(#19)
Exemplified by Murphy's Irish Stout
Due to Guinness' popularity among the Fake Irish of Northeast Philadelphia (FIONEPs), this beer has been ubiquitous in my life, long before I grew to have an affinity for them myself. If you have ever had a Guinness, you can taste it in your mouth even as I type this. You can taste the roasted barley that gives it its unique coffeelike roasted flavor, and the creamy texture caused by raw barley's addition as well.
Guinness is obvious the most popular rendition of this beer style, but there are many, many others out there, even if you have trouble finding them in American markets. Murphy's is another one. This beer hails from Cork, not Dublin. For what it's worth, we had a much better beer-drinking experience in Cork than we did in Dublin. Admittedly, it's not worth much, since we drank Murphy's Irish Stout in neither Cork nor Dublin, so who's to say.
I will say that, here on American shores, as far as I can tell, Murphy's is pretty much the same as Guinness. If you gave me a tall pint of each, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference. If that's due to my ignorance, then let ignorance be bliss, and let me pay a cheaper price for an identical beer.
(#86)
Exemplified by Irish Whiskey Cask
It's possible that this was a mistake, including "barrel-aged beers" on a list of beer styles. It's not really a beer style. It's more of a variation on any number of beer styles. Beers like lambics are fermented in barrels because the wild yeast that are required for that style are good at hiding in the wood's nooks and crannies. Otherwise, it's mostly big, strong stouts that end up being hanging out in the whiskey barrels.
The biggest problem I have with this idea, personally, is that I don't like whiskey. Never have, probably never will. And so any beer that has a hint of whiskey is gonna get the same reaction out of me that actual whiskey does.
So when I say that Innis & Gunn did a good job with this Irish whiskey cask-aged stout, I mean that I couldn't taste the whiskey. Maybe it was there, but mostly I tasted the coffee and chocolate that would've been in the beer if they had fermented in a stainless-steel container. I'm cool with that.
I get that the idea of "barrel-aged" would hold appeal to a certain class of people. Someone who usually sticks to liquor might want to check out a barrel-aged beer and see what the fuss is about. If a brewing method gets an otherwise beer-disliking fellow to finally check out beer, then I'm all for it.
Just keep the whiskey taste away from me please.
(#59)
Exemplified by La Chouffe Blonde
The question posed in Tasting Beer is: Is there really a true difference between Belgian strong golden ales and Belgian abbey tripels? The answer is a flat "probably not." The true difference is that strong golden ales are supposed to be "cleaner" than tripels. I guess I can taste that. But mostly I just taste that complex Belgian yeast that I love so much. I don't care if the Belgians use different beer style names for what is essentially the same beer, just give it to me, please.
Now, I don't know what the fuck I'm doing, so I didn't get this beer mixed up with a tripel. Instead, I mixed it up with a Belgian blonde ale, which is a style we haven't touched on in detail yet. I mean, this beer says "blonde" right there on the label. I'm not stupid to assume it is a blonde ale. But everything else about it made it fall into the strong golden ale category—the high ABV (8.0%), higher bitterness, etc. You didn't make a fool of me this time, gnome.
(#20)
Exemplified by Young's Double Chocolate Stout
Jeez, apparently milk stouts were exclusively made for "invalids," and it is "surprising" that this style is making a comeback in the U.S. Harsh words from Randy Mosher about a decently tasty dessert beer. This is basically a regular stout, but with added sugar or sugar-adjacent adjuncts (milk, clearly) for its smooth, sweet taste. It wasn't necessarily comparable to a chocolate shake, but it was closer than any beer has any right to be. Dark black in color, and yes, smooth and sweet. Not much to say about this beer. I can't imagine I would ever drink more than one milk stout in any drinking session. It's not that kind of beer.
(#27)
Exemplified by Edelstoff
I dunno, man. So many of these beers are basically just like "it's between this beer and that beer, but pretty much all three taste the same." It gets to be a little boring, and is terrible for blogging about (you can see why I'm loading so many beer styles up in the same post).
So yeah, Dortmunder Exports are pilsners that are less hoppy than Czech Pilsners and German Pilsners, but more hoppy than Münchener Helles (which we haven't talked about yet), and with a little more alcohol than either of those styles.
But in general, this is a fucking pilsner, and there's really not much more to say than that.
I will add that "export" lagers sometimes have a certain skunkiness to them that I've never loved (Heineken is always the go-to example with this phenomenon). This aroma comes from the fact that the export beers take longer to cross the ocean, and are going to be less fresh than local beers. It's all good; the aroma only gets to me the first couple sips, but after that it's smooth sailing. I will just never choose an international pilsner unless I have no other choice, because I know this is going to be an issue with all of them.
NOTES
BEER: Edelstoff
STYLE: Dortmunder Export
ABV: 5.7%
BREWED BY: Augustiner-Bräu
LOCATION: München, Germany
PURCHASED AT: IGA
PAIRED WITH: Popeyes Chicken (very good pairing, nice mix of German classicism and sloppy American trash)
GRADE: 2.5 pukes out of 5
BEER COUNT: 263.5
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