New Belgium Snapshot Wheat Ale

I always like a good wheat beer but not all wheat beers are going to be good. They are a popular style and most breweries do brew wheat ale. Wheat ales can be refreshing on a hot day or any day. New Belgium brews one, Snapshot Wheat Ale, 5.0% ABV. This is more of pale wheat ale. Pale wheat’s are easier to drink than the heavier wheat beers out there. Snapshot pours a light yellow color with a two finger white head that dissipates down to half finger head then stays. Some lacing is left behind, but it thin at best. I found minimal light coming through with decent carbonation bubbles. Snapshot has a nice aroma that is almost lemony smell with a nice but faint breaded wheat scent. Taste of Snapshot is like a lighter or pale version of wheat ale. You get a little lemon like flavor up front with faint wheat flavors and some yeasted bready notes towards the back that linger just a little. The mouth feel is light to almost medium with a nice refreshing finish of sweet flavors and an after taste of more of the finish that light long enough to enjoy. Snapshot is an easy drinking beer and refreshing as well. But it’s not the best I’ve ever had so I only give New Belgium Snapshot Wheat Ale B-. I am not a big fan of pale wheat beers. I rather have a regular wheat beer or a Hefeweizen. But I some like this one. Snapshot isn’t bad, and yes I would recommend trying it. There isn’t a thing wrong with it. I just prefer more heartier wheat ales. I would also have this again. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Castle Brewery St. Louis Framboise Premium Lambic

Lambic is a type of beer traditionally brewed in the Pajottenland region of Belgium and in Brussels. This type of beer is usually spontaneously fomented and has a tart/sour taste to them due to being brewed with fruits such a raspberries, cherries, strawberries, peaches, grapes and blackcurrant. Previously I have talked about aging beer. This here is a three-year old bottle of Castle Brewery St. Louis Framboise Premium Lambic, 4.5% ABV. The Caste Brewery is in Inglemunster Belgium in West Flanders. Framboise is Belgian Lambic Ale brewed with raspberries. St. Louis pours a deep dark red color with a red/pink thin bubbly two finger head that quickly dissolves. The aroma is of sweet raspberries and raspberry juice. The taste is not far of from the aroma; it is sweet and bubbly with big tart but somewhat sweet raspberries. It is kind of similar to a cherry cola, well a fruitier version of one. The aging of this does tone down the tartness on it a bit and it is still a tiny bit tart but sweeter than a fresh bottle. The mouth feel is medium and has a nice fruity sweet finish that sets up a nice slightly tart raspberry aftertaste. I like this Lambic style of beer but I would not have this all the time or make it a ‘go to’ beer. It’s not really what you would think a beer is, but it’s really good. This Castle Brewery St. Louis Famboise Premium Lambic is a B+ beer. I think that if you were to have more than a pint or two of this the tartness would become a little to much for ones self. But most Lambics are pretty low in the ABV department. This beer was easy to drink and refreshing, that is good points for it. But after a while the raspberry would become less interesting and you’d have to more on to something else. But I would recommend that you try Castle Brewery St. Louis Framboise Premium Lambic. Cheers! Please enjoy responsible!  

Brewery Boelens Bieken Strong Belgian Pale Ale

Something that craft beer enthusiast likes to do with beers in to age them. Some styles are more suitable for aging than others; stouts and porters are a good beer to age as well as Belgian quads and abbeys. This process allows the beer to mellow out and become richer in some flavors. Usually a craft beer enthusiast will drink the aged beer with a new fresh version of the same exact beer for comparison. What I have here is a two-year old Brewery Boelens Bieken Beligan Strong Pale Ale, 8.5%. Brewery Boelens is a Belgian Brewery in Belsele Belgiam in East Flanders. Now I know that pale ales aren’t the best style to age but it was the last one when I came across it and it looked very interesting. Bieken’s pours a golden color with a three finger bright solid white fluffy head that slowly dissipates and leaves behind nice looking whips of lacing. Its aroma is sweeter than normal pale ales and not as earthy as it would normally be due it mellowing during aging. There is almost a honey like scent on the nose with a strong booze/alcohol aroma. Bieken has a sweet and somewhat mellow flavor on the taste but towards the back of the mouth it gets slightly stronger. You do get a nice almost honey-sweet flavor with a little bit of alcohol but a little mellow alcohol note. The mouth feel is full but nice with a nice sweeter finish with hints of faint earthy flavors. The after taste is a sweet and faintly earthy. Over all this Brewery Boelens Bieken ages nicely, so I would give this A-. The sweetness on this beer was slightly mild and not to overwhelming and it was a big wow factor with this beer. It was still pretty good in my opinion. With Pale Ale and IPA you really should drink them as fresh as possible. Just drink them as close to the bottled date if there is one on that beer. I think you should try aging a beer at least once. Buy two on to keep for aging and one to drink now and compare them. I think they get better with age. Cheers! Please Enjoy Responsible!