No Clue Incorporated

Today’s beer review comes to us from Utica, New York and the Mississippi Brewing Company.  I don’t see the connection either.  This was a beer I picked up a few weeks back when I was going to have my own Oktobeerfest at home, but I just got around to trying it.

It is the Mississippi Mud Black & Tan.  This comes in a quart size mini jug that looks like it’s got a porcelain sleeve around it, though it’s just a covering over the jug.  The edges even look a little rusted or worn.  Pretty cool.  A+ just for the looks.

This bottled black & tan is a blend of a porter and a pilsner.  Unlike the kind you order when out at a restaurant, when it comes in a bottle there’s no separation of the beers.

After pouring it into my pint glass it looked quite dark.  However, upon holding it up to a light it turned out to be more of a brownish red color.  Drinking it gives a slight initial bit on the tip of your tongue but then a nice mellow finish as it washes over the back.  There’s pretty much no hoppiness in this and plenty of malt taste.

In my initial impressions, I didn’t think there was going to be anything special about this brew.  But it turned out to be a quite nice easy drinking beer.  It didn’t blow my socks off, but went down smooth and was enjoyable.  I picked it up for $2.99 for a quart.  Try to get two pints in a bar for that price.  So I think this will be a decent treat now and then.  It might be nice to pick up a few for when some buddies stop by.

Well, since Sixftunda didn’t get back to me on the ordering of songs on my album beer scale and I haven’t sat down to listen and rank them, I’ll just have to give it a strong, middle, or weak rating on the chosen album.  I’m going to rank this beer as a weak to middle Darkside of the Moon.  Subsequent drinkings could change this, but I’m comfortable with it there for now.

Once again, I broke my 4/6 pack standard for judging beers, but it’s hard with these special varieties.  I’ll gladly buy another to confirm my rating.  Hopefully Flick’s keeps carrying them.

I’ve got a few more beers in the fridge that I plan to review in the coming weeks.  One of them I picked up at the suggestion of one of our esteemed readers.  I also plan to pick up another suggestion in a week or so, making sure to give all their fair FloydWing rating.

On this day…

• 2007: Pit coding — I’m finding it very difficult to get caught up on the posts that I’d like to make on this blog. [...]

Last night I was reacquainted with La Chouffe, which as the bottle describes is brewed by Belgian Artisans.  It’s brewed in the Ardennes and legend has it that gnomes used to brew it before passing it on and is where the name came from.  The bottle explains that La Chouffe translates to “the gnome”.

I first encountered this special beer in one of the Christmas gifts that nephew #2 puts together for me from his family.  The La Chouffe in that pack was a large bottle (liter size?) which is customary for this brewery.  Only La Chouffe is available in this petite sized bottle (11.2 oz).  This is because Brasserie D’Achouffe believes in the little gnome’s magic of bringing people together to share a big bottle.  They call the petite size the “small beautiful stupid bottle” in homage to the strong individualism of many Americans. 

I absolutely loved it the first time I had it years ago and when I saw it at Flick’s I had to get a bottle.  At $3.99 a bottle, one was enough for the time being.  Would my love of it fade?  Had I remembered it wrong?

Nope!  This is a good beer.  The bottle describes it as an Artisanal Belgian Golden Ale Brewed With Spice.

I forgot my proper pooring techniques in my excitement and ended up pouring the sediment into my glass.  This is a bottle conditioned ale so the yeast and spice is still in the bottle.  Oh well.  First thing you see is a beautiful brownish gold color.  Holding it up to the light shows something truly amazing.  As bubbles fritter up here and there from the bottom, almost non-moving floating particulates are suspended all over.  It’s quite a marvel to see.  Whether this is the spice or yeast, I’m not sure.  There was brownish sedimant on the bottom from my sad pour.

Upon tasting, the back edges of your tongue are assaulted with flavor.  You can taste the spice (which I later found out to be coriander) and a slight fruitiness as your tongue is bitten with every sip.  A truly marvelous beer.

I’ve thought about my new beer scale and here’s the scale unless I have some other worthy suggestions.

• Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking – Are we sure this is even beer?  Any run of the mill domestic big brewery crap would probably be better.
• On An Island -  Yeah, it’s beer.  You like it.  It’s better than the mass produced stuff.  You’ll visit it every once in a while or in a pinch, but you’d rather try something new or better.
• The Dark Side of the Moon – Yumm!  Oh yeah.  This is the standard by which all beer should be judged.  This is what you want in your fridge at all times.  This is what you’ll reach for in the store when you don’t want to take a chance on something new at the moment.
• Meddle or Animals - WOW!  Every now and then something special comes along that blows you away.  This is a hidden gem.  It brings something special that you just love.  You’d buy it all the time if you could, but that may take something away from it.

So there’s the scale I’ll try to keep to.  La Chouffe definitely fits in the Meddle or Animals category.  I’m kind of going against my philosophy here also, in that I feel I should give a beer multiple tastings (like a 6 or 4 pack) before giving my decree.  But this is an amazing beer.  And if I can only have one every once in a while, it’ll still be worth it.

On this day…

• 2005: Miscellaneous — So the last Rockstar:INXS was last night. No suprise. JD won. I had picked him early on. [...]