catapult magazine

“Beer is proof that God exists, and that He wants us to be happy.”

-Ben Franklin

I’m going to go ahead and ditto that “VERY good”. Here in Chicago, you can find it on tap for about $6-$7. Don’t ask me how big the glass is. All I know is that you don’t need a lot to have the desired effect. I believe it falls under the 9%+ category. If you can’t find it for cheaper, I would recommend spending the money, anyway, just for the experience.

yeah, i’m backing that thing up. big time. it’s delightfully refreshing. another great one for people who say they don’t like beer (which is a lie…there is a beer out there for everyone!!), as it has more of a fruity effect, without making you feel like you’re drinking wine coolers or arbor mist wine. by the way, now i’m talking about maudite.

i like beer.

ha ha! just what the doctor ordered, a little beer talk. you don’t know how nice it was for me, a self-proclaimed beer snob, to see the posts change from heineken to fin du monde. i have recently become a huge belgian fan (even ones that come from canada.) i have tried all of the unibroe beers (maudite, fin du monde) and must say that troi pistoles is my personal fav. also tres the unibroe 11 for the first time this past weekend. the 11 signifies the 11% by vol or their anniversary or something. very tasty.

so, do we have any hop-heads out there? anybody that’s really into the IPAs? the more bitter the better?

by the way norbert, i think unibroe is named for those of us with big fuzzy catipillars crwling across our foreheads.

by the way, we had a belgian taste test at our place a few months back. for those of you interested in the results, top votes went to delerium tremens, westmalle trippel, and duval. honorable mentions to delerium nocturnum and grimbergen dubbel.

I have all you beat. Allow me to gloat.

I have recently obtained the elusive fifth trappist:

Westvleteren, the Abt 12 variety.

It’s brewed at the abbey of Saint Sixtus in Westvleteren in the south of Belgium by monks who have never bothered to export or even wholesale their product. Thus, it’s a pretty difficult beer to get a hold of, and I only have it because I was recently in Amsterdam visiting De Bierkoning store off Dam Square searching for the Trappist Rochefort glass I broke a few years ago. And there it was. The store owner actually drives down to the abbey and brings it back to sell (apparently they have some sort of agreement), but not very often. The girl who helped me said that this was the autumn 2000 batch which they brought up from the cellar that day. I snatched up two bottles for a little over $20. I went in there the next day and they were gone.
Perhaps there may be a place on the internet to order this stuff, but I feel like I’ve obtained the holy grail of beers. I haven’t tried it yet; I’m waiting for the apporpriate time. I’ll keep you posted.

I also had a chance to try the Budweiser Budvar from the Czech Republic. Has anyone else had that? Fantastic. Besides the Beligans, Czech pilsners are at the top of my list. I heard a rumor that because Anheiser-Busch stole it and with it created the largest brewing complany in the world, they have somehow found a way to ban its import into the US. I don’t know if that’s true or not.

Having just created the image of beer snob for myself, I would also like to add that I wholeheartedly support Wisconson by happily drinking Miller Lite. Let’s hear it for Wisconson.

never tried the elusive westvleteren. i have, howevver found a website that some might have interest in. www.belgianshop.com has mail-order beers, chocolates, cheeses, belgian beer glasses, etc. among the usual suspects you will find some of these elusive belgian beers (and more than one variety at that.) i’ve nevver personally tried ordering from this site, but it looks pretty evil. if you enjoy beer/chocolate/cheese, make sure you cut p you crdit card and burn it before checking out this site.

Budweiser Budvar is available in North America but they are not allowed to use the word Budweiser or Budweis. It goes by the name “Czechvar” here. I haven’t tried it though. I have had Pilsner Urquel on tap but didn’t enjoy it that much. I’m sure it’s much better in the Czech Rep.

One of the many things that makes America great is our diversity and we have great diversity in beer selection. If you go to Germany you’ll be hard pressed to find anything other than the local lagers (which are usually very good but that’s not my point). If you go to England you can get a nice local bitter/pale ale or mass produced lager. etc. Here in the USA we’re blessed with the mass produced lagers that some people prefer or you can fairly easily find “micro” brews producing every style possible. If that isn’t enough we import beer from every great beer producing country in the world. I used to drink english style ales and then discovered Belgian beers, now I’m on a German lager kick. Mixed inbetween I’ll drink whatever’s local. Gotta love it!

and there’s my first post on this here webpage… not what I expected when I signed up!

Dan introduced me to fin du monde while Janel and I were in Quebec. Great! I was going to stock up at the duty free on the way home but they were sold out. I did manage to find a distributor here in town, however.

Mmmmm.. Fin du monde.

I was in prague this summer and had the best cheap beer ever. It cost the equivalent of 50 cents and it was fantastic. It’s called Krusovice (prounounced KROO SHOW VIT SUH) Those czech people know how to make beer.

Oktoberfest is upon us, and I can’t wait to go to The Map Room for Spaten’s Oktoberfest beer. It’s such a good beer. Like Bach, the composer. No frills, just good solid stuff. Amazing.

I must say that I went through a huge Belgian phase, trying to convert people with Delerium Tremens, La Trappe Quadrupel, Trois Pistoles etc., but lately I’ve been enjoying regional beers that are more balanced and less sweet. I love almost anything from the Kalamazoo Brewing Co. Kalamazoo, Michigan’s very own Bell’s beer is just as good, if not better, than anything made in Europe. And I would take a Kalamazoo Stout over a Guinness any day, though I have not had a Guinness Stout in Ireland. And for people who think they don’t like beer, I would suggest you try New Glarus Red. It’s like cherry pie in a glass. A heavenly experience.

Question: Is there a difference between beer snobs who don’t drink beer very often, but gladly will pay $10 for a bottle when they have the money, and gags on the cheap barley pop of big American breweries vs. people who just plain old love beer, i.e. love to drink two or three beers, of all shapes, colors and sizes, no matter the make or model? Should we make a distinction between beer snob and beer lover?