Beer Review: Ommegang Game Of Thrones - Seven Kingdoms

I'm a sucker for a beer that has a tie into pop culture.  I can't turn down a nice tasty Brothers Thelonious from North Coast, or a Bitches Brew from Dogfish Head.  There are many of these type of beers, most tying into music.  However, American brewery Ommegang (owned by Belgian brewery Duvel) has made a line up beers tying into the hit HBO TV series Game of Thrones, a show I'm a huge fan of.  I was out of town last week for the season premier, and didn't sit down to watch it until yesterday, figuring I would do a double header of watching the premier, and then yesterday's show live.  What better beer to drink with a GOT doubleheader than one that ties into the show.
All of these Game Of Thrones beers are a different style, this particular one is a Hoppy Wheat Ale that weighs in at 6.9%.  It pours a cloudy hazy pale straw yellow capped by a half inch head of white frothy foam.  The nose is lemony, biscuits, pale malts, yeasty bready dough.  The mouth feel is bubbly, effervescent, almost tingly.  The taste is of lemon, marmalade, biscuits, lightly toasted bread, yeasty esters.  There's a bitterness, it lies like a film on the tongue.  Some notes of orange peel as it warms, citrus resiny notes grow as well with the warmth.  A nice wheat beer.  Fairly easy drinking, light bodied, but with quite a bit of flavor and a nice hoppy bite as well.  A good beer, that paired well with two amazing episodes of Game of Thrones.

Abita SOS

There are many reasons to love craft beer. The complex flavors, the unusual styles, the "localness" of the beer, etc. Another reason is that for the most part, local breweries, care about their hometown. Few breweries show that love and passion of their community like Abita Brewing out of Louisiana. When Katrina happened and wrecked New Orleans Abita released Restoration Ale with a certain amount of the profits going to help rebuild New Orleans. With the recent oil disaster in the Gulf, Abita has once again brewed a beer to help: Save Our Shores. For every 750 ml bottle sold Abita will donate $0.75 to the rescue and restoration of the environment. Not that we needed one, but Abita has provided one more reason to drink beer. SOS is an unusual beer in and of itself its a Weizen Pils dry hopped with Sterling and German Perle hops.
The Beer: This brew weighs in at 7.0% and pours a golden honey color with a good sized frothy white head. The nose is herbal hops, spices, some banana flavor, toasted grains. The mouthfeel has a creaminess to it, sweet malts, grassy, spicey, earthy....almost herbal. It drinks pretty smooth, slightly sweet from the pale toasted malts. Some banana wheat flavors are there, subtle but there with just a bit of bitterness to the brew to create a very nice balance. Its a solid brew that gets a B from me. Here's what the folks at BA think.

German Beers

Man can not live by hoppy monster's, imperial stouts, or other high alcohol beers alone. Of course I love them, but there are times and places for more sessionable beers. I normally don't seek them out for one reason or another but a week or so ago I was paid a visit by some friends from Germany who came carrying gifts for me. Gifts of beer! These were good every day German beers, nothing extreme just extremely tasty! A wheat beer and a keller beer were included in my gift package!
Mönchshof Kellerbräu: Brewed by the Kulmbacher brewery, this is an unfiltered lager that weighs in at 5.4%. It pours a cloudy light brown with a thick dense head of foam. The nose is full of noble hop aroma fruity estersy, pale toasted malts. THe mouthfeel is full, much fuller than I expected. Caramel malts, noble hops, flavors of minerals, earth and floral notes as well. Toasted malts, delicious and easy drinking. Clean and crisp, this one gets a B from me.
Kapuziner Weisbier: Another beer brewed by Kulmbacher this one is of course a Hefeweizen that weighs in at 5.4%. THe beer pours a hazy straw yellow capped with a tone of frothy white foam. The nose is full of bannana, cloves, and citrus. This time around the mouthfeel is a little lighter than I expected. Flavors of bannana, spices, cloves, citrus including strong notes of lemon. Somewhat light, very refreshing, crisp. Smooth and very tasty. The lemony notes make this really refreshing. Drinking this beer makes me think of sitting in a German biergarden on a beautiful Summer day. An above average wheat beer that gets a B+ from me.

Two New Glarus

I mentioned this briefly before, but a buddy of mine from Wisconsin brought back a stash of beer from me when he was up there during Christmas. I ended up with about a mixed case of beers from New Glarus. NG is only available in Wisconsin so its quite a treat to try some of these beers. The brewery is run by husband and wife team Daniel and Deb Carey (if your remember my entry from my New Belgium tour, the brew equipment came from he CO brewery). Daniel Carey is not only the owner he is the brewmaster and helps turn out some of the best and unique beers in the country. In fact Mr. Carey has some strong brewing chops having been Production Supervisor for Anheuser-Busch prior to starting up New Glarus in 1993. New Glarus has won quite a few awards including Small Brewery of the Year in 2005, and Mid-Size brewery of the year in 2006. NOt only are they good, they are growing!
Because of the large stash of NG beer that I received, I'll be posting notes on a couple of their beers every once in a while, starting today.
Crack'd Wheat: This is a Pale Ale Hefeweiss which was all I needed to read on the label of the beer to get excited about it. It weighs in at 5.95% and pours a hazy golden yellow, bubbly with a thick white head. The nose is hoppy, citrus, bananas, and clove. The mouthfeel is full good carbonation. Hoppy, grapefruity, cloves, and banana, citrus peel bitterness. Slightly resiny on the finish. This is a wonderful beer and surprisingly combines the citrus-y flavors of a pale ale with the banana and spices of a hefeweiss. This one gets a B+ from me. BA thoughts?
Black Wheat: It makes me sad to know that this one is a retired beer from NG, but I'm glad I was able to try it. This is a winter style dark wheat beer that weighs in at 5.7%. It pours an almost pitch black with a thin white head. The nose is full of banana, clobes, spices, chocolate, bubblegum, and rich malts. The mouthfeel is chewy and full. NOtes of chocolate up front, along with the expected cloves, cinnamon, banana, spices. Oh the spices in this beer are wonderfully complex. Its hearty for such a low abv beer. Great spices, great chocolatey notes as well. Good solid beer that gets a B+ from me. BA's give it love as well.

Two Beers from Flying Dog

I'm a huge fan of Flying Dog beers. When they were in Downtown Denver I went to the tour and tasting on multiple occasions, but just because they've moved across country to Maryland doesn't mean I like their beers any less. Walking through my local Spec's I came across Flying Dog's Sample Pack containing 5 different beers: Amber, Wheat, Pale Ale, Kolsch, and Porter. Well not quite...due to the archaic beer labeling laws in Texas we don't get the Porter, instead Flying Dog put their seasonal beer: Woody Creek White a Belgium Wheat Beer. I'm ok with that change (although I do need to try their Porter, heck and their new Triple). So in the process of trying good session beers I figured it would be fun to try two different wheat beers, one the Woody Creek, the other Flying Dog's In Heat Wheat a German style Hefeweizen.
The Beer: Woody Creek White: The beer weighs in at 4.8% abv, pouring a beautiful hazy cloudy gold capped with a thick white head. The nose is spicy, some banana notes, orange zest, spices, coriander. Great thick mouthfeel, really strong notes of citrus; oranges, lemon pie. Very thirst quenching and a great beer on a hot Texas day. This on gets a B+ from me.
The Beer: In-Heat Wheat: This one weighs in at 4.7% pours a good cloudy orange with a good dense head, a little thinner than I like, but its very dense. The nose is full of banana's and cloves. This is what I love in a good German Hefe. This is what is missing in most American Wheat beers so I'm extremely glad to see it here. As stated the nose is good, but not great, I'd like to see the banana and cloves to be a little stronger. Great mouthfeel, thick, good bananas, some citrus notes, just a bit of sourness. All in all a very solid wheat beer, this one gets a B from me.
More from Flying Dog to come as I make my way through their pack.

North Coast Blue Star Wheat

Call this one inspired by Jay. That's Jay of Hedonist Beer Jive. Last week he started his Great Summer Wheat Off where he tasted a very nice one from Goose Island. So well inspired I decided to get on the action and have my own taste of a good ole American Wheat Beer.
The Beer: North Coasts version weighs in at a very light and crisph 4.5% alcohol (now thats a good summer session beer). Its not a seasonal but one of their year round offerings. The beer pours a hazy cloudy straw color with a nice foaming white head. Citrus notes abound here, a bit of yeast, low on the banana scent. The mouth is effervescent, lemony, a bit of yeast, zesty and ultimately refreshing which is what I want out of a good American Wheat beer. Not complex but very nice nonethe less. I'd give it a good strong B. Here's what the folks over at BA had to say.