(upbeat music) - Episode 76 of The Beerist's podcast recorded on September 5th, 2013, the first of the series of Trappist Beer Shows. This time with Shamé and Vestmala. (upbeat music) - Hey guys, how's it going? - What the fuck is that, whoa? - At least I'm Minnesota. - I thought that we all agreed to do Belgian accents. - Yeah, we did, when are you gonna start? - Is that a Belgian accent? - Yeah, this is here, they talk. (all laughing) - I'm from Belgium. - Not at all. - No, you said it's high, you have a tie on. You look dapper as fuck and you go, who you could do? - You could do, you could do. - I thought it's kind of like the sweetest chef, but a little bit more English. - I don't think it is. - Is it a little bit more Minnesota? - No. - What part of Belgium did you go to? - I haven't yet. - Okay. (all laughing) - Obviously. - That's amazing. - I'll figure it out. - I don't think you will. I'm John Rubio and with me today. - Grant the name, this from Belgium. - I can't, I can't fake when you do that. - That is so amazing. - This is not okay. - I'm not even gonna ask you how you are. We also have with us. - Anastasia, I'm doing just fine, Kelly. - I answered the question before I could ask it. And then the fourth chair, finally. - Mike, Lambert, finally. - Mike, you're back. - Yeah, he's not actually dead. - Wait, what? - Back, yeah. - What, you guys recorded the podcast without me? - Oh no, Zoot skipped the groove again. (all laughing) - Don't you guys love me? - You know. - To find love. - Yeah. - I don't know. - He likes to confuse love and sex. (all laughing) Is that all you? - I don't know. (all laughing) - I'm gonna just do exactly what I do in every other situation and just drink this all away. - No, no, no, no, no. Wait for us because today we're doing our first in this series of Trappest Beer Shows. - How did that idea come about? - Well, we're gonna read an email in a bit and that guy suggested it to us. - That guy. - Yeah. - Man, why didn't we have that idea before this guy? - We did, but we just never did it. (all laughing) And the beers that we're doing this time are from Shamay and Vestmala. So Westmala is how most people bring this in mind. - Can you pronounce it correctly again? - Vestmala. - Oh yeah. - The other one's actually Chaimay as well. - Oh, I think it's actually pronounced. - Vestmala. - Vestmala. - We go by bore out of the yeast over here. - I like. - I'm not gonna help you guys partake in that fucking terrible accent. - That's fine. Neither am I. But before we get started with all of that nonsense, I have an email to read. And it goes like this. Hey, Beerists. Actually, I edited the shit out of this email because it was fucking huge. And there was a lot of really interesting stuff on there, but we're trying to run the show and we have to save on some time. Hey, Beerists. I discovered your great podcast about a year ago on Reddit and I've been faithful listener ever since. I'm a sales rep for a large Belgian brewery here in southern China. I live and do most of my work in the city of Ying, Ying, Ying. It's it. - Ying Zhao? - Ying Zhao, I guess. If you're from the 19th century, that's Canton for you. And the city's a couple of hours. - We were way off on a pregnancy. - Yeah, go figure. The city's a couple of hours from Hong Kong. Anyway, I spent a lot of time on buses, subways and taxis, traveling to clients bars and you guys are the perfect travel companion. - Aw. - I know that's real sweet. I was wondering what you guys would like to drink with Chinese food, both the Americanized stuff like general cells, chicken and low mane, but also more authentic styles like Sichuan and Hunan. Unsurprisingly, I'm also a huge fan of Belgian beers. I'm headed there in October to tour our breweries and also hit up Oktoberfest and Munich. Might I suggest you do a blind trap is tasting an ad in American triple or two to the mix to see how Belgium actually stacks up. Keep up the good work, Jonathan, Director of Sales, South China, Duval Morquette Shanghai, LTD. And he says, "PS, Mike, this email goes great with some Humboldt fog cheese. Apparently, you're a grease and I'm sure you could get a hysterectomy and still find that goes well with Humboldt fog." Jesus, try different cheese for fuck's sake. - I had some Humboldt fog cheese to celebrate the hysterector he is. His mom should have gotten. - Damn. - Wow, also PS, that guy from the Paradox Show, John Gross, you should keep him around for more shows. I wanna have John Gross back on. He's really funny. - I hear he likes tits. - So that's all the P.S. is. - Aww. - Okay, well, there's one left that says, "Anastasia, I dig your narcissism." - Someone who understands me. It's hard to come by in this world. - It really, really is. Anyway, let's answer his questions. So with Chinese food, do you guys ever drink beer with Chinese food? - I drink beer with only Humboldt fog. - Yeah, I'm with Anastasia on that one. - Yeah, Humboldt fog goes really good with Chinese food I hear. (laughing) - Normally, when I have any type of Asian food, just for me living in Japan, what I was brought up with was logarish kind of style. So the only thing I've ever had with Chinese food, I would say is the Xing Tao or the Xing Tao or whatever the hell you pronounce it. - I'm gonna go ahead and say, since we're moving on from like some very dry Belgian, probably say, sawn or table beer. - Yeah, I actually would agree with you. I'd either do that or something pills me like. - Yeah, still wanna keep it light because those flavors and the food, you're gonna be fairly strong. You don't really want the beer to overpower it. - I'm just amazed that our podcast shows up in China. - Yeah, that's pretty badass. - But they don't have like blocks on us. - Yeah, go figure, right? - I mean, if he's on Reddit, we're always talking about like Tiananmen Square and how old? - Exactly. - Tank guy. (laughing) - Tank guy. - Is that like a tank girl? - How much can we actually have to say before we get banned in China? (laughing) - The further adventures of tank guy. (laughing) - It's like the generic tank girl. - Yeah, they can't look up pictures I heard. So maybe we can describe it for them on this podcast. - Yeah, I don't know. Like I said, I wish I had a better answer for you, but I'm not really usually in a good position to drink a craft beer with my Chinese food. Usually when I'm eating Chinese food, it's out at a restaurant or somebody else's house. - And they're not necessarily catering a good selection of beer at their establishment. - Right, right. And like Anastasia pointed out, I think, yeah, Cezanne usually would go really well with some of the gingery stuff in some of those dishes and some of the garlic and balance out some of the sweetness and some of the Americanized, gloopy, you know, sweet things. - Well, especially Szechuan styles and really spicy peppery styles. - Cezanne would go great with that. - Yeah. - 'Cause the effervescence would kind of take that spice off of your tongue and wash away all the pepper flakes that gets stuck in between your teeth and choke you till you die. - Yeah, it would've been good for Jonathan to give us some recommendations himself. - Oh, yeah. Jonathan, why don't you send us some of your recommendations? Goddammit, you're in China, for fuck's sake. - Yeah. - Thank you so much, Jonathan, for that email. If anybody else listening wants to send us an email, send it to info@thebearers.com. We really appreciate it. We got a couple of iTunes shout-outs to give. Actually, there are four of them. - What? - Yes, Wicked Weed says that we do a great job of promoting an explaining craft beer in a down-to-earth and hilarious manner. He also said that he laughed so hard at the Paradox episode that he was pretty sure his coworkers thought he was hot. (laughing) I mean, it's not enough that his name is fucking Wicked Weed 18, right? - Yeah. He was probably high. - I have no problem with it. - Yeah, he was high. (laughing) - Host Dog says that we're not to be missed for our loose, fun and insightful beer reviews. - Thanks, Host Dog. - Host Dog. Jay Boularo, or Boularo. I don't know, there's too many ways you could pronounce that, says we're the perfect combination of knowledge and humor, and that we've helped them discover a lot of beers, which are now some of his favorites. - Right on. - That's what we're hoping for. Josh from North Carolina says that we're the perfect balance of humor, knowledge, information, and pretentiousness. - Thanks, Dickface. - Yeah, I know. That email was perfect balance of informative and boring. (laughing) And complimentary. - Backhanded ass hattery. - It's great. - So those people, what they did was they got on the iTunes music store, and they did a search for the beerists, and gave us a five-star rating and rotary view for us. And that really helps out with our rankings and iTunes, gets us on the front page, and lets more people find our show. And we really, really appreciate it. It's a good, easy way to support the show. Barely takes any time. Please do it, thank you. We also have three different donations that we got this week, and they're still coming in. I'm so excited about that. We're trying to get to the Great American Beer Festival. - I'm pretty close. - We are pretty fucking close, and I'm really excited that we are probably gonna get to go, hopefully. - Oh yeah. - These donations really, really help out. We can't do it without you. Get on thebearest.com on the left-hand side of the page. There's a PayPal, donate link, click it, and send us any amount of money you can afford. We fucking appreciate the hell out of it. We got one from Cameron Purves. - Purves. - How do you pronounce that name? P-U-R-V-E-S. - Purve it, Purve it, Purve it. - Cameron Purves, I'm pretty sure you've heard that. - Purves. - Cameron Purves. - If he's been to high school, he's heard it all. - Yeah, I know. - I'm sure it's just Purves. - Cameron, thank you so much for your donation. We appreciate it. Tyler Borger, or Borger. What the fuck is with Borger? Is it Borger? - Yeah, it's Borger. That guy works with me at the fruit stand. - Oh, does he? - Are we Tyler? - Tyler Borger? - Tyler Borger, we appreciate it. And Anna Grogan, thank you so much for your donation. - These are all fucking fake names. - I swear to God, they're fake names. - No, they're not fake names. You work with Tyler Borger. (laughing) Anyway, I like burgers. - You also work with Teach Borger? - No, let's move on to our beers. Just a little bit about Trappist Brewery's first. I'm gonna read this thing that I actually just built off of Wikipedia 'cause it did a better job than I could. In 1997, eight Trappist Brewery, six from Belgium, one from the Netherlands and one from Germany, founded the International Trappist Association to prevent non-Trappist commercial companies from abusing the Trappist name. And Trappist is a particular type of monastery, or a particular sect over in Belgium. The Trappist name is an appellation that is given to beers from that particular type of monastery. - Okay, so it's like-- - From tapest tabbies. - Okay, so it's like champagne or like bourbon or something like that. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you can't call something that's not made out of champagne as champagne. They call it sparkling wine. - This private association created a logo that's assigned to goods, cheese, beer, wine, et cetera, that respect precise production criteria. For the beers, these are the criteria. One, the beer must be brewed within the walls of a Trappist monastery, either by the monks themselves or under their supervision. Two, the brewery must be of secondary importance within the monastery, and it should witness to the business practices proper to the monastic way of life. Three, the brewery is not intended to be a profit-making venture. The income covers the living expenses of the monks and the maintenance of building the grounds. Whatever remains is donated to charity for social work and for help of persons in need. And number four is Trappist breweries are constantly monitored as to assure the irreproachable quality of their beers. - That's pretty nifty. - Brewers have been known to fall out of that delineation. - And actually right now, there are eight operating Trappist breweries, Chame, Orval, Rochford, Westmala, West Latrin, and that's St. St. Sixta's Brewing, Ackel, La Trapp, and that's the one in the Netherlands, and Anglesell, which was added in 2012, when it was started brewing beer again. It stopped brewing back in like 1929 or so. - I hadn't even heard of that one. - Yeah, well, it's- - Probably 'cause you weren't alive. - No, it's brand new, this 2012 is one of the- - I figured I would have heard of it from 2012, but none. - And there was another one called Marioid, and that one's in Germany, but they stopped producing beer. They're not currently producing beer, so. - So what happens to these beers if they somehow drop one of these rules? Does it just become a- - It spirals out of control. - Is it just considered like an abbey? - Yeah, I guess so. I don't know if there are Trappist breweries that are not adhering to those rules. I think they all have to. It's part of the tradition of it. - So the Trapp is actually one that had to change their name. They changed it to Koenig's Hovin for a little while. - Okay. - And then they've changed it back to La Trapp once they got the delineation back. - Cool. Well, the first brewery that we're gonna start drinking beers from is Chame. Actually, this description has more history about Trappist breweries and stuff. And I swear we're not gonna stick too much to this. This is just in the beginning of the show, so stick with me for a bit. The monks of Skarmont Abbey and Chameh belong to the order of cisterns of the strict observance, usually called Trappist. These monks follow the rule of St. Benedict dating back to the 6th century, taking their name Cistercians from the monastery of Sisto, founded in Burgundy in the 12th century. The Cistercian monasteries are divided into two great orders of which one is historically connected to La Grande Trapp Abbey in Normandy, which gives the common name of Trappist, okay? So like La Trapp is from that Abbey. The monks consecrate their lives and praise of God through prayer and meditation. Taking a vow of celibacy, they live as a community under the direction of an abbot and renounce all private possessions. At the heart of their lives, they have their own work and also endeavor by this work to procure help for the poorest. For a long time, the work of the monks was, I'm not gonna read all this. (laughing) - I was wondering if you were... - Yeah, fine, fine, fine. - So Chameh. (laughing) I'm really thirsty and in need of alcohol. - Oh, Jesus. - Well, the first beer, the one that you heard that mighty pop from is Chameh Premier, which is the one with the red cap and the red label. It's 7% ABV and it's available in the bottles and it's a year round offering. The Chameh red cap or premier in 750 milliliter bottles is the oldest of the Chameh's. This traditional Belgian beer is best savored at cellar temperature, 10 to 12 degrees centigrade. Now this is the first beer that Chameh actually brewed at the Notre Dame Abbey by the Trappist fathers in 1862. Like this is a long time they've been brewing this beer. - Wow. - The current recipe was crafted by Father Theodore when he recreated the brewery after World War II. It was directly inspired by the original recipes from the beginnings of the brewery. And this beer is a very pretty copper color, like a dark, rich amber. Yeah, amber copper. - That's iced tea color. - Kind of, right? - Pretty nearly transparent. - Yeah, close to being clear. And it's got a nice bit of off-white, medium-sized bubbled head. - Leaving just a little bit of lacing behind. I love Belgian beers, they just look so gorgeous. - And they smell fucking gorgeous too. - Fruity, yeah. - Figs, candy sugar. - Cherry. - Yeah, cherry. - Roasted plums. - Caramel apple. - Figs and honey. - Candied pear. - Oh yeah, like brown sugar candy baked pears. - Yeah, they had some for dessert at work the other day. Smells just like this. - Pear and honey. And you know what goes well with that? Humble fog. (laughing) - In his direct amies. - Yeah. (laughing) - And there's a little bit of spice there. Oh God, you stole my thought. I was just going to say there's a little bit of spice from the east. - I swear you get like cinnamon. - Something cinnamon or pepper, clovey. - I just get a spasiness, not necessarily a particular spice. It's just very dancy in my nostrils. - Yeah, a lot of clove. There's a distant breadiness to it as well. - And caramelized sugars on top of that bread. I mean, it's just fucking great. It's like breakfast bread. - Oh my God, yes. I want this with breakfast bread. (laughing) - This is good. - This is good, I just had a sip. - Oh, it's been too long. - Well, we had this on our double show, I believe. - Did we? - Yeah, some time ago, and we were all surprised at how good this was since we hadn't had it in a very long time. - I think that was the last time I had it. - You mean me too. - Very bready, multi. - Yeah, you get those fruit notes in it. - Fums and cherries. - There's definitely a spicy note on the tail end of it as well. - Oh yeah. - Kind of lingers, dries it out a little bit. - So, breakfast bready is a really good way to describe this. Lots of caramelized sugars, not necessarily like brown sugar or anything specific that way, but yeah, when you bake a pear, or when you bake some kind of like a plum or starchy fruit. - There's a caramelization that takes place. - Yeah. - That's exactly what we're getting here. - It's interesting, I think that we get this beer. This is probably the most common beer that you can get as far as Trappas beers here in most bars. - Yeah. - I mean, if they have a wider selection of beer, you'll usually see a chame there. I always find it's kind of hit or miss when I do get them there 'cause it seems like sometimes something happens in the bottle and it's like way too sweet or maybe oxidized. - I think a lot of time it sits around for a really long time and not proper conditions. - Yeah. - Yeah, I was gonna say it's probably how long and how it's been stored. - That's exactly it. - Yeah. - But we have it here. I mean, this time and the previous time and it just tastes great. 'Cause it's fucking fresh. - I've had a couple of the 12 ounce bottles, which is what you would normally find when I go out to restaurants that have chame. - Yeah. - Really tinny metallic flavor to it. - Yeah. - And it's kind of a turn off, but man, it's great out of the bottles. - Sorry, I just totally forgotten doing research. They do say that sometimes the larger format bottles taste a little different than the smaller format. - I could see that happen. - Typically the larger format bottles in all versions tend to present a little more fruitiness. - Right, are the small bottles bottle conditioned? I know these are. - That's a good question. - That might be the difference. - Might be. - I wanna say yes, but I can't remember. - Either way, this is drinking fantastically. It's got a nice crispness to it. - Yeah. - Not overly sweet. There's a lot of sugary caramelization there, but not a lot of sweetness. It's drinking pretty dry, actually. You do get a lot of fruitiness, though. - A lot of fruit up in front, but then it really dries out towards the end and gets spicy peppery. - Fruity esters. I just really wanted to say those words together. - Feels really good to say. - Doesn't it though? Just like this beer. I mean, it's got a thin to medium body, but it's really easy to drink. - Yeah, it tastes very complex and nuanced. And yeah, it's hearty. It just feels good to drink this. You just feel it, fill up your lungs. Now I have pneumonia. (laughing) - But it's hearty without being heavy, right? I mean, it's full. - I think the hardiness is more associated with the bite it has at the front. - Yeah, you could say it's like crisp. - Yeah, yeah. - You could stop eating in fast and then just drink this. It'll sustain you. - Yeah, like they did. - Like they do, yeah. - Yeah, like they do. - They do. - This would go with dessert, especially anything that has a nice, flaky, puffy crust. - I want some hazelnut. - And yeah, I was gonna say, maybe even baklova. So on this, it's not too heavily cinnamon-ly spiced, but I think that would be okay. - I was thinking of bread pudding with this. - Bread pudding? Well, it depends on how pudding-y the bread pudding is 'cause I think the custardy cream would overpower this a little bit because it's a little bit lighter body. - Just humbly, maple-y. I kind of want a tart peach pie with this. - Yes, I think that would be really nice. - Like candied figs and bacon. - Oh yeah. - Would be really good. - Oh my gosh, you know what goes good with bacon? - Humble, flog, and bacon. (laughing) - It's arb-gan. - It's fucking everything. (laughing) - No, it's very inspiring. Do it with sandwiches? - Oh yeah. - Like a roast beef sandwich on real bread. - I've been making sandwiches with turkey and fig spread instead of mustard or mayonnaise or any of that stuff. - I was so afraid you didn't go into your boar's head. (laughing) - That is a boar's head sandwich. - Who doesn't like up and roasting? - It was a vardy? - Wait, wait, your show is great, by the way, good job of bears. - When I was in Paris drinking a lot of Belgian beer, some of the sandwiches that came up pretty frequently were ham sandwiches, but then there was one in particular that had like prosciutto and goat cheese and tomatoes. This would go fantastic with that. - That was that weird party where Mike got sandwiched by charcuterie. (laughing) - There's a lot of weird times in France. - Yeah, there's a lot of weird times in France needs to be on a t-shirt. (laughing) - Quail. - This would go great with quail. - Fuck yeah, I mean, I think any wild game would be really good, there's any roasted wild game would be great. - I want something kind of fatty, like duck or something like that, that would be good with this. - Yeah. - Would you play the game of what will this not go well with? - Yes, Chinese food! (laughing) - I wouldn't want this to Chinese food. That was fucking great, I just finished mine. - Yeah, I down mine. - I know, so easy to drink, great stuff. That was, like I said, Chame premiere the red cat version and the next one is Chame sync sense, which is the white cap yellow label version. And this is 8% ABV and it's available in bottles and it's year round again. There's also a draft version available of this. - But it's different. - Yeah, that's what I hear, yeah. And this Chame triple last born of the abbey is label sync sense on the 750 milliliter bottle of a golden color, the Trappes beer combined, sweet and bled bled bled bled bled. Best savored fresh at a temperature of six to eight degrees Celsius. - Last born of the abbey, is that mean it's-- - It's the newest one they've, okay. - Yeah. - So maybe they don't do really, one off, maybe they stick to their three guns. - Yeah, I mean, or vol sticks to what, two beers? - Two. - And only one's available in the States, right? - That's correct. - Or to the public even. - Right, you'd have to go to the brewery to get the other one and that one's for the monks, basically. - You have to leg wrestle a monk for that. - Oh my God, that sounds hot. - It's not gonna end up anywhere, unless you're lucky. (laughing) - Or rapey. - Yeah, this is lighter, more of a blonde sort of. - With gold highlights. - Yeah, golden color. - Look at that head. - It's a little bit hazier than the last one. I think it might be chill haze, I'm not entirely sure. But that head is tightly packed foamy. - So the thing I really like about Chame, they always have such a beautiful head on all of their beers. I feel it's such a staple of their brand. - Mm-hmm, yeah. - Well, can you imagine if you did essentially one or two things to make money, to sustain yourselves and those in need, you'd have to wanna do it perfectly every single time. - Oh yeah. - And they do. - And smelling this beer, it's awesome. Like there's a lot more of a hot presence in this beer than the last one, which had almost no discernible hot presence. - It's really flowery. - Yeah. - Perfume. - A little hay, a little grass, just a little. - I still get a little bit of wildflower honey underneath everything. - Yes. - Sweetness of honey. - A little bit of clove. - Yeah, and it's a very dry aroma. It doesn't have a lot of the same sugars as the last one did. - Smells like clouds. - I don't know what that means. - Well, there's something about it in the smell that's kind of fluffy. - Yeah, like as you say, it smells really soft and fluffy and maybe like it's gonna rain. - Do you mean like jet puff, like marshmallow? - Maybe a little like that, actually. - Do you guys get a little bit of ham? - There, it smells hammy. - There's something savory there. I wouldn't go as far as to say ham. - Ham, particularly. - I'm thinking you're drawn that from the cloves. That's normally how they flavor ham quite a bit. - I think that's true. - And the honey as well. - Oh, yeah, yeah. - Does it smell like a honey ham, do you, Grant? - A little bit. I don't mean to channel hot dog Grant, but yeah, I was getting a little ham. I'm pulling a little bit of pear out of this as well. - Sorry, I was just floating on a cloud of this flavor. - Oh man, it's been too long since I've had this beer. - That is really good. - Oh, that's awesome. - Oh, huh. - These are pretty damn fresh bottles. - Oh, yeah. - We got them in the store, I don't know, maybe two weeks ago. - Oh, wow. So I'm getting some pears. It's almost like hoppy pears, right? There's a bit of a bitterness there and a sweetness that kind of in perfect balance. - Yeah. - Yeah. It supports that elevated bitterness and that pear like peppery honey pears. - Yeah. - And it's very dry. It just sucks to moisture off my tongue at the end of the sip. - I mean, how do you get an 8% beer to be this delicate? - And delicate, yeah. - That's a hell of a beer. - It's divine inspiration. - Oh, shit, praise be. - It's a great triple and I think it's underrated. I think this one is pretty often overlooked. - Man, there's something in there that reminds me of freshly baked white bread and that honey quality is really present in the flavor. - Something about it just reminds me of being outside springtime. - Oh, yeah. - Now you're starting to taste like me. - Wait, what? - Whoa, whoa. - What are you guys doing over on that? - Let me taste both of you all. What happens to the other? - I think you have. (all laughing) - Oh, God. (all laughing) - Oh, God. - I taste invisible. - Speaking of that baby's breath, does anybody pull? (all laughing) - Yes, I do. - Yes, every time. - Yeah. - Every time. - Every time. - How you keep it so fresh in there, I don't know. - You are right though, I do get some of that baby's breath and that marshmallowy quality is turning to show up for me. - Don't look at me, I was just joking. - No, I'm actually getting something like that. - Yeah, no, I think you had a point. - It kind of makes my tongue tingle. - On the sides. - Mm-hmm. - I'm not gonna recall a cough drop, you know? Like that sort of-- - I'm gonna cross the center of the roof of my mouth. - I'm not gonna, I mean, I don't think it makes a gun of numb. It just kind of pleasant. I'm in bliss right now. - There's a light hint of mint or spearmint or something. - Yeah. - A little bit cooling on there. This is awesome. - I want to go to there. - You're already there. The flavor town is what you're talking about. You're in flavor town. - You know, this might get a little bit better if it warmed up. - I think so. (all laughing) - Do we have a warming device here in the room? - I don't know. - Only on the, nobody listening could see what you did with your head. (all laughing) - I started staring at Anastasia's breast. - Yeah, I know, but you-- (all laughing) - You did that weird fresh prince of the hair, head whip around staring at the thing. - You guys miss all the visual gags we do. - Yeah. - I mean, Mike rolls in here, like, keratops. He's just got all these props and they're so good. But they don't make it to the audio podcast. - They're better than keratops. Whoa, whoa, big words, buddy. - Okay, you don't want to get beat up by him. - I don't have to try very hard. That's good. I don't want this to end. - You're just taking a break and savor and-- - Guys, finish your beer. Let's get to the next one. - Yeah, we can move on to the next one. I don't know if there's anything more to say about this. It's just a nice, spicy, delicious, fruity, dry, flowery, beautiful, but I can't. - Do we have delicious-- - I think-- - Do we have to rank these today? - Yeah. - Oh, yeah. - Oh, fuck. - Oh, we don't have to. - These are a lot of good beers. - We can just talk about our favors, but whatever. That was some amazing sense. The white cap yellow label version. And the next one is the Chame Grand Reserve. And that's the blue cap blue label. 9% ABV bottle beer available year round. And the Chame Blue Cap baptized Grand Reserve in 750 milliliter bottles is a dark trapez beer with a powerful aroma, complex flavor. (mumbles) It says it improves across the years. That was the burp, burp part. - That's true. - It was first brewed as a Christmas beer explaining the presence of a vintage. It is served, ideally at cellar temperature, 10 to 12 degrees Celsius. - This was actually the very first Belgian beer that I've ever had. Sweet was the Chame Blue. I think my first was the Chame Red. Anybody that's out there that hasn't had all of their offerings should really search them out. - And if it's been a long time since you had them, you should probably drown them again. - And they definitely speak the truth, especially when it comes to the Chame Blue, it ages amazingly well. - Amazingly well. - I've had the oldest one that I've ever had was 12 years old and it was still delicious. - Oh yeah. And checking this beer out, it is a dark brownish red ruby garnet highlights. It's almost maroon, like it's a little bit more brown than that, but it's almost maroon. - Gorgeous head, really tightly packed. - Yeah, tan head. - If you hold it up and try to look through the bottom, it looks like, looking up at the head, it looks like honeycomb or like a crystal cavern. - Yeah. - Sorry, that's my weird visual for the day. - Oh, and it smells so good. - It smells so good. - You don't like the way it smells? - No, it smells so good. (laughing) - I can't tell her that's pleasure or pain. You're good moaning, you're bad moaning, I really smell it. - Same thing. I just communicate in sounds and not words. - Yeah, this one will just be on a Monopoe. (laughing) It smells a lot like the first one. Very similar in tone. I would say that there's a little bit more of a sweetness that's here. Yeah, more of a sweetness and more of a dark caramelization. More of the dark fruits, more of the candied figs and the plum, still some cherry, but it's kind of going to the darker into that flavor spectrum. - And it's smelling Anastasia's glass of the premier. I'm detecting a little bit more of a hot presence actually in the Chame Blue. - Okay. - Very slight, it shows up as more of an earthiness in the back end. - I got a little acetone. I don't think it's a bad thing. I think it's just something else presenting in my nose as acetone. I think you're right, I think I get a little touch, just a barely a touch of acetone in the nose. - And I know because I smell acetone often. - It's not bad, but it's there. - I'm detecting that more is a fusile alcohol. At least that's the way it's coming across in the flavor. It's a little bit of both, I think. - Okay, this is going to be weird. Like the green leaves and stems of flowers, not the actual bud of a flower, but the green stem. - I totally understand what you're saying. - If you chew on a rose stem almost, right? - Sure, I don't think I've ever done that. - That come from a weird background. - That's dancers. - You like to tango. - You're mistaking my future with my past. It's really hard for me to eat flavors out of this beer. I can tell that it's more alcoholic. I can taste more alcohol, but for ontons and purposes, it tastes like a darker, deeper richer, but also less flavorful version of the red cap. - Yes. - There's a breadiness that's there. There's some candied fruit, but I think a lot of the flavors are getting lost behind the booze that's really, really apparent. - Yeah. - Carmel plum, like you're describing in the nose, I think I'm getting a lot. I thought it actually, my first sip kind of tasted a little band-aid-y. It's washed away with more sips, but that first sip I was like, something tastes a little off about this. - I think there is something a little off about this. I do think like Mike and Anastasia said, fusile alcohol, a little bit of acetone. - You know, I'm not so sure if it's something that's necessarily wrong, what it's striking me as is like a non-kade this year. I think it's young. I think that it needs some more time and this beer would shape up quite a bit. But I've always found that this beer gets markedly better with age. Three years old is a great sweet spot for this one. If you've got the willpower to hold on to some bottles. - Yeah, and for those of you who didn't understand Mike's reference to a non-kade, that's a beer from Freetail in San Antonio. It's a one-year annual release thing. It's on American Wildale that this year, we covered on our show a few episodes back and it wasn't quite ready in the bottle yet. - Yeah, and we were worried about how it was gonna turn out, but it turns out it got really, really awesome. - Yeah, yeah, the one that we had on the show was awful and like diastole and tasted seaporny and corny. We popped another one open this past weekend and it was actually really, really good. - Maybe time will make this thing even out, right? I'm missing what I like in a Belgian strong dark. - Big caramel flavors than the fruit esters. - Yeah, yeah, and you do get a lot of booze in those beers. Like for instance, the same minorities had it 12. There's a lot of that fruity, caramelly, alcoholic deliciousness that is in such great balance with the body to back it up and stuff. - You nailed it, it's balanced. That's what this is missing. It's really out of whack in terms of the alcohol. - I think it's kind of seamless. - What seam, the alcohol seam? - No, it doesn't, I mean, I honestly don't think it tastes that hot. At first I thought that maybe, yeah, it isn't as flavorful and I was like, no, all the flavors just melt together so well that it's just this satin blanket of delicious coating your mouth. - Are we drinking the same beer? - Shit, I hope so. I told you I wasn't gonna drink Bud Light anymore, but... - I think the acid kicks in. - Coming off of the other two beers, this one is just sort of a little bit disappointing to me. - Me too, I've had much better bottles of this. It's not really a good representation, at least in my opinion. - Yeah, I don't know. I'm missing that body, I am missing more of those fruit flavors because, okay, the flavors that are there, like Anastasia pointed out, might be harmonious. - Sure, I could buy that. But the way they're presenting next to that alcohol, the alcohol's out of shining it for me. That's just the way it is for me. - I mean, this is sat there for a year, at least, right? It's 2012, I suppose? - Maybe, I don't know what that gulf is between the bottling and the shipping, so maybe this is what they consider fresh, I don't know. - It's anywhere from eight months to a year and a half. - But do you guys detect flavors in there that you think would age well and come out brighter or more richer? - Yeah, once the alcohol dies down, which is what time would do to this, because what flavors are there are melding okay, but that alcohol is really outshining it and the age would really help the alcohol. - Does the age make something sweeter? - Sometimes, yeah. - Sometimes it can bring that out when other flavors die down over the course of time. - And just a little bit of that sherry-like age oxidation that happens would really do wonders for this beer, I think, too. - No, I know for a fact of this beer age as well, just like I think Mike knows for a fact, the oldest bottle I've had, I think is from '91 or '92. - And cheese, yeah. - Some of those, it just depends on the bottle, but some of those kind of fall out, but anything in-- - It's like older than you. - Almost. - One of the last large format bottles of this that I bought was a Magnum from the Whippin'. Yeah, that was from 2004. I bought that about two or three years ago, and it was fantastic. - Oh, it just gets so much better with age. It tastes so much like pears. - Oh, yeah, it does. - Did you just say don't? - I don't know, I'm Canadian. - We should take a break. - Yeah, let's do that. - I'm gonna keep drinking this Shamey Grand Reserve during the break, just because I remember-- - I feel obligated. - I remember liking this beer more than I do right now, and maybe something will kick in, I don't know. - You made a promise to a young monk boy. - When I was a baby Mexican, a monk helped me cross the Rio Grande on his back. He carried you and the whole weight of the world on his back. - Yes, he said-- - I think I was St. Christopher, actually. - He said his name was Sink Sense, and-- - This is like a bad M. Night Shyamalan movie? - Yeah, a snake with me on the groin. - No, because in the M. Night Shyamalan movie, they'd all be white. (laughing) - That's a good place to take a break here. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) ♪ Hang on St. Christopher to the smoke in the arm ♪ ♪ Buckle down the rumble seat, let the radiator fall ♪ ♪ Got it over head down, shift in a two-dollar drill ♪ ♪ Got a '85 cannon or an '80 value ♪ ♪ Hang on St. Christopher on the passenger side ♪ ♪ Or bled her up and out the damn open glass ♪ - Oh, is that one going to blow? - Mike is holding a cork in. - Yes. (laughing) - That's a new sex toy that we're developing. - We kind of boiled it before I used it, just a heads up. - Go, Mike Kiggle's Lambert. (laughing) - God damn it. - We're back. - I'm doing Mike Kiggle's right now. - I know me too. I can crush a can with him. So, this next half, we're doing all vest mala beers or West Ball, I guess, if you guys want to pronounce it, American style. Vest mala abbey was once called Onzi leva rau van heit heilig hot. - You got it. - Holy shit. - You got it. - That's amazing. And it belongs to the Cistercian order, which was founded in the 11th century. This order is commonly referred to as the trapez, so you heard all that in the Chamething, after the Normandy Abbey of La Trap. Reform for the Cistercian order spread from there in the 17th century, Vest mala abbey, founded in 1794, belongs to the Cistercians of strict observance, but is generally known as the Trappist Abbey of Vest mala. And our first beer that we're drinking from Vest mala is Vest mala double. It's a 7% ABV beer available year round in bottles and unlimited draft. Vest mala doubles a dark reddish brown Trappist beer with a secondary fermentation in the bottle. Since 1856, the monks have also been burying a dark Trappist beer, along with their table beer. Since the recipe was modified in 1926, they have been brewing slightly heavier beer. This is the foundation of today's double. And it's pouring fucking awesome. Like Mike is pouring these beers and there's two to three fingers worth ahead on the cup. - I'm getting gypped every single time. - That one's going to grant. That's an offensive term. Yeah. - Because he asked. - No, no, no. He said, she said gypped and grant took offense because he's a gypsy. - I am Bart's gypsy. - Look at those hands. - I always make sure to give a satisfactory amount of head. - Yes. - I try. - Try harder. - There's no satisfying you, it's terrible. - Wow. Look how dark this double is. This is almost as dark as the quad that we have. - Absolutely. - No, I think this one's darker. It looks more dense. - Yeah, and it's a very dense reddish brown color. - What a head on this beer. - This looks like fabric you'd find in the 70s. - Yes. - It's one like a leisure suit tightly packed bubbles, but then there's some really actually large bubbles interspersing it. - I'm not getting a lot off the nose. I mean, there's a light nose there. - There's a sweetness, there's a little bit of fruitiness. - There are flours. - I get a ton of apricot. - Okay. - I think he's got a lot more space for a nose to actually develop in his glass, actually. - Yeah, Grant got a small pour off of this 'cause he's trying to be responsible. - Can he's a pussy? - No, I mean, 'cause he's got to go home and be a pussy father. (laughing) - Just get it to me, Lane. - I could get you a jersey that says pussy father on it. - I don't want to wear that type of jersey. - No, also get you a matching hat, like a pip hat. - Now you're selling me. - Yeah. - Yeah, I'm Brad Davis, pussy father. It's disgusting. - I do get flours. - Flour's a little bit of raisin. - Yes, raisin. - Some dark bread. - Yeah, and again, like we said, baked pears and baked stone fruits and stuff. This is incredibly smooth. Like I didn't even drink anything. - Yeah, this belies the 7% alcohol that it is. - Give it to me, baby. - Are you offspringing us or anything? - Yeah, 'cause that's what I want the beer to do. - Oh, and see, leave and vrohn on hike and hawk and tiger. - Yeah, that's what this brewery used to be called back in the day. (laughing) - This tastes really good. It's actually quite a bit drier than the chameres. And there's a lot more of a fullness to the flavor that I'm getting. - The flavor's transition a lot more smoothly. - I would say than the premier. That said, the premier was one of the best beers that I've had tonight. - Yeah. - This is really tasty. - It's got a lot of the same fruit flavors and caramelized sugars, you know? - Right. - Kind of baked sugars that you got from the premier, but this almost goes a little bit further with that cooked sort of thing. The sugars are almost charred a little bit. - It's interesting 'cause I find that the chame came across as much more complex because I think that this beer is so dry. - It sucks out before I can really taste any of the flavor. It just dissipates so quickly and it just watches up my palate effortlessly. So it's not like there's anything that lingers there for me. - It feels more lush though, in a way. - I agree with both of you guys, actually. And I'm also getting a bit of a hot presence here, too, just a very slight touch of bitterness from some hops. - Yeah, the tail end, absolutely. - This is far less candy-like than the chameres. - I don't know, I'm gonna say this and it's gonna sound weird, I think. It's a little aqueous. - Exactly that. - Oh, okay, so that doesn't sound weird, cool. - No, not at all. To me, that's kind of where that lushness comes into play where the way it coats the mouth and then quickly disappears. At the same time, it's weird because the flavors aren't as bold, but it's deeper and more melded. They're not stand-alone. The transition's very quick to the finish. - Yeah, and there's something in here that reminds me of gingerbread and rye bread. And I think the breadiness is where it's darker for me. - You take a sip and it's like this popcorn explosion of raisin bread in your mouth that just dissipates like it's foam or something. - Yeah, it's more granola-esque, more oaty, I guess, if that makes any sense at all. - Sure. - Yeah, I drink this with oatmeal. - Yeah, I'd make oatmeal with it. - That too, I'd make marshmallows with it. - That's true. - I remember those. That was delicious. - I would just drink this. - It's like some Humboldt fog with it. - This would go really good with Humboldt fog. - I'm thinking of cherry or a sour cherry tartlet. Would go really nice with this. - Yeah, be nice. - Something with a kind of sweeter crust. - I was thinking maybe like a Frisbee golf. - What? - Maybe a little bit of a hacky sack would go up with this. - Why? - You know. - Why, bro? - Work up a light sweat, but not a real sincere sweat. And then have the one of these be? - I mean, that's how I usually work out. - Yeah, you're sweating right now. - It's not sincere, it's just podcast sweat. - Just burn it in calories. - This is a bit earthier as well as than the other one. There's something in common with-- - Beat. - Beat? - I would eat this with meat. - Welcome back. - Drink this with meat. (laughing) - But I don't know, there's something barky or woodsy, tree-like and earthy. It's different from that other double. It's very different, actually. The base is similar. The flavor types that we're getting off of there, the same sorts of fruits and all that stuff, but this is an earthier, bigger sort of experience. - Sandalwood. - Okay, I do get the earthiness. Something kind of mossy. - Okay, so my visual for this beer is a nice, cold, brook or river, maybe a stream in the forest. It's not too deep, but it's getting deep in the forest. And there's lots of luscious greenery around. - You sound like a psychic that's trying to help-- (laughing) - But she had her eyes closed the entire time. - I know. - And she was fantasizing about this beer. - I won't. (laughing) - Like so, where do you see this dead kid? (laughing) - I always close my eyes when I drink beer. - Yeah. - When I taste it, to try to-- - You're supposed to open your eyes so you can keep saying something until you see a register on other people's faces and like-- - I don't need that kind of-- - She was about to-- - I don't need that kind of validation. - I was comfortable. - She was about to start describing the Rosetta Gaminus label and start playing with herself. (laughing) - You always close your eyes during sex, but I thought that was just me. (laughing) - You're actually imagining a green meadow. (laughing) - This far away from this rape-- - Put your half in place, put your half in place. (laughing) - It's anything that wasn't that. (laughing) - Oh, look, there's a unicorn. - Yeah, that's what that is. - What aura does this beer have, guys? - So now you're just making fun of me. - Yeah, no, no. - I don't know, I mean, Grant-- - I'm a motherfucking sensory analyst, suck it, bitches. - And Grant is the pussy daddy. (laughing) - I don't wanna be the pussy daddy, that's weird. - This is an interesting beer. I don't know that I like it better than the Chame double. I think it is more challenging to me. - Pork chop. - Because it's so ephemeral. (laughing) - Wait, did you just call me pork chop? (laughing) - I'm sorry, I didn't brain man over here. I just can't stay on topic. - Hey, Sylvia Brown, brain it in. (laughing) - No, I just, I think this, I'm on the fence. I think it would go well with pork chop. (laughing) - You heard it here first. If you're gonna eat pork chops on a fence, you should probably drink this beer with it. - I agree with you though, Rubio. I think this one is far more ephemeral. It really just disappears pretty quickly. - Yeah. - Ephemeral, yes, I definitely like that way. - Pot roast. (laughing) - Pot roast. I love how the mic is like talking. Yeah, this is blah, blah, blah, and at a stage of terets is pork chop. (laughing) - Beats, pork chops. (laughing) - Scallops. - Not scallops, not scallops. - I've never seen anybody have a big back attack for pork chops like that. (laughing) - I don't crave them, I'm just thinking of what food this would go with, pumpkin risotto. (laughing) - I think it'd be up at night all of a sudden we're like, "We done podcast." We'd be like, "Are we getting a squash?" (laughing) - Fuck, actually, actually, I'm thinking for real. (laughing) - Why are you being for real anymore? - Wild mushrooms, something like a wild mushroom. - I think you're right. - Yeah. - Some sort of, I'm trying to think of what, how the wild mushrooms are prepared. Oh my God, I'm a crazy person. (laughing) - Yeah, yeah. - You've just discovered this. (laughing) - Holy shit. - So you're a psychic, dead kid description to your food things. - But I do think you're on to something with wild mushrooms. Like that fungal. - Butternut squash around eoli, with wild mushrooms. - Boom. - Oh my God, you would have mouth come. - I, show it my on. (laughing) - What's going on? - I don't even know what's going on. I have no idea what's happening. - What has been going on for the last three weeks? - Let's get back to this best well double. - I was talking about it, it's on some topic. People want to know what food to eat while they're drinking this beer. - Yeah, and most everybody, all they got was pork chops, mushrooms, mouth come. (laughing) - Those are the takeaways. - At least I can't see me warming the beer. - That's true. I don't know that I have anything else to say about this. I mean, I thought we had moved on to the triple. - No, no, not yet. - As he's chugging it. - Yeah, we're going to do that now. This is a good beer, not my favorite double. I mean, it's delicious, it's yummy. But I think most people who come in to Belgian beers after not having craft beer ever, will go to like the chame double or some other double. And this vessel double, I think is more of a next level sort of beer for people who have had some experience with doubles before. - Before we move on, I want to pose a question. - Okay. - So we always talk about beers that we think other people would drink to get them into craft beer or like what our listeners should recommend and give to their friends for them to get into beer or like a certain style. - Yes. - What would y'all recommend in terms of Belgian beer? Would you recommend a particular style? Would you recommend a particular brewery or those, I mean. - Belgian beers, I mean, for me, usually I'll give somebody a chame, the red label chame or an or a ball. I mean, probably one of each of those. You know, maybe also the next beer that we're about to have, which is the best mala triple. - The ones that got me into beer in terms of the Belgian elves was triples. That was the first ones that I ever gravitated towards. I've had a lot in my time. - 'Cause they're pretty unoffensive and pretty accessible. I mean, yeah, they got some sweet flavors, some spicy flavors, but they're not overbearing on any you count. - And they're boozy, so they hitch a faster. And that normally takes people by surprise. - Yeah, they'll. - 'Cause normally when they're like, "Oh, I'm gonna drink a beer." They don't realize like, "Oh, you can drink a beer." I'm feeling it at this point. - And for the best mala triple that Mike is pouring now, that's nine and a half percent. And it's one of my favorite triples on the planet. - Yeah, nine and a half percent year-round offering available in bottles. And this is another bottle-conditioned beer, another secondary fermentation happens in that bottle. The best mala triples indeed called the mother of all triples. This type of beer was first brewed in Besmala Abbey in 1934 when the New Bering Hall came into use. The current formula has stayed practically unchanged since 1956, thus more than 50 years. - That's awesome. - Quite a bit more hazy than the other triples that we've had. - And it's also lighter than the other triple that we had tonight. - Yeah, this is the highest one we've had. - It's kind of a straw. - Missing the golden aspects of the Shamey White. - It looks almost like a heavily-vison. - Yeah, pretty close, less orangy. - Almost getting close to a mustard yellow. - Yeah, and very cloudy. Yeah, the head is perfect in all these beers. - On all of these, on all of these beers, but the water is also super amazing. - Oh, man. - Smell that. - I get really perfumy notes, but again, that baby's breath, distant honey, a little bit of clove. - All sorts of flowers. - Lots of flowers. - All sorts of flowers. - Something that also smells a little bit like those Hawaiian buns. - Hawaiian rolls, yeah? - Oh, yeah, okay. - There's a hot note at the end of this as well. - Yeah, there is. - It's very earthy smell. I thought it actually smelled a little stinky on my first sniff. - The first sniff, yeah, but then you go back and swirl your glass around. I think that definitely goes away. - And there's a creamy, fruity quality that I'm getting off of this. And a little bit of funk. It's almost like a fruit smoothie. - Honeydew. - With pears and honey. - Oh, fuck. Yeah, melon is perfect. - Every time you say creamy fruit, I always think of melons. - But it goes beyond just the melon thing and that it has a dash of cream or vanilla ice cream or something like that to even enhance that creaminess. Can you imagine the fruit? - Like a milk tea almost. Like a honeydew milk tea, like boba that you'd get at the Asian. - That is so perfect, yeah. 'Cause I also just took a sip. I get grape skins as well. Yeah, in the nose. And there's a spice quality to it also. - I like the grape skin comment. That's something like, I don't know, all spice or something. I'm sorry I couldn't hear you. That kind of blacked out when I was drinking this. - Mouth gum. - Yeah. - Sploosh. - Wow, that's very grape skinny. - Lush, there's so much fullness to this. - I just get cantaloupe now that you guys mentioned it. - Very melony. - But it's also really spicy. I mean, there's-- - Spiked with pink peppercorns. - Yeah, exactly. Cantaloupe, pink peppercorns. There's a marshmallow thing going on. - A little bit of pear. - Clove. - Yeah, a little bit of the mulling spices, cloves and that sort of stuff. But it is very peppery. - And alcohol at the end. - Oh, yeah. - This is black swan. - Nine and a half percent. It's even stronger than the Chame dark. - Definitely black swan. I'll delicate and pretty 'cause it's ballet, but she's a crazy ass bitch. - It's a percent and a half stronger than the Chame triple. - Yeah, and I don't really perceive that much more of the alcohol and the flavor, but I do get a lot more body in this. Now what's really boggling in my mind is the amount of sweet, delicious, amazing fruit with that creaminess and then it's dry. I mean, it's a very dry beer. That spiciness is very, very, very welcome in that environment. I don't know, it makes it more of an interesting journey, right? 'Cause the first sip that I take is very grape-skinny and then it quickly blends into this spicy pear thing and that creaminess kind of hits. It's almost immediate. And then it just smooths out at the end, ends with a touch of hops and that alcohol warming comes in. It's perfect. - Cotton candy tastes like cotton candy. - There's a cotton candy thing going on, yeah. - Interesting 'cause I get the grape-skin at the end. - Really? - But not so much at the front. - Cotton candy grapes. - Oh, I've got some of those in the fridge. They're awesome. Have you had cotton candy grapes? - Not yet. - Okay, we'll have some of that. They're crazy. - Yeah, the flavor profile is just like weird cotton candy and grapes, so maybe cotton candy grapes? - That's badass, man. - Oh, this one's definitely more of an open meadow. - Yeah. - There's lots of wildflowers, ready to set a fair maiden down on the hay bale. - You like fair maidens. - I do like fair maidens. - Unfair, horrible maidens. - That's me, so I like to imagine what's not me. - That's a good point. But speaking of that floral quality and the grassiness, that doesn't really hit me till toward the end. - Yeah. - That pink peppercorn sort of quality blends into that and finishes as that, as the grassy floral thing. - Mm-hmm. - This is really good. This is stupid good. This is one of those beers that I could give to anybody and they'd probably get something out of this. - Mike's just frothing at the mouth over there. - He always does that. - Mouth come. - No, mouth come. - This was a really great gateway beer I've found as well. Most people that I've let try this have really walked away just being like, "Oh my God, that was really, really good." Can drink a lot of that. And then when they do, they get really tossed really quickly. - Well, yeah, I mean, it's nine and a half percent. - And you can taste that. I mean, you taste every percent of that, but it goes so well with the rest of the beer because it's got a lot of body to back it up and a lot of flavor to it. - This is high alcohol with balance, which is a major step over the Shameh Blue. Pretty close in alcohol percentage, but not nearly as close in balance. - I don't think I'm on the bandwagon like you guys. - I'm not on it either. - Because, I mean, you guys seem to be like describing the most delicious beer and I feel like we had that a couple ago. And here, I feel like I'm just having a melon and cantaloupe salad and I don't really like melon that much and I can't get that flavor out of my mouth. Overall, I mean, I think it's kind of dry and a little bit too boozy and I like your description of it more than I think I like what I'm actually tasting. - Okay. - I definitely like the Shameh Chappelle a lot better just 'cause I think it's softer and fluffier, not as noticeably harsh. - Well, I wouldn't call this harsh. - You wouldn't. - Okay, good point. What do you think is harsh about this? - It's just, it's not as smooth and I feel really bad comparing it to the sh- but that's all I can think about because that one to me was so good. So all I can think about is that fluffy cloud that was in my fucking mouth. And then this, you know, nice floral meadow with the fair maiden comes in. I'm like, "Pitch, I know you do dirty stuff on the side." So it's not as enticing. - Whatever. (laughing) - You guys wanna rank? - Yeah. - No, I thought we were ranking. - Yeah, I thought we were. - Oh, no. - I'm going. - Let's rank the fuck out of this. - Okay, Mike, welcome back, rank. - I'm gonna start from the bottom and work my way up. - Okay. - That's what we did. - Yeah. - That's how we like it. - I know that's where the dirty things happen. That's how I do it. So number five, I still think that this was a great beer but I think that this was not a really great bottle of this beer. The Chamet Graham Reserve, the blue. Normally when I have this beer, there's less alcohol and it's not nearly as out of balance. This is probably the least amount of balance that I've ever had out of one of these bottles. So I'm putting in this one at the bottom. My number four, the Vesmala Double. Thought that this was still a great double. Everybody should try this beer. Fantastic. Incredibly smooth, the flavors really melded together extremely well. It just didn't quite have the depth and complexity of number three, which is the Chamet Premier, the red cap. That was one of the best bottles of this beer that I've ever had. I really don't know why I don't revisit this beer more often. The last time that I had it was on the show last, which is probably about a year ago. - And we both said that on the show the last time we had it and neither of us have revisited it since then. - Need to keep our own advice on that one. - Totally. - I'm conflicted with this last one. The Chamet Sixth Sense, the white cap, the triple, and the Vesmala Triple. The Vesmala has a very special place in my heart, but the Chamet Sixth Sense, this was the best bottle of Chamet that I've had of the white labeled beer. I'm gonna put the Chamet White Label at number two. This was the best bottle of this beer that I've had, but I still think that it doesn't quite offer the complexity the Vesmala has. The Vesmala I've always thought of as one of probably three of the best triples on the planet, which would be Vesmala, the St. Bernard's Triple, and Triple Carmelie. - Oh yeah, Triple Carmelie's awesome. - Yeah, the great thing about triples is that the best ones on the planet are locally available to most people in most markets. And I think that that's another reason why triples are a really great style of beer to break somebody into, 'cause you can get the best ones on the planet here. - Right in your own backyard. - Thank you so much for your rankings. I'll go next. This was kind of difficult for me to rank because there were three beers and I thought were fucking fantastic. It was easy to pick my number five, which was at Chamet Gram Reserve, the blue cap version, the blue label. I got a little bit of acetone and I got a little bit of a few cell alcohol in the flavor and not enough flavor and body to really make me feel, hey, strong, dark, Belgian. Wasn't my thing. Wish it was St. Bernardis, really. Number four for me was that Westmala Double. I liked it quite a bit. Having it next to that chame I think did it a disservice because that chame was doing some really awesome stuff for me and this one was lacking in the flavor variations. I don't know, I like that beer quite a bit but it's not one of the beers that made me go, oh yeah, this is what a good double is all about. Number three for me was that Chame Sinks sense. Fuck, that's a good triple. Very, very, very good. I don't remember it being as good as it was tonight. It's such a great array of flavors and a nice body and I don't know, I could drink that beer anytime and be completely satisfied with it. Number two for me was that Chame from Mir, the red cap double, base level chame that most everybody's had, fucking great beer. That cherry flavor and those breakfast bread things and how clean it was and dry it was for all the delicious dark, fruity sugars that I was getting, great beer. I need to make a point to revisit that beer more often. And my number one is the West Model triple, that beer I'm still drinking out of my glass. Super complex. How do you still have some? I'm fucking, I'm still savoring mine. Yeah, I'm just going through it really slowly and enjoying the shit out of it and I'm also really drunk. Couldn't tell. I dug that creaminess and the amount of spice that I was getting amidst all this ruse. Oh God, I'm slurring like a bitch. I can't even continue. Okay, now I can tell. That was a really good one. West Model triple. Yeah, that was really good, man. Hey, who's next? I'll go. Okay, great, go. Number five goes to the Chame Grand Reserve, blue cap special. This beer was boring. (laughing) I'm sorry, it's just really bland. There was nothing really, I mean, we had two great beers right before and now all of a sudden we got to this and we're all like, oh, I guess I can pick out maybe this. And then, no, it was boring. It was not delivering what the other ones were delivering and maybe it's an issue like it needs to age more or whatever, but if it needs to age more and they're selling it now, it should have that on the label. Hey, don't drink this until then 'cause otherwise it's a disappointing beer right now. That's a problem with a lot of these beers. It's like, oh, you should know that you should sit on this and tell a certain age. If you have it for sale, be good at that point. Yeah, I'd rather get a same Bernard as having 12. Yeah, it was meh, to me. Number four goes to the Westwala Double. Vestmala, whatever. I can't pronounce it so fast. Neither could I go. I thought this was Friti and Dry. It's all right, that's what I wrote. Number three goes to the Westmala Triple. Vests, I don't know why I meant bother. This one, I wrote cantaloupe booze. That's what it tasted like to me. Yum! And that's not necessarily good to me. I think of the different lopes. That's how we call them. Lopes? Look at the melons, that was what makes-- Of the different melons, that was so funny. That was vaguely racist. Yeah. [LAUGHTER] Shit. Of the different melons, I don't think I'd like any of them necessarily as a booze, especially cantaloupe. I didn't really necessarily care too much for it. And it's sad because you guys seemed to really love it. I wish I could join in on that camaraderie. Oh, well. Number two, Shamé premier red cap. Cherry plum had this great dryness to it. I thought this beer was so delicious. It reminded me of the first time I had it. And then I had it really fresh. And it's what brought me into really enjoying a lot of craft beers a lot more. At least a lot of the Belgians. It was my first introduction, I guess. Yeah, it's a great training wheel beer. It really is. It's a great training wheel beer. Number one, my docense go to the Sync Sense as being fucking delicioso. Wow, you just Mexican the Belgians. It's called Sync Sense. Yeah, five cents. Congratulations on your Rosetta Stone brain right now. Gracias. I'm glad that that was somewhat funny to me since I was always did go. Go! Is it my turn? Oh, wait. Sorry. The fuck? I'm so fucking-- I just know you're yelling at me. I'm drunk. I thought you had more to say. That was my number one. Thank you, grad data, sir. Appreciate. Shut up. I'm trying to do things. [LAUGHTER] Shush. Can you just yell at Grant some more, please? No. Go! Thank you, Grant. I appreciate your rankings. You're a beautiful, delicious-- I don't know. I have to say, Joe, are you ready? I'm kind of not prepared for this. I know. And number five was a Shamey Blue. Shaka, bleh. Number four. Wait, what? The West Mall, Chappelle. Really? Chantalapus, right? Not even chantalapus. It just presented as too harsh and bitter. Like, no one paid attention when I made a black swan reference or called it black swan because it's, like, really pretty, but it's also a crazy bitch. Because we didn't understand the context. What the fuck are you talking about half the time? [LAUGHTER] Learn. Fucking learn faster. Who's going to stone me? Number three is Shamey Red because it's good. Nice. Number two is so a small double because it's better. Wow. Number one is a Shamey White because it's fucking Fluffy Cloud's mouth come. Yeah, it is. We can't disagree. No. No. I can't disagree. Done. Thank you, Anastasia. Have we ever had a split decision on number one? What's the scene about it? None of us agreed on number one. I agreed with you. Well, of course. And then Grand agreed with Anastasia was the same sad piece of shit. But everybody hated the Shamey Blue. That was, like, the unanimous decision. I didn't hate it. That was just rude. It just wasn't as good, brutally disappointed. Yeah. What's interesting is that Anastasia and I also ranked the one that you guys ranked number one a lot lower. And the triple. Crazy. I'm the only one that ranked the decimal double that high. God. You all had it. That was a good one. I had it too because I have good taste so whatever bitches. Yeah. Speaking of good taste, fuck you. Hey. I don't know what that is. That's probably the best segue I think I've ever heard. [LAUGHTER] Segue's get better when your brain is swimming in alcohol. Speaking of. Fuck you. That's perfect. Look, Anastasia has died of laughter right now. I have to pee so bad. So do I. We should have a piss bucket under the table. I know we keep talking about it, but thank you everybody for being here at Grad Davis. Hey, thanks for having me. Of loungegeeks.com. Sure. And of rageselect.com. I have to go do one of those right after this. Oh, shit. I know. Anastasia. Of thebearest.com. Since Seattle is. And life. And being awesome. And I'm a stay-brewing company. And being not narcissistic. What was it? Beer cunt to the hood. [LAUGHTER] You correct me last time I called her beer bitch. Can we use a C word? She said. I said, "Okay, beer cunt." I don't think that word gets used to nuff in media. That's a good point. She meant the C word care bear. It needs to be British times here. Mike Lambert. It's me. Yeah. I still can't believe he fucking recorded the podcast without me. Mike Fanny. [LAUGHTER] Mike Lambert American. The only non-Jewish Khasid. [LAUGHTER] Are you making fun of my brother as a guy look? Yes. Yes. And you're pie-o, sir. What is going on right now? Mikhail Jeopardile Limber. [LAUGHTER] You're beautiful. I just want to thank everybody else for listening to this train wreck. Thanks for putting up with us, guys. Thank you so much. Please keep sending in your feedback. There is a stop button. Yes. Send us money. Info@thebearest.com. Thebearest.com on the left-hand side of the paint belt on it, like the beerists on the-- Go on iTunes and rate us. Send us your donations. And hey, how about-- you guys also spread the love. You know, post about us on your favorite social media side, whether it be Twitter or the Facebooks. Yes. Or the Reddit's. You know, whatever. Twitter.com/thebearest. [LAUGHTER] Facebook.com/thebearest. That's where you can find us and like us and follow us. And yes, spread us out to your net. Oh, God. No. We're condoms. No. Not spread us out like that. You guys also want to do it like that. Name your babies to the bearest. We'll appreciate it. Yes. That would be-- granted that. His baby's name is the bearest. The bearest. The bearest David. Anastasia Mike. John or Grant. Name your baby that. Yeah. Just kidding. The same amount of stages. Yeah. And if you're full of sperm from one of these hosts-- [LAUGHTER] I do. The sperm's down, everybody. Have you seen how much sperm Anastasia makes? So much. [LAUGHTER] I've been pregnant with myself like 12 times. [LAUGHTER] That's so creepy. That's so big. Everything is so big. Everything is so big. Oh, big. Slots, as much as sperm comes up. So big. And pretty sure she's making it all herself. I'll be drunk as fuck. No. Hey, bottom's up, guys. Good night, bottom's up. [LAUGHTER] Bottom's down. [LAUGHTER] I can't. Just stop it. Yeah. You guys don't stop it. We've done other shows with bigger beers and more of them. And I wasn't this drunk. Did you eat today? No. [LAUGHTER] [LAUGHTER] You have to eat before being slicked. [LAUGHTER] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] More information on the Beerists' podcast, including show notes and pictures, visit the Beerists.com. [MUSIC PLAYING] Email us your feedback, comments, questions and suggestions at info@thebeerists.com. [MUSIC PLAYING] Like us on Facebook at Facebook.com/thebeerists and follow us on Twitter at Twitter.com/thebeerists. Intro music was provided by Ian Butcher in his band Deflated Balon. Follow him on Twitter at Twitter.com/Eans_Butcher93. I'm John Rubio. Thanks again for listening. [MUSIC PLAYING] And now I got diarrhea, who's going to fuck? [MUSIC PLAYING] Yeah, yeah, yeah! [LAUGHTER] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [ Silence ]
