. Which is kind of funny. I almost went and grabbed... There's a liquor store that has some LaTrap, like their quad from 2015.
00:03:35
Speaker
And it's a really good quad. I've had, there's several different, excuse me, batches of it. And it's, every time I've had it, it's been fantastic. So I was going to grab that. But I walked into our local big box liquor store and it had literally all of these. And one of them is one of my favorites, but I don't think we're going to drink that today. We'll probably save that for another time. That being said, I think we
00:04:01
Speaker
Set it. Yeah, but we're drinking some some trappistails. Yeah, I'm excited and with the with what sparked this number one we needed an episode and what sparked this was that Who isn't another something happened some monks. There's no no more monks. Yeah
00:04:18
Speaker
So I think is it in Belgium that they said in Belgium, the last monks have finally left the monastery. So the, the, the, the, so the monastery locations. You can say it, Dan. It's okay. Jump over. We talking over each other.
00:04:34
Speaker
Well, no, I was going to say so Akul, which is one of the ones that we have here in twenty twenty twenty one. I believe twenty twenty one twenty twenty one. But they actually just read that they actually just sold to somebody.
00:04:50
Speaker
They lost the Trappist beer, lost his recognition in 2023 and it says it's sold to a private person. I didn't even read that earlier. So the beers, these specific beers are still going to be made.
History of Belgian Monasteries and Beer Revival
00:05:00
Speaker
It's just, they can't, they're no longer Trappist name because they've gone private. Yeah. Well, it has to be, because with Akul specifically, there has to be monks either brewing or overseeing.
00:05:13
Speaker
And the last two monks that were left at Akko, which is the smallest of all the Belgian monasteries that brewed beer and were Trappist, they retired and moved to a different one. And so because they weren't there overseeing,
00:05:29
Speaker
They weren't allowed to be called that anymore even though they were still gonna be brewing the beer and I think that the monks even said like they're still going to be like looking after it, but because they're not living within the four walls of the monastery, it can't be Trappist. Does looking after it mean that they're just gonna be drinking a bunch of it and being like, yep, yep, still tastes like beer. That's what we do here on this podcast. We're just looking after these beers to make sure they have a good home, our bellies. Speaking of beer, which one are we gonna start with? Um, Dan?
00:05:56
Speaker
Why don't you choose? Do you want to start with the aqua? Yeah, let's do that since we're talking about it. This has a very long history. It is on the border, I believe, of the Netherlands and Belgium.
00:06:13
Speaker
But I did a little research today on it and I don't remember everything so I'm not going to be able to quote everything. But it was talking about how, yeah, it's like the smallest of the monasteries and it was on the border, I believe, of the Netherlands and Belgium. And then during German occupation, long story short, they had to close a bunch of times and then reopen. But during the German occupation, during the world wars,
00:06:37
Speaker
the Belgian half was destroyed, but the Dutch half still stood because they didn't want to disrupt the Dutch because the Dutch were neutral in the war. So they like destroyed half of it. And then the Germans ended up taking their copper tanks and tanks, tanks as in like brewing vessels. And the Germans stole the copper and used it to build stuff for the war.
00:07:03
Speaker
So they lost their thing in a story I have for this leading to the other beers. I thought that was your story. That is the story. Long story on. So whenever they were going to go public again, so they started brewing again in like the 60s, I believe it was, but then in the 2000s, it was maybe 98, early 2000s, they decided to go more commercial and they had brewers from Westmall and from Rocherford.
00:07:28
Speaker
come in and help them develop their recipes. Two of the other breweries we're going to try.
Exploring Trappist Ales
00:07:36
Speaker
Maybe, I don't know, maybe this is a blonde beer because they have a couple of different ones, but maybe this was helped developed by two of the other breweries we have on the show. Yeah, I do wish I would have grabbed the LaTrap. I was reading about- Back to the goddamn LaTrap. It's a trap. I was reading about it. They're still listed, according to their website, as an authentic
00:07:58
Speaker
um trappist beer and I didn't I didn't know that they're I I'm very familiar with it because just um I got introduced to them because the beer rep at Fishman's like he handled a lot of the Belgian beer and so I knew that LeTrap had a location in Belgium but I actually started I think in the Netherlands they have a spot there and that was their original location the monks went from France and migrated to
00:08:22
Speaker
like some King's old like country ranch that he had. And they were just like, this looks cool. And they took it and like made it their monastery and it's still there. Like that's dope. Also King's country ranch sounds like a type of salad dressing. Just popped into my head. Just welcome to King's country ranch. What do you guys, this is my first time having this particular beer. I think it's my first time too. My first time too. What do you guys think about it? Does it say blonde beer on there? Okay.
00:08:49
Speaker
So they have two of their main beers is a blonde beer. The other one is I think it's like a dark Belgian, but go on. Sorry. No, no, no. You're fine. I was literally just looked over and like, this is blonde beer. I the the carbonation on this is interesting. I was not expecting it to have that kind of like sultry tingle and it's pleasant. And then it just makes me like, I'm curious about the other ones.
00:09:15
Speaker
Um, specifically now since like I literally, um, when Tony and Dan came down here was the first time that I poured off some of my Belgian that I had made. Um, which by the way, um, if I, if I stick to my guns and I get Clark over here, uh, I mentoring that into the national homebrew competition.
00:09:34
Speaker
Pretty exciting. By the way, Clark, we're going to need you to use your canner. I already asked. I gave him my heads up. Good. He's like, when do you need the spy? I was like, end of February.
Tasting and Rating Trappist Beers
00:09:44
Speaker
It's like, oh, oh, cool, cool, cool. So they have a broom. They're both 8%. They have the blonde and the broom, which is the darker. It looks like a more of like a traditional
00:09:56
Speaker
Like, even like a barley wine almost, but with like crazy head. Yeah, this has that like...
00:10:04
Speaker
A lot of those notes in Belgian beers that I like, you know, it's bordering. To me, this borders on like a really, really strong half of Eisen teetering into like the Belgian world because I'm getting more like getting like some banana peel. I'm getting, you know, some like cloves straight up banana peel. Yeah. Well, banana. So.
00:10:31
Speaker
We know they say like, you know citrus feel so clove like there's there's definitely some clove I'm picking up on. Yeah But I think to me still that the most interesting thing is how they did the carbonation That's the first thing that stood out for me drinking This was how bubbly it was it and I'm glad you said seltzer because at first I thought like champagne bubbles, you know how it's like a rush of you know, a bunch of tiny bubbles, but these feel more like carbonated and
00:10:58
Speaker
Like carbonated water or cells or bubbles. I think these are mostly all going to be bottle-conditioned also. I think so. So it's probably going to add to that. I think this, I may have said it in the past, I'm not a huge Belgian beer fan. I like Belgian Quads. I think Belgian Quads are delicious.
00:11:19
Speaker
And there's Brandon, your triple is really good. And we, you know, first episode that we did, we talked about Belgian triples. Um, there's a, I have a place in my heart for them. It's just not a style. I'm like, Oh, I really want to have this on the other hand. Um, I could, I could drink this crazy drinkable for 8%. Really, really good. Yeah. It does not, does not come off. Uh,
00:11:39
Speaker
as 8%, it's almost like refreshing. You know, some indulgants are like syrupy and like you get the alcohol burn, not getting the down. No, and I feel like the carbonation for me is what's helping this 8% beer drink so easy. Yeah, so this last time that I brewed the Belgian triple, I did a lot of reading about triples and just kind of like the style and
00:12:02
Speaker
I didn't necessarily do much different than I had done last year. I still did like I did the first work competitions, which I think definitely changed the profile of the entire beer. Whenever you did with that this time, like I was telling you before we started, there is that like this has that background middle of the back middle tongue fairness to it. That's what your triple has. And last year's was just a little more
00:12:30
Speaker
Sharp, which again, not bad, but you're, you're, you're batch this year as well. And this year, the, so the, my original OG was still the same that it, that it had been in years prior, but that thing fermented out a lot more. And so what I was reading about Belgium, so is Belgians are supposed to be dry Belgians, like they're, they're
Introduction to English Trappist Ale
00:12:50
Speaker
typically, and I'm getting that from this. Absolutely. That was the other thing I wanted to say that dryness is coming through. And like, when I had the.
00:12:58
Speaker
So when I was kegging the Belgian, I did pour a little bit off when I took a sip. And I was like, OK, that was the first time I had had it. I was like, there is that dryness. I was like, it's actually it was a lot more present. So years past, like the last two years I did it, I think the Belgian that wouldn't clock in about like nine point three, nine point four percent. This time I was like nine point nine eight. It's almost 10 percent. What was crazy, too, is so I didn't do much different.
00:13:26
Speaker
But I cold crashed it this time. I took the fermenter, I put it in the fridge, and I let it crash. And when it was dropping in temperature, it started fermenting again, because I was using my tilt hydrometer. But it also could have been the temperature change too.
00:13:43
Speaker
Also, when you moved it you probably start some stuff up nice. Yeah. Yeah, but like it literally what it went down like a couple of Couple more points and it went from like nine point four to nine point nine Which is fine. I was I was okay with that And like I said when I was trying it that there was that dryness and that's like what I'm getting from here and it makes sense and I think when you get to the the styles that are like the doubles the triples and
00:14:09
Speaker
The thing that I read was the, the sweetness that you get out of those beers from everything else that's in there overtakes the dryness. You'll still notice it, but it's not as like, it's not like drinking like a dry wine or a dry champagne type of thing. It's definitely, it's still dry, but the sweetness balances it kind of. And I think that happened with the triple that I did this time. So yeah, I, I.
00:14:36
Speaker
I'm glad you brought up the dryness on this because I feel like, like I said, that's what makes this so refreshing of a beer. Especially at 8% with those little bubbles in there. I mean, I want to go and grab some more of these. Drink this on a nice warm spring day. You know what I mean, guys? Yeah. Spring. It's like 40 degrees and you're like, man, this is awesome. I'm wearing shorts on Monday. It's going to be great.
00:15:06
Speaker
How many monks? How many monks would you give this Brandon out of five?
00:15:10
Speaker
I'd go four and a half. Four and a half monks. Yeah. Nice, nice, nice. Just based on what I know about the Belgians in general and... The people? Yeah. Good folks in Belgians. Hey, maybe we'll get some Belgian listeners with this episode. We have some. I know. Maybe we'll get some more. It surprised me how much I liked this, just being on the lighter side, but it's got everything that I want in like... I want to drink this all the time.
00:15:39
Speaker
It's got everything you want in a Belgian beer, and it's not super heavy. Getting fucked up all the time. It's not super heavy, easy drinking, so yeah. I'm at four and a half percent, I think.
00:15:49
Speaker
Dan, I'm gonna go four and a half months also because it's got that rare balance of complex yet super drinkable. I mean, if you wanna think about it, you can if you don't have to think about it. When I saw Blonde, I was kinda like, eh, I don't like Blondales, but I really dig this. It's the Belgian East for sure, but I dig it. I'm in agreement with you two. I think four and a half, it could even go up to 4.6, 4.7-ish months. Yeah, probably goes really good with some boiled peanuts.
00:16:18
Speaker
Gross. I think it's a very it's a beer you can sit there and analyze. It's also a beer you can just crack open and drink. I think it's a very approachable beer. 100%. Just anybody try it, you know, if you wanted to have someone. Belgian gateway drug. There you go. I don't want you to do a drug, but yeah, it's a Belgian gateway beer.
00:16:38
Speaker
I mean, especially for people that aren't, that say they're not into Belgians, like people that are into blondes, people that like Hefeweizen, this is definitely, it's a good representation of a light Belgian beer. Absolutely. Well, with that being said, I can also confirm it does go well with the boiled peanuts. Gross, again. Tony, we'll stick with the dry roasted peanuts. I'm going to stick with the really dry roasted peanuts because these boiled peanuts kind of, they
00:17:00
Speaker
They put off an undercooked bean. I don't know what it is, green cap. Green cap. Hey! It's another Dan one. We're going with two Dan beers. We're right at the top. Did not research at all. But I do know, perfectly, none of my beers will be drank. I'm going to sneak in the Saison that I brought and be like, yes, Travis.
00:17:22
Speaker
So I'm not gonna, probably gonna butcher this. It's T-Y-N-T, so tint meadow. It's an English trappist ale.
Humor and Rare Beers Discussion
00:17:30
Speaker
So this is the only trappist monastery that brews beer in England.
00:17:35
Speaker
And it is still so it says it's a strong ale brewed by the monks of Mount St. Bernard Abbey Charnwood Forest and when I was reading about this it was talking about how a lot of a lot of the a lot of the beers a lot of the Trappist beers traditionally are named after the region they're from so like West malls like a area and such and so on but the meadow
00:18:00
Speaker
This Rocha for I think is a area. I don't know But tint meadow, I guess is like to my area around the monastery. Oh, they wanted to go with that and it did say like this is like a a Beer but it's deaf. It's a English style So I'm interested to see how it is and Brandon hasn't gotten a poor yet. I Want know that Dan? I
00:18:30
Speaker
I want to send a bottle of this to Tim Meadows. I want to send a text to Tony who didn't show up yet here and let him know, don't be nice to Dan. It doesn't matter.
00:18:46
Speaker
That's what I want to do. Yeah? I'm just looking out for Brandon. Why you gotta be so cruel? Do you think that I wouldn't save enough for Brandon? Also, I think... Fucking sidestep. 7.4%. And I was trying to decide. I'm gonna have one of you guys look at this. It almost looks like it's like... Can't read? Handwritten. What? Best Buy Date. I need readers now. Best Buy Date is January 18th, 2024.
Monks' Role in Brewing and Charitable Proceeds
00:19:10
Speaker
And it looks like a guy signed his name. I need my bafookles.
00:19:14
Speaker
It does look like it was handwritten. Let me see. It tastes like pen ink. Brandon's licking the bottle. I did not lick the bottle. He did. Excuse me. Tony, what are your thoughts on this one? It's kind of sweet. Getting the sweetness to it. I was going to say it's almost like
00:19:41
Speaker
a lighter barley wine that's like fruitier to me. Yeah. So does it say what the style is on this? Yeah, on the front. Strong dark ale? Strong dark ale with an English. It's also poor gently. I'm getting a slight, I was gonna say smokiness. Yeah. But not like a smoked beer.
00:20:04
Speaker
You know, it's... Did you get enough in your, in the glasses? There's more left in the kitchen. Oh, okay, that's crazy. Um...
00:20:14
Speaker
Smoked porter is what it's smelt like to me. It's smelt like a smoked porter. I get like a candy Belgian style beer with the... Let me read this little descriptor here, see if we can go off of it. It's diassal. It's fucking butter popcorn. Tint meadow is mahogany colored with a subtle warm red hue and a lasting beige head. It's aroma carries hints of dark chocolate, licorice and rich fruit flavors. The beer is full bodied, gently balancing the taste of dark chocolate.
00:20:44
Speaker
pepper and fig. It leaves a warm and dry finish on the palette.
00:20:50
Speaker
I can see the like dark chocolate. Did you like ashy-ness like I'm talking about? Sure. It was sweet at first. And even before you were reading that, the other two sips I took of it, I'm like, okay, it's
Flavor Profiles and Beer Characteristics
00:21:04
Speaker
actually not sweet. Yeah, but I think that's just coming from coming off that dry, that last one that was so dry. Well, I think all the other ones, depending on, you know, where we start, it might come off sweet in the beginning. At first, honestly, I didn't really care for this. My first impression, I was like, eh, I don't know if this is for me.
00:21:20
Speaker
But now, excuse me, I'm really burping tonight. It's all that bottle conditioning. I think so. It's still fermenting in my belly. Tonight's going to be fun. Yeah, I came right here. First time drinking in over a month. I got to do some cleaning tomorrow. And then we got to go out for my birthday tomorrow. I got to take my kid to soccer tomorrow. This is. I have to sign Benjamin up for soccer again. There we go. I skipped it this year. There's just such season. What are you doing, man? You didn't want to do it? OK, I don't know.
00:21:48
Speaker
I think it's it's pretty good. I get the I get the dark fruit Fig not not like rich dark fruit, you know, like some of those deep dark fruits you'd get like in maybe a quad Or barley wine like almost like prunish, you know, sometimes yeah of a raisiny. Yep. This is more
00:22:08
Speaker
It's lighter. It's subtle. It reminds me of like when people use like leather to describe like a wine. Okay. Yeah. I'm getting like that kind of essence on it. Yeah. Sweaty, dirty leather. Cowboy was on his all day. No, I see what you're saying. There is like, it's so weird because there is some red wines that do put off that like, you know, you smell like fresh leather or just leather like
00:22:34
Speaker
You know you can taste almost taste it it does come off like that it also there at first I thought there was also kind of that like Herbal tea type taste that I get sometimes in beers, but not not too much it. There's a little bit of tea in there overall Not undelicious
00:22:55
Speaker
I don't know if I'm... It's a fucking descriptor. I don't know if I love it. You know what I mean? It's a unique Belgian beer to me. It's not Belgian. I'm sorry, a unique Trappist. Yeah. That's why I was kind of grabbing it because it's different than the traditional Trappist showcase. The chocolate, there is that...
00:23:18
Speaker
I feel like that I get, like you said, like the ashiness, but also maybe chocolate even like in bitterness. Does that make sense? It's all on the same lines. Yeah. And one of the qualifiers of a Trappist beer is that they use the proceeds to fund the monastery and then like whatever proceeds they have beyond that, they're supposed to donate to like charities.
00:23:41
Speaker
And so thinking of that, I mean, I would think that every Trappist monastery is going to be trying to brew beers that the locals are going to want, because that's like probably their primary audience. Audience, yeah. Is that Rashida Jones? Stop watching. The audience doesn't know that the Chappelle show is on its very...
00:24:04
Speaker
Unprofessional, okay? Don't worry about it. So just getting to your point about the whole playing with it, and I think that was like the whole thing with Wes Flederin. I think that's how it's... The big one is Wes Flederin 12.
00:24:21
Speaker
R.I.P. to that bottle that I broke last year. That whole... You broke it before drinking it? Well, I had four of them. I drink three of them. I've never tried it. I've had it twice. Humble, bro. Probably both with me. Not humble, and yes. That beer was typically never leaves Belgium. And you have to go to the monastery to get it.
00:24:48
Speaker
Um, and they only grow a certain amount of it certain times of the year, but they did a special release where they went Nash or like worldwide and the US got a good allotment of it. And the only reason they did that was because they needed to fix the roof.
00:25:03
Speaker
So all of that funding, everything that they sold, just went back to fix their roof, which is awesome. Yeah, that's pretty good. I think I read
Final Ratings and Future Plans
00:25:09
Speaker
that, and I mentioned that the, the monkey, they'd have to brew or oversee. I think that Westviletterin might be one of the only Belgian ones that the monks actually are the brewers. If I remember what I read. They bathed in the beer. I would. While it's fermenting. Gross. Trying to get those natural flavors. Sorry, random mouthful of peanuts.
00:25:34
Speaker
Dan? Yes. I wish I had edited this fucking show. So many changing his words. Um, you know. Uh, Dan, how many monks do you give him this one? Uh, I don't like it as much as the first one, but I do like it. So I'm going to go four. I like that. Brandon? Uh, I'm like three, eight, three, nine,
00:25:57
Speaker
Yeah, I think I'm about three, six, three, seven-ish. And that's a realistic thing, and I'm not, not because it's a bad beer, it's just not something I personally, I think it's a good beer. I think it's a pretty good beer, like, pretty darn good beer, and I think a lot of people out there like it, I'm sure, and a lot of other people that we know would probably like it, I'm sure Clark might like it, you know? But Clark's not here, so we won't know. Hey guys, it's Clark. Oh shit, it's Clark, hey Clark, what's going on?
00:26:25
Speaker
Yeah, this beer sucks. Oh, that was rough. See you later. Bye, Clark. Good to see you. I'm going to go back to not having COVID but being sick. He's just not here. All right, that's two down. That ain't even sick. Yeah, well, he's got a stomach bug.
00:26:39
Speaker
It's not COVID. No, I know. As I said, not having COVID. Oh, he's got poo poos, probably. With that being said, let's take a quick break. And we got two more to come back to. Hey, guys, it's good to be back with you guys here. You know that? Ay. The fucking Fonz? No. Go on.
00:28:44
Speaker
And we're back! First one for 2023. We're back, it's our Trappist Ale episode. And we're here, back together again. Sitting around, like peas and carrots. Eating snacks. Yes. We're eating peanuts, but not the same peanuts. Right. Boiled peanuts. Boiled peanuts and just regular
00:29:10
Speaker
Salted peanuts roasted in salted peanuts and this episode is brought to you by signature select peanuts signature select find us a jewel Which one did we? Okay, the six Yes, yes, this is okay. Oh, this is what I'm talking about. So this is you want to introduce? I'm good rochefer six and it is the
00:29:34
Speaker
Red cap, brown beer, they have it on here. 7.5% ABV. Hey, red cap, brown beer, what's up? I was always drinking miles. This says it's brewed only about once per year, representing approximately 1% of the total beer production. This is on untapped, so who knows how true this is.
00:29:55
Speaker
This gives you the Play-Doh and all that jazz. This is the oldest Rochafort Trappist beer. It was brewed empirically until the end of the Second World War until 1958. This was the only Rochafort beer that was bottled in both 33 CC bottles and 75 CC bottles. Interesting. What does CC stand for? The plot of land that it came from. The sixth plot of land.
00:30:22
Speaker
But this definitely has like that Belgian I'm looking it up. I'm continuing while I look at our so much CCC CC is an abbreviation for cubic centimeter The old metric system, you know, I mean one day America will get there one day
00:30:42
Speaker
So, I don't know if you guys heard my reaction in the beginning before you started reading the script of this beer. I found the answer. So, Rockefort 6, Rockefort 6, is named after its original gravity measured in Belgian degrees. Ooh. Hey. And it's a brewing scale that's no longer used today. So, I'm assuming the 6, 8, and 10 are all part of the same. Yeah. Yeah, but the 10 is a little... The other... ...converted over into... yep. The other thing I was reading is that...
00:31:10
Speaker
Like a lot of the Trappist breweries, they don't label their stuff single, double, triple. It's kind of like us. They just make it. We try to put them in a box.
00:31:18
Speaker
Don't box them. Don't put them in a box. But it helps me remember the beers I actually really like. And I will say this, this is probably, as soon as I took a sip, it kind of sent me back to, we bring up Fishman's a lot, of maybe the first time that Mike, my brother-in-law, and I did exactly what you did, Brandon, which was buy all of these because I wanted to take a trip and try all the different six, eight, ten. And I remember
00:31:44
Speaker
Drinking this and really liking it like this to me is the perfect type of Trappist like Belgian beer for me for me specifically. It's not dry No, not by any means. It's almost like and it's not like it's not like sweet sweet or anything No, I like there's a so you're saying so I will challenge you on that. It's not right. It is dry I can definitely tell that it's okay. Yes, but that sweetness gives it that juice. Yeah, that's what you were saying the same before Yeah, there's also like a
00:32:15
Speaker
like caramel butterscotch candy flavor to this for me. Do you guys get that at all? Yeah. Yeah. And I feel like if Werther's Original was a beer, this would be it. No, I don't really mean that. It's so funny that you said that. Becca, in her alter ego of being a grandma, always buys Werther's Originals and keeps them at her first
00:32:39
Speaker
That's awesome because it's delicious candy. And then like we're driving in the car with Benjamin and she's like sneaking them in. Anyways, so she had coffee one. She bought coffee. Those are good. I was having some the other day and I was like, I literally thought I was like, what if we put these into a beer? You just put your hand in them, Dan. Melt them into a mash. That would be, that would be so good. That would be good. Sorry, I was just trying to. Or in the boil.
00:33:04
Speaker
I don't know, that'd be interesting. Or melt them down and then put them in after the boil, like ferment them. We learned something from a brewery that uses candy. Which, I don't know if it's on the episode, so I'm not gonna say it. They melt pounds of candy with hot water, and I think they add it to... Oh, was that the short fuse? Okay, well you can say it, yeah. I forgot when they... It's in that name, right? No, they don't call it fucking Sour Patch Kids beer. They call it Barry White. Oh, that one, Barry White, yeah.
00:33:31
Speaker
But it's not called a gummy bear. It's got a gummy bear on the damn label. I don't know. We're not really saying gummy bear. Yeah. Did we ever ask, do they blend that? That's what I remember. It's on the episode, I'm sure. But yeah, we should try something like that. Yeah. What are the Twizzler beer, huh?
00:33:48
Speaker
Sounds awful. What do you guys think is in that blackboard? That's the worst. Dan, what are you taking? You already finished yours, by the way. Getting down to business tonight. It's Friday night. Eating peanuts and drinking beer. I had a fucking week of lawyer, and I got to get wrecked. Eating peanuts and drinking beer. This is, so it has like that Belgian candied sugar taste to it, Timmy. I get butterscotch, yeah.
00:34:18
Speaker
I don't get the butterscotch. I mean, I see where you're going with that, but I don't, I don't mean like an off flavor either. Like I'm not like, Oh fuck. It's like I'm eating butterscotch. Yeah. Like I don't, but I, I don't enjoy the perceived sweetness on this one as much as the other ones. It's not as easy to drink.
00:34:35
Speaker
No, not at all. This is a one and done. I'm glad where we're at with this. I could split that small bottle with another person and really enjoy it. It's good and well done. Absolutely. It's just not what I would normally go for. Unless I was sitting by a fire on a cold night in the backyard. Maybe in the winter. In the winter. I like it. Brandon, what are your takes on this? I would enjoy this sitting by fire.
00:35:05
Speaker
in a cold winter night. Oh, really? No. I'm not. So I'm getting the candy stuff. And it's borderline like that butterscotch to me. And when I say butterscotch, I don't mean buttery. No, no, no, no. No, no, no, no. Weird off flavor. More of the actual sweet candiness of that. The carbonation on this one, I like, I think, better than most of the other ones. Although the blonde, I think, was pretty nice.
00:35:35
Speaker
Maybe, and now I'm thinking about this in my head, I think the way they're carbonated actually is complimenting the beers really well.
00:35:43
Speaker
So like, yeah, I think drinkability and, um, aroma and it's nailing all of the things again, like that I like in, in Trappist Spears. Um, it's lighter. It's this, this goes up like kind of with the blonde with me. Like this is one I couldn't drink repeatedly, but this is one that I, like, I would joy consistently. Like, you know, sharing like, and this is a small bottle, but like this poor, I feel like is like a good amount. Absolutely. Yeah.
00:36:11
Speaker
And whereas the blonde, I could drink the entire thing to myself, by myself. But yeah, anyone pull this out any time of the day, I would definitely share this with somebody. Sorry, what would you say? If somebody pulled this out any time of the day? I misunderstood, sorry. So how many monks would you give this, Dan? Three-seven. Ah, three-eight. Three-eight? Three-eight, maybe three-nine.
00:36:33
Speaker
Brandon yeah, I'm about Three seven five three eight on this man. I'm gonna go four three for me specifically This is you know, this is in my wheelhouse. I like this. Yeah, I'm gonna change that. Oh shit. So I'm closer probably to like four Because and I'm just thinking in my head I do kind of like this one a little bit more than the last one So I'm gonna put it just slightly ahead
00:36:57
Speaker
Yeah, I definitely do like it more than the last one. Again, that's preference. It's not a bad beer. It's not preference. It's okay. Dan, crack open the fourth beer. Which could be our final. I don't know what's going on. We'll see. This was another one that you picked up, Brandon. Did you guys like all my subtle penis jokes that I've been making this half of the episode?
00:37:23
Speaker
That's it. I'm asking the audience. I wanted them to respond. Let us know in the comments section. No, I heard them if they said it out loud. Just subtle jokes, you know what I mean? So this is the West Mall Trappist Triple. Coming in at 9.5% alcohol.
00:37:47
Speaker
was first brewed in 1934 and the recipe has not changed since 1956. Pale candy sugar and has a very pale color produced from a mash of light Pilsner malts. Steering golden hops are used along with some German varieties and the classic size Pilsner hop. After a long secondary fermentation, the triple West Mall is bottled with a dose of sugar and yeast. This beer holds up well in the bottle over time and seems to soften with age. Just like a man.
00:38:20
Speaker
He's not wrong. I am becoming quite the software. Is that a fat joke? I put it in a lot of weight, guys. I gotta stop doing this show. What do you guys think of this? Brandon, specifically you. Sorry, Dan. No offense, but this guy's the triple guy. The first thing I noticed was the color.
00:38:38
Speaker
I do think that, yeah, like look over there, like that was my triple. It's significantly darker. And I think it's the candy, the specific candy sugar that you're using. Like it is darker than my triple, but pale candy sugar. Yeah, I think that that's, which you'll get the same effect as far as the sugar. I think you just need to adjust that, but the color doesn't bother me for you. No, it's delicious. No. And then in my head, I'm comparing it to my dude. The carbonation is definitely a little higher.
00:39:06
Speaker
I'm getting more of that like seltzer bubbly type stuff. But I feel like it makes a lot of the things in the beer pop a little better. I'm tempted to turn up the carbonation on mine a little bit, see where that goes. But it's gotten everything that I like. You know, we've talked about triples, you know, pretty much every year since we started brewing them. But yeah, this has got like a lot of really good stuff.
00:39:37
Speaker
It's weird that this is like an authentic Trappist one and I smell it and I'm like, mine doesn't smell much different. Like Jason's like, it doesn't taste much different. Like, so I think I did okay. Um, you done good kid. I like it. Dan. I was just taking a big old gulp. That's why I called on you. I, I really liked this one too. I, um,
00:40:03
Speaker
Sorry, it has the I got a ring notification. Sorry. It has the the Belgian yeast character It has the Belgian yeast character, but it's not
00:40:19
Speaker
Over, I mean, I felt like the last one was a little overpowering in the Rocha Furt. This one, I liked, though, and I don't know if it's like... Did we say the name of what we were... Yeah, less small triple. Yeah, no, I... That's the Rocha Furt, sorry. He's got it over there. Tony's got it. Oh, it's not Dregs. Yeah, I'm not gonna get into a rating yet, but I do like this one more in terms of the way the yeast comes through.
00:40:47
Speaker
Yeah, I, first off, this and the blonde are probably my favorite beers of the night. This is a little fruitier than the last one, too. There is yeast at the bottom. No way. That's cultivated. I was going to say. We should really start thinking about cultivating yeast, especially from a bunch of beers. I really wish I could do that. You can. It's easy. We'll talk about it off mic. This is really tasty. It's really nice. The aroma on it, when I first smelled it after the pour, is actually kind of like a
00:41:18
Speaker
Excuse me guys all this carbonation I feel like is yeah. Yeah, it's coming up. Sorry guys everybody listening It was it was almost off-putting at first It smelled kind of like a skunky beer, but it's also that's a noble hop type deal like that You find in a lot of loggers everything so I had to look past that and then Brandon you had mentioned, you know your the way your Jesus the way your triple smells and I went back in and I'm like, okay it does it does smell
00:41:46
Speaker
like that as well. And this was bottled in June of 2022. Nice. So it's fairly new. There's a nice fruitiness to it. Everything about this beer is what I really like about a Belgian triple. And the only difference, Brandon, that I see from your
00:42:09
Speaker
Triple? I'm just making a comparison. Your triple and this triple, and it's the same thing I've said all night, is that little hop bite in the back. I don't get that from this at all. I'm wondering if your first work hop needs to happen. If it needs to happen? Yeah. That's because that's pulling out a lot of bitterness from the hops. I wonder if you just went, you avoided that and hopped it. Because you're getting, it seems like your hop utilization is
00:42:38
Speaker
very, like done very well. Like you're extracting a lot of bitterness from the hops. I wonder if you just stepped it back just a little bit, like a small amount, like not a whole lot. And this is just personal preference. If you like it the way it is, don't change it. But I'm just saying like my own opinion, that's the only thing that I would change. Otherwise those two, these two beers, other than the color and that little bit of hotness, like you've, you've done a very good job on your beer. Cause I really like this beer and it's very, it's very,
00:43:05
Speaker
it's very similar to me. I do want to say you had mentioned that this and the blonde might be your favorite so far. This does taste like a more syrupy like pumped up version. Yeah absolutely yeah it's not as it's still refreshing
00:43:26
Speaker
but it's sweeter yeah yeah yeah it's not it's thicker yeah syrupy it's like you couldn't drink this as quick as the blind but the like it's like the blind on steroids yeah i like that i like the comparison i would yeah those two are are delicious like those two beers sorry there's also a chappelle thing that's really funny about this guy going off and i don't know uh all right side by side here we go aroma
00:43:54
Speaker
Brandon, yours is a little breadier. Yeah. Which I like more than the smell of the side by side. Here we go. Brandon's got some clove in there. I like that. Okay.
00:44:24
Speaker
Huh. It's kind of funny, because now I'm getting more of the hops in the, what is it? The Westmall. Yeah. But not a bitterness, but a hoppiness from it. Yep. And now I'm not getting that. Also, we've worked our way through some Belgium. One thing I will say is I feel like the mouthfeel in the Westmall is a little lighter. Or the Westmall, whatever is it.
00:44:48
Speaker
To me, it seems slightly lighter. I don't know. Yeah, I think this might sound weird, but I feel like the West Mall is more syrupy, but also at the same time. It's for later. Yeah, it's like. There's a fruitiness to the West Mall. It's a little, I feel like the sweetness kind of hits me in the mid sip a little hotter on the or a little higher on the West Mall. Your brandons has more of like a
00:45:21
Speaker
It's almost like the sweetness is more of like, and the fruitiness is more dark fruit sweetness to me. I think it's the colored candy sugar that you use.
00:45:33
Speaker
Which again, that doesn't bother me. It's funny as you get down lower, you can see just the slight difference. It's funny. Good lacing on the glass, though. Absolutely. Absolutely. Having them side by side, there are differences. Yes.
00:45:51
Speaker
Just tastes like I'm drinking a different triple from another brewery. Yeah, I mean like there isn't like well, you know You can really there's there's nothing there's nothing wrong with your beer. It's a preference of a triple. Yes, that's it's fantastic, man Good job. Good job being able to Go side by side with you know, having this beer. Let's blend them, right? Let's blend all these beers and into one minor all gone
00:46:14
Speaker
Toe to toe. Settle down, damn. They're blending in my stomach. Very good. So now that we did that, what do you guys, how many monks are we giving it? Not Brandon's. Brandon's is five monks in my book, as usual. I'm like four to five.
00:46:31
Speaker
Dan? So yeah, so I gave the Balan a 4.5. This one's going to be like a 4.25, 4.3. It's like just below. I'm there with you guys. It's the same thing. Like 4.25, 4.3, maybe 4.3, 5. I don't know.
00:46:47
Speaker
was very good this uh the blonde is my favorite this would be my second favorite of the night um the what do we do rocher first three six is three and tim meadows is four for me i'd flip
00:47:05
Speaker
The Rocherford and the English one for me. Okay. Cool. Well, it's different. Yeah. What about you, Brandon? I'm actually the same exact boat. I have a list. I was writing out which ones I liked in order. The same as me or? Same as you. Yeah. That's right. Damn right. Damn right. We win. Clark, what do you think?
00:47:25
Speaker
It's not from Rev or Hazy. Wow. That seemed like a... Is this Deep Woods? Okay, that seems like a dig. Which, you know, if you're not here, you can't defend yourself, right? Come back, Clark. This was fun. This was fun. This was a fun time, guys. It's ironic that we did this in 2023, especially like my resolution last year was to drink more mountains. I already forgot what my resolution for this year was.
00:47:51
Speaker
to go back and listen to the Maltese again. I think we said something about brewing. I think possibly. This does fit every quarter. This fits in my brew year's resolution, which was to drink more like Belgian. It wasn't export. Yeah, like foreign beers. We'll get you some Guinness foreign extra stout. I think mine was just brewing a little bit more.
00:48:17
Speaker
Yeah, which you voted on. You've brewed more this year than you did all of you last year. No, he brewed more this year. And then I threw away my... He also forgot about it for a very long time. Try not to do that this weekend, you know. I'm gonna try and brew it one more time. At least he wants to throw out a tilt. $100. Literally in the drain. Alright guys, well...
00:48:38
Speaker
Good to be back together with you guys. I really like it. Fun times. Fun times. I miss you. There was a little bit of, like, I was actually kind of, like, worried and hesitant coming to record tonight just because I was like, do we still have it? Do we still have that chemistry, you know? Will we be able to still pull it off? I know Brandon and I do, but I was wondering if it was, like, Dan, you being here. Yeah, that's been a while. I kind of see. That's how much Dan's here. Yeah, Dan's been here the whole time. He's the one eating your boiled peanuts. Nice.
00:49:05
Speaker
Sorry? I said nice. Um, but I will say, you know, good, good real first episode. Um, and we got a lot going on this year, which I mean, Dan, Brandon, you know about stuff. I don't think Dan knows about stuff. Uh, but there are some things happening. So this year is also shaping up to be, uh, pretty fun. So, uh, Clark, get your butt back here. Dan. Thanks, man. You know, thanks for being around again. Thank you for having me again.
00:49:39
Speaker
Like you're dry coffee or warning us you know, you're always invited Thank you Brandon it was good. It was good. I dug digging into some beers. I normally maybe wouldn't reach for Brandon oh punch the mic
00:50:02
Speaker
I love you, man. Love you too, buddy. And we'll see you guys next week, probably. Bye.
00:50:11
Speaker
This has been The Malting Hour. Be sure to follow us on all social media by searching The Malting Hour and at themaltinghour.com. You can also follow us individually on social media. Brandon can be found on Instagram as bmdub81, on Twitter, bdub81, and on Untapped as bdubdrinksbeer. Tony can be found on Instagram and Untapped under Ace of Help Chicago, on Twitter, The Ace of Help Chicago. Clark can be found as Clarkowski on all three.
00:50:39
Speaker
Dan can be found on Instagram as hip underscore underscore hops and hip hops on YouTube. Be sure to subscribe, like and rate the show on your preferred podcast listening platform. Until next time, cheers from all of us at The Malting Hour.