572. Hopfenstark Station 55 Saison

Quebecoise beer is in the house. And drinking this beer out of a Unibroue glass should get me some solid street cred. After all, how often do I get to think about two different Quebec breweries in one evening? While I can’t speak for this guy, for me the answer is not nearly enough. Hopfenstark is located in L’Assomption, Quebec; this is our first beer from them, and only our fourth from Canada, which seems, well, almost a crime itself. Please forgive us.

Station 55 pours a hazy golden straw with a thin but persistent white head that laces the glass nicely. In the nose there is a juicy citrus mixed with a mineral bitterness; the front is floral and orange, followed by hints of earthy mustiness. Flavors match the nose—there is a soft delicate hint of candy from the Pilsner malt in the front before the hop bitterness takes over, accompanied by orange and lemon zest in the middle. As the citrus fades, a mineral bitterness comes to the forefront, ending clean with a pleasant lingering bitterness. The body is dry with a touch of doughy malt, with the dryness exacerbated by the hop bitterness; coupled with the spritzy carbonation, the beer is light and lively on the palate. The bitterness might be a bit much for the style—at least from a more traditional perspective—but it suits my vision of a saison perfectly. Thus, while this is from Quebec, I’m pretty much going to point to a larger North American craft beer influence and call it good. After all, as it says on the label, “Hopfenstark brews beers of diverse origin and adapts them to a contemporary society that is open and has a thirst for discovery.” Which is the most Quebecoise come American comment I’ve ever heard—I think Hopefenstark is channeling a poor man’s Greg Koch here. Regardless, this is a solid saison, and we’ll be checking out more of Hopfenstark’s beers in the near future. 

From the bottle: “Belgian-style Saison: slightly bitter and dry pale beer with citrusy hops aroma and typical Belgian saison yeast ester.”

From the Hopfenstark website: “La Saison Station 55 est une bière rousse à l'aspect voilée, au goût prononcé de malt, d'épices et de houblons qui rappellent les agrumes doublé d'une amertume en finale. La 55 se veut un hybride entre une bière belge de terroir et une IPA de type américaine. Elle s'incrit dans le renouveau brassicole en Belgique.”

ABV: 7.0%

(9/18/2013)

283. McAuslan St-Ambroise Oatmeal Stout

This is our first beer from McAuslan Brewing, which is located in Montréal, Canada. We had this on tap at South Park Tavern out of the nitro tap; we also had this after the DRAFT meeting, so our notes are minimal and a bit scatter-shot. I know you’ll forgive us, because you’re indulgent like that. Plus, there’s little recourse at this juncture—just know we drank our beer for the day.

St-Ambroise Oatmeal Stout pours a dark chocolate color with a thick creamy head and starts with a sweet roasted malt nose. The beer is pretty much roasty front to back; there is more richness and sweetness in the front, and the end is smooth and soft, although still with the lingering roasty flavors. St-Ambroise has a soft mouthfeel and a lower carbonation level, although it is still very creamy. While it is a good beer, there wasn’t as much variety or complexity of flavor as we anticipated; this is probably the result or one of two things: either this beer is not that complex or nuanced, or our palates are pretty much wrecked from our earlier escapades. We’ll leave it as an open question for our readers to determine.

From the McAuslan website: “At the World Beer Championship in 1994, St-Ambroise Oatmeal Stout received the second highest rating of the over 200 beers in the competition and it won one of only nine platinum medals awarded. Brewed from 40 percent dark malts and roasted barley, this intensely black ale carries strong hints of espresso and chocolate. Oatmeal contributes body and a long-lasting mocha-colored head to this well-hopped beer.”

ABV: 5.0%

(4/9/2010)

220. Trader Joe’s 2009 Vintage Ale

This beer is kinda from Unibroue, which would make it our second Unibroue beer after Raftman, but Beer Advocate lists this as from Trader Joe’s Brewing Company, although there is no website attached to it, and I can’t find one on the web. I’m just gonna call contract brewing (I’ll bet you didn’t know I could call that, did you? Such awesome awesome powers!) and stick with Unibroue, most specifically since our bottle said it was from Unibroue. Why all the rigmarole?

Trader Joe’s 2009 Vintage Ale pours a deep chocolate brown with red highlights, and is accompanied by a creamy almond head. The nose is yeasty and estery—very Belgian, very Unibroue—with some malt character and something we can’t quite place. The beer opens with malt sweetness and some very minimal chocolate flavor before turning to cocoa and candy in the middle, along with spiciness and some yeast flavors, finishing with a lingering ginger bite. The body is light to medium, and there is a decent amount of creamy carbonation, although it is a bit bright at the end. For all of its flavors, the profile isn’t as interesting as it could be, although for the price and the season, Trader Joe’s 2009 Vintage Ale is a steal—$4.99 for a 750 ml Unibroue beer is a bargain. It’s also a lighter and easier drinking holiday beer—there’s no wad of potpourri in your mouth. Aging this beer for a year or two, as suggested on the bottle (the best before date is 09-12-2012) would probably better marry the flavors and give it an overall more rounded character.

From the bottle: “You might be used to seeing vintage on wine; perhaps not so much on beer. And that’s what makes this ale so special. Trader Joe’s Vintage Ale was developed, crafted, brewed and bottled for us in limited quantities this year. Its flavor, color, texture and overall character are different from our Vintage Ale of 2008, and in 2010 it will be different once again. The 2009 Vintage Ale is an opaque black color and features an impressive coffee-colored foam. In a glass, it boasts cocoa and malt aromas, with a subtle hint of lemon and ginger. A sip from that glass really brings out the best in this ale—malty and mildly sweet, with hints of cocoa, citrus and spices. Trader Joe’s Vintage Ale is ready to enjoy right away, chilled but not ice cold. Unlike many beers, though, this one will age for a few years, and its flavors will become more complex and interesting as time goes by. What’s that? You’re a beer geek? We love that. You’ll love this. And we assume you’ll want to know this is a dark ale on lees, 9% ABV (that’s Alcohol by Volume, for the non-beer geeks). Oh, and it’s brewed exclusively for Trader Joe’s, of course.”

While the beer is a steal, the advertising prose is atrocious. I know the beer is not marketed at me, but the opening line makes me want to punch someone. I can just see someone picking it up and saying “Oh, look honey, it’s beer we can age. How neat.” That’s when I slip the package of Depends undergarments into their cart as my sweet sweet revenge. And any beer company that has to admit it loves beer geeks has marketing issues. I’m a beer geek—I’m fine with that. You don’t need to talk down to me and pretend you like me, you pompous jackasses.

Funny, nothing on the Unibroue website; I’m still looking for this mystical “Trader Joe’s Brewing Company” on the internet. Must be hanging out with my man Sasquatch, some unicorns, the Loch Ness Monster, and Elvis in a Bunker somewhere playing Go Fish.

ABV: 9%

(2/5/2010)

56. Unibroue Raftman

Raftman is brewed by Unibroue in Chambly, Quebec. I’m happy to see this beer back—I used to get it in the 750ml bottles when I was living in Buffalo in 2000, and then it disappeared and I couldn’t find it anymore. And believe me, I tried: I got a lot of “they aren’t shipping that anymore” or “we haven’t been able to get that recently,” which I interpreted as the nice version of “go away and buy some other damn beer.” So I did, but I always hoped it would come back, as it was the first beer I ever had with whiskey malt in it, and I liked the spicy characteristics it added—this was, after all, well before the current rye craze, and finding decent Belgian-influenced beers required more money than I was sporting as a lowly graduate student. Plus, the outdoorsy dude on the label made me laugh—it was so very different from the other Unibroue labels.

Raftman has a yeasty malt nose, a burnished tan color, and a plentiful lacy white head. It begins with a soft, rounded spicy malt front with rye notes and progresses into a clean, crisp refreshing middle before finishing with a bit of a bite and some creaminess, but an overall clean conclusion. Medium-bodied, Raftman has a zesty mouthfeel: slightly spicy with a decent carbonation bite and some yeast ester characteristics. A smooth, well-balanced beer—the interesting mix of Belgian and New World influences that play out in this beer make Raftman eccentric yet accessible, but not overdone.

From Unibroue’s website: “Launched in March 1995, Raftman is a beer with a coral sheen that is slightly robust. It contains 5.5 percent alcohol and combines the character of whisky malt with the smooth flavours of choice yeast. It has a subtle and exceptional bouquet that creates a persistent smooth feel. Raftman complements fish, smoked meat and spicy dishes. It is brewed to commemorate the legendary courage of the forest workers These hard working men knew when to settle their differences and share their joie de vivre with a beer and a whisky.”

ABV: 5.5%

(8/25/2009)