Beer Review: De Koninick

Me, sporting the shirt I designed, and my brother. Copyright 2015 by Andrew Dunn.

The last 10 days have been very busy. My brother came to visit. He was in town for the annual Thirsty Orange Brew Extravaganza, a local beer festival less than a mile from my house in Johnson City, Tennessee.

Every year, my wife, my friends, and I attend to sample dozens and dozens of national, regional, and local beers. The night before, we make pretzel necklaces to snack on throughout the day. Last year, I made the T-shirt you see in the picture.

The shirt features a drinking monk. The caption is a Belgian beer play on words of an Ice Cube rap song. It gets some good laughs.

My wife and I before the Thirsty Orange Brew Extravaganza. Copyright 2015 by Andrew Dunn.

Tonight, my wife and I attended a beer release party at our local brewery. The Johnson City Brewing Company tapped its Cardinal Park Red Ale, a tribute to our local minor league baseball team, the Johnson City Cardinals.

The beer was great. A sweet red ale with nice citrusy notes. It was one of several on tap tonight, which included a few the brewery brought to the Thirsty Orange festival.

We left the release party a little early as it was swamped with people. It was THE place to be seen tonight. We cruised back home and had one more on our porch.

De Koninck with O.G. Copyright 2015 by Andrew Dunn.

My selection tonight was De Koninick, an amber or Belgian pale ale from an Antwerp brewery by the same name. The brewery is one of the many owned by the Duvel Moortgat Brewery.

Smell: Skunky with an odd hint of vanilla.

Sight: It pours a hazy amber with a head that disappears amazingly quick.

De Koninck poured into O.G. Copyright 2015 by Andrew Dunn.

Taste: The first taste was metallic. The taste then shifts to a light bittery, hoppy, and yeasty mix. Just a hint of citrus. Then it finishes again metallic. There isn’t much sweetness to it.

Alcohol: It’s only 5.2 percent, so it’s not much of a factor.

Overall: I’m not a fan. I may have gotten a bad bottle. It definitely had that classic skunk smell and metallic taste.

Bottom line: I got my bottle for $3 at a bottle shop in Asheville. It was not worth the money. I recommend just picking up a New Belgian Fat Tire, Highland Gaelic Ale or a Johnson City Cardinal Park Red instead.

Beer Review: Pauwel Kwak

Pauwel Kwak with the famous glass and rack set. Copyright 2015 by Andrew Dunn.

So recently I posted about all kinds of glassware for beers. I left out a few specialty beer glasses, most of which I don’t own. And really, most of them I don’t even want. I have no need for them.

Then there is the Pauwel Kwak beer glass and wooden rack. It is like a chemistry experiment. It looks exactly like a mad scientist’s test tube or beaker with an old school holder. Essentially, it is a mini yard glass. So maybe a foot glass?

Anyway, here’s the story behind the glass from the Bosteels Brewery’s own website:

In Napoleon’s Time, Pauwel Kwak was a brewer and the owner of the ‘De Hoorn’ inn in Dendermonde[, Belgium].

Mail coaches stopped there every day. But at that time coachmen were not allowed to leave their coach and horses in order to have their thirst quenched along with their passengers.

As a result, the inventive innkeeper had a special Kwak glass blown that could be hung on the coach. In this way the coachman had his Kwak beer safely at hand.

The Kwak “glass” is completely ridiculous and unnecessary. I don’t need it, of course. But I really do want it. How could I not?

Luckily, I didn’t have to buy one to experience one. Asheville, North Carolina’s Thirsty Monk has Kwak in the bottle and, as it does with almost all of its Belgian beers, has the branded glass to go with it. This won’t be the last time I give a shout out to the Thirsty Monk.

You drink from the glass by holding the rack like a big awkward mug. You are obviously going to get noticed, which is fun. And you will need to stake out enough real estate in the bar to sit this thing down, making it the manspreader of beer glasses. But enough about the vessel. On to the actual beer.

Kwak is a Belgian strong, pale, or amber ale. It is essentially a double.  As mentioned, it comes from the Bosteels Brewery in Buggenhout, Belgium. They make two other beers, which includes Karmeliet, my favorite triple.

Pauwel Kwak poured into its famous glass and rack set. Copyright 2015 by Andrew Dunn.

The beer was pricey at $8. That’s not unusual at a bar. And you can’t buy it for less than $4 in the U.S. So it isn’t that bad of a price

Smell: It smells like a sweet triple.

Sight: It pours a beautiful honey color with a thick, thick beige head. I actually had to wait for the head to settle to get it all in the glass.

Taste: This is sweet for a pale. The bitterness only catches you at the end but really intensifies as you drink. There’s a taste of overdone caramelized sugar.

Alcohol: Kwak clocks in at 8.4 percent. It is enough to give you that warm feeling in the belly, but it isn’t enough to feel like you couldn’t have another.

Me holding the famous Pauwel Kwak glass and rack. Copyright 2015 by Andrew Dunn.

Overall: It’s pretty good. It’s actually better than the first time I had it, less bitter. But I will say that if I’m going to buy from Bosteels, I will buy Karmeliet. It is a much better beer. It doesn’t have the fancy glass. But it is the better brew.

Bottom line: This was a bar purchase at $8. That’s steep. If you buy a single bottle, you’re looking at $4 and up. You can get the 750 ml bottle for around $10-$12. So that may be a better deal. Still, if you are going to spend that much, there are better options, such as its brother Karmeliet.

 

Beer Review: Corsendonk Christmas Ale

Corsendonk Christmas Ale and branded tulip glass. Copyright 2015 by Andrew Dunn

Winter is finally waning here in Tennessee. The snow has melted and given way to chilly rain. So the time has come for my wife and I to polish off our now dwindled hoard of cold weather brews. We finished off our last bottle of Highland’s Cold Mountain Winter Ale last week.

But we aren’t alone in this spring cleaning effort. A lot of your local bottle shops are marking down winter beer for a quick sale. And I lucked on one recently, Corsendonk Christmas Ale. I had this one before some time ago, but I didn’t remember much about it.

I paid $7.99 for a 750 ml bottle here in Johnson City. That’s $2 off the regular price.

Smell: The aroma after popping the champagne style cork was a nice yeasty, bready smell with a bit of wine.

Corsendonk Christmas Ale poured into branded tulip glass. Copyright 2015 by Andrew Dunn

Sight: The pour was a deep mahogany with a thick cappuccino head.

Taste: It had a nice brown ale taste with a dash of sweetness and a pinch of bitter. There is, however, an oddly metallic taste that puts it off just a bit.

Alcohol: The alcohol clocked in at a strong 8.1 percent, but it wasn’t too heavy.

Overall: It is very drinkable. I wouldn’t put it at the top of the heap, but it is good.

Bottom Line: At $7.99 (on sale) for almost two beers in the bottle, it’s not a bad price on a premium beer. Some cheaper alternatives I can recommend would be New Belgium’s Abbey or Lagunitas’ Brown Shugga.