Piraat Ale

The last few days I’ve been on a Belgian beer fix, and here is another one. This one is Piraat ale, 10.5% ABV. This is a true Belgian IPA. The world-class brewery Van Steenberge brews this ale. Piraat (pirate) ale pours a deep orange color with a huge four to five finger head of brilliant white foamy head. The head looks like whipped cream. The head stays along time, till you find the bottom or your glass, and has some huge whipped lacing along the sides.  There is a good amount of carbonation on this with little to no light coming through the glass. This is really handsome looking ale. The aroma on Piraat is piney, citrusy, and hoppy. There is a nice lemony, orange pineapple aroma that is wrapped in a hoppy note. The taste is citrus fruits, like pineapple orange with a nice slight pepper taste. There is a nice hoppy not, but not like an American IPA, which can be more on the bitter side. This has a little less of a bitter flavor, and more of a hoppy fruitiness to it. The mouth feel is light to medium and goes down smooth with just the right amount of hops. The aftertaste is hoppy with fruits, pineapple and orange with a hit of a pepper like spice. This is just a wonderful Belgian IPA, so this is getting A+ from me. This isn’t way overdone with hops and bitterness, it is well balanced and very tasty, but at 10.5% ABV, not many can be had in once sitting. Great to have on to sip on and really enjoy all the big Belgian IPA flavors Piraat has to offer. So please come and see the nice folks down at Mike’s Discount Beverage, 4700 Park Rd, Charlotte NC 28207, for this and all your fine wine and beer! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

St. Martin Triple

One country that’s known for great beer and a big history of brewing is Belgium, and they do brew some of the best beer in the world. I love them all, one of my favorite beer countries. This is St, Martin Tripel (triple), 9.0% ABV. This is an abbey beer, but not a real Trappist monk beer. This beer pours a dark murky, cloudy orange color with a white head that slowly fades into a big white ring around the glass, and does leave some nice lacing. There is a tiny amount of carbonation on this with very little light coming through the glass. There is also sediment on the bottom of the glass because most good Belgian doubles, triples and quadruples are bottle conditioned. So that yeast at the bottom is normal. The aroma on the St. Martin is slightly fruit with apples surrounded by big intense spicy peppery and clove notes.  There is a slight alcohol sent too but just barely there. The taste is big and bold with peppery spice and cloves all with nice light green fruits like green apples and slight green grapes. There is a light carbonation on the medium mouth feel, and this does have a slight alcoholic warming on the clove like finish. The aftertaste is a bit boozy but other wise nice strong and somewhat refreshing. This is very good, so I am giving this an A+. I mean for 9% ABV you don’t really great that, this does drink well for what it is. I do recommend this if you into strong beer, or just any Belgian beers. You will not be disappointed. So please come down to Mike’s Discount Beverages and pick this one up today, and see us for all your fine wine and beer! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!  

Meantime English IPA

When you find an India Pale Ale, you find that most of them are from some American brewery, but they did originate from England, and so did this one, Meantime English IPA, 7.50% ABV. This IPA has a higher ABV than most IPA I’ve come across. This Meantime pours a hazy light orange color with a one-finger thin white head that does fade quickly and leave somewhat of a light lacing. I didn’t find too much light coming through the glass and nor did I find a whole lot of carbonation bubbles either. The aroma has nice citrus fruit notes to it,  orange and lemon. There was that bitter grass scent as well. Meantime’s taste is a sticky citrusy with orange lemon and a bit of pineapple surrounded by a hoppy yet grassy note. But this is way hoppier than most American IPA, not a  lot of bitterness, big hop presents to it. There is no sour like bitterness that you get from some American IPA’s. This IPA is just a big hoppy IPA. The mouthfeel is medium with a big hop note and finishes with a nice hop flavor. The aftertaste is hoppy clean, a bit refreshing. I would give this an A, just a good hoppy IPA without a lot of bitterness and need to have a glass of water afterward, but I wouldn’t have more than two of these, having a hoppy presence and a 7.50% ABV. But this is a solid English IPA, well crafted and tasty. I recommend this if you love IPA’s or just hoppy beers. This IPA is good! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Weishenstephaner Hefeweissbier

Here is my favorite style of beer, hefewiess, and it comes from one of my favorite beer countries, Germany. This is Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier, 5.4% ABV, and this brewery is one of the oldest in the world and the oldest in Germany, circa 1040. Wow, that is a lot of beer made. This is a true Bavarian-style wheat ale. This hefe pours a cloudy light yellow color with a massive one hand, yes I said one hand, of pillowy bight bubbly white head that very slow to fade and also has great lacing. That is normal for a hefewiess not a lot of light coming through the glass, due to hefeweizens is generally hazy and cloudy with a bit of yeast sediment floating about. That is also normal for this style, some weizens have the last step of the brewing process done in the bottom and they might write that out on the bottle. Not sure about this one, it wasn’t printed on the label. There also is a nice amount of carbonation to it. The aroma of this Weihenstephaner is of big banana notes with a slight spice of clove, but the biggest banana. The mouthfeel has a medium crisp feel, with pleasant carbonation hitting you tongue. The finish is nice clean refreshing with a nice bubbly feel. The aftertaste is a nice fresh crisp banana. This hefe is really well brewed like most German beers are. I would say this is A+ all day. A great beer to have and you should have this now. So come over to Mike’s Discount Beverage, 4700 Park Rd, Charlotte NC 28209 for this, only $4.99 for a single pint. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly! 

XX Bitter Belgian Golden Ale

The Belgian brewers are some the best in the world, with thousand of year of brewing experience. Belgian’s make some the tastiest beers in the world. This here is XX Bitter a Belgian Golden Ale, 6.0% ABV. This is a product of Brewery De Ranke in Wevelgem Belguim. XX Bitter is unpasteurized and unfiltered. You might find some particles in your beer, which is normal. XX Bitter pours a bright hazy golden yellow color with a massive fluffy bright five-finger white head. The head looks like whipped cream topping that really sticks around for a really long time. There is a huge amount of big lacing on the glass, with nice amount of light coming though, and a small amount of carbonation as well. The aroma on XX Bitter is hoppy, with a small floral grass notes. There is musty hay like scent there as well but it is somewhat faint. The scent does stick around in your noise and get a little funky in a good way. The taste on this Belgian is a big bitter hop up front but as it pass though your mouth it become slightly less bitter. I also found a bit of a peppery taste to it. That is little pleasant on the tongue. The mouth feel is semi light, and a bit refreshing. The finish on this is dry and bit hoppy but nice. The after taste is still dry and hoppy, but doesn’t stay to long, just enough to make the after taste worth wild. I would give this a B+. This is a well-brewed hop forward beer, just a great beer for a hop lover. I would recommend this to a hoppy beer lover. This was a great looking, smelling, and tasting beer. So please come on over to Mike’s Discount Beverage’s and pick this Belgian. You’ll enjoy it! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!