World Tour!

Saturday:
Labatt Blue
Serving type: 12 ounce can poured into my mouth.
Appearance, smell, taste, mouthfeel: like a cheap Canadian lager. Presently the only drink under 70 degrees (F) on the island.

The world tour has been delayed on account of a rather wretched stomach issue. To be resumed when the all clear has been passed.

Sunday:
Black Wattle Superior Lager (Australia)
Serving type: 12 ounce brown bottle poured into Coca-Cola promotional glass
Let me start by saying that I have no idea what a wattle is. It may say something about it on the label, but that’s too far away for my taste. What I do know, however, is that the blackness of said wattle may be a contributing factor to the nearly cola-colored pour of the first beer of the world tour. The slightest hint of amber was the only thing separating the aesthetic of this from a glass of Pepsi, as the “creamy head” promised by the label amounted to no more than a fizzy glass with – you guessed it – no head to be seen anywhere.

The aroma was heavy on apples, with something that may or may not have been grapes hiding underneath. The taste was what one would expect from the scent; heavy on New York’s crop; light on any hops. In fact, the label’s offering of “subtle hops” may have even been an overstatement, as it took a bit of searching to really find any hop character in an otherwise overly sweet brew. The mouthfeel was thicker than expected, with moderate carbonation and just a slightly sticky feel to it. I hate to say it, but I think Fosters might have actually been a better choice.

This definitely isn’t the way I hoped to start off. I can only hope that something with a little more resemblance to beer is next on the list.

Monday:
Quilmes (Argentina)
Serving type: 12 ounce brown bottle, no glassware
Now, this is more like it. Quilmes seems to me like it may be Argentina’s Miller High Life. Does it have a deep, complex flavor? No. But does it taste better than Coors? You bet. Most importantly, at least in comparison to Sunday’s nightmare, this brew actually tastes like a beer. There’s not a whole lot I can say about this one. Paired with a ground beef taco, Quilmes was simply a refreshing beer with the same mild hop and malt levels that you’d expect from your average lager.

Tuesday:
Endurance Glaciar Gold (Antarctica)
Serving type: 12 ounce brown bottle, some glassware (see picture)
I felt like this needed to be poured in a manner similar to the glaciers it claims to represent, so I filled the old Coke glass with two ounces of beer and about six yards of head. While I let that sit, I finished off the rest straight from the bottle. There really didn’t seem to be too much difference between this and yesterday’s Argentine offering. Maybe it was a tiny bit heavier on the hops, but certainly not hop-heavy by any means. Perhaps a direct comparison between the two would have been more appropriate. In all, this is another brew that isn’t really worthy of too many words. It was a good, smooth drinker – not overly bitter or overly sweet, but well balanced and refreshing.

Wednesday:
Tusker (Africa)
Serving type: 12 ounce brown bottle, no glassware
I’ve abandoned glassware this time around, as I couldn’t find anything that didn’t have an overpowering odor to it that couldn’t be easily washed out with our limited supply of clean water. For the third straight day, this seems to be your typical lager offering. It did seem to have a more complex taste to it than the last two days’ offerings, but without doing a side-by-side it would be tough to say for sure, and I couldn’t put my finger on any specific flavors. It may only be a result of the different local ingredients. Whatever it was, it was tasty. If it weren’t for the fact that I can get so many other six packs at the same price, I certainly wouldn’t be opposed to picking up more of this one.

Thursday:
Hop Hazard (America)
Serving type: 12 ounce brown bottle poured into Peanuts camping themed glass
I couldn’t resist pouring this out so I could get a better feel for the appearance and aroma of this one, but I made sure to take a few sips from the bottle just in case the glass tainted the rest.

God Bless America. After days of regular lagers, a dry-hopped pale ale felt like a gift from the gods. Today’s tasting poured a moderately cloudy orange/amber into the glass with Snoopy and friends on the side. It reminded me a little bit of Cape of Good Hops, but less orange coloration and less head. Taste-wise, it was a welcome break from the relative monotony of the early week’s offerings. From the very first sip, the hop presence is impossible to ignore. It commands the attention of the drinker in the same way that the Poz commands quarterbacks to stop what they’re doing and just give the ball back to the Bills.

This is one that I can see myself picking up from time to time in the summer months. I haven’t had too many pale ales in my day, but this one seemed a lot heavier on the hops than the others that I’ve tried. Someone with more experience – care to tell me if this may be a result of the dry hopping that this bottle boasts?

Friday:
Apostel Brau (Germany)
Serving type: 12 ounce brown bottle
Nothing too special here; just your average German pilsner. I had originally purchased this with the intent of enjoying it alongside a freshly grilled sausage. Sadly, said food has been banned from the island. To quote the aunt responsible: "Do we really need to be eating something that looks like that while we're all up here?" I really can't tell if she was kidding or not. Regardless, no sausage. But I digress.

This isn't the big flavor-packing brew that some German beers are, but I don't think it's designed to be. Apostel Brau is easy drinking, refreshing, and still a hell of a lot better than that Black Wattle beer. This is the kind of beer that you could easily drink two or three of while lounging out in the sun, which is exactly what I was doing. Minus the two or three part, of course.

Friday, part two:
La Fin du Monde (Canada)
Serving type: 22 ounce brown bottle poured into a moderately wide-mouth wine glass
This, friends, is tradition in a bottle. Maybe some sort of Belgian tradition goes into brewing this, but that's not what I'm talking about. No, for three years in a row now, a bottle of this has been opened, consumed, and thoroughly enjoyed after the final dinner of the vacation. This started when Erich gave me a bottle on the week that I turned 21 on the island, and I've been bringing it ever since because it's about as close to having him on the island as I can get.

This is, in a way, the beer that saved beer for me. Prior to this, I'd had mostly your average Molson-esque beers, and it wasn't something I was too enthralled with. But this beer helped turn me on to styles outside of the lager and pilsner standbys, and got me interested in learning about what else was out there.

So what can I say about this particular beer? It's big. It's heavy. It's about 9% ABV, and while it doesn't really taste it, it almost seems to pack a greater punch than some double digit brews. It pours a beautiful orange/gold; cloudy like the majority of the week's weather. A slow pour is required to make sure that the first glass isn't filled with nothing more than head and sediment. There are hints of everything in here - citrus, spice, and general hop goodness. When previously reviewing this for the annual Christmas beer-off, I described it as tasting "like Canada". I guess I'm still not entirely sure how to expand on that, as I've really grown accustomed to simply comparing the taste to a cool evening on the lake.

In any regard, I'll raise a glass of this to Erich. He may not have been able to get vacation time from work, but in a little way, he's still on the island with us.


Cheers!

-kevin