On Tap: Moon-shine

Well, I’ve been fairly busy at work recently so this week’s edition of On Tap is a couple days late and for that, I apologize.  Before we get to last week’s beers, I thought I’d throw out some more “fun facts”:

• The Czech Republic consumes 156 liters of beer per capita, more than any other country, followed by Ireland and Germany.
• Long ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim of their beer mugs or ceramic/glass cups. The whistle was used to order service. Thus we get the phrase, "wet your whistle".
• Last week I wrote that the strongest beer in the world was Sam Adam’s Triple Bock at 17% ABV.  I wasn’t even close.  After some research I learned that currently, the strongest beer in the world comes from Brouwerij't Koelschip in the Netherlands.  Their Start the Future beer is 60% ABV…that’s 120 proof for those of you playing along at home.

Ok, enough of that; onto the beer.  My favorite beer of the week came from the Blue Moon Brewing Company.  The beer in question was their Winter Abbey Ale.
  

Having tried and enjoyed their Belgian White, I had high hopes for this beer and it didn’t disappoint.  The beer has a nice mix of malt and wheat flavors with a slight toffee aftertaste.  It was smooth and had almost no bite.  If you’re just starting to get into beers, this is definitely a good one to try.

The big loser of the week came courtesy of Unibroue, a Canadian brewing company.  The beer in question: La Fin du Monde.  The beer is a triple-style golden ale and came highly recommended from the attorney in my office.  What I didn’t know was that the term “triple-style” roughly corresponds to the potency, in terms of alcohol by volume, of the beer.  La Fin du Monde in particular is 9% ABV, and it shows.  Besides the alcohol, the only thing I could taste when I nursed this beer was the strong malt flavor.  It was all just too much, and I ended up only drinking about half of my beer.

That’s all for this week.  Join me next week when I hope to discuss the following beers:

Ommegang Three Philosophers

Unibroue Blanche de Chambly