TOPIC:

Okay, so Molloys in Clondalkin (my local offie) might not be regarded as a source for craft beer. Some years ago, it was better with plenty of decent (indeed excellent) Belgians and other bottles available. It seemed to deteriorate then replacing the good stuff with many mediocre eastern European brews to cash in on the new Irish. But Saturday last I picked up;
Erdinger dunkel, Erdinger Schneeweisse, Sam Adams Black lager, Steenbrugge dubbel, and Rodenbach Grand Cru. I also spotted a couple of Italian brews called Theresianer (Vienna and Pils, I think). Does anyone know of these brews and what is your opinion of them?

Incidentally, I thought the Steenbrugge dubbel (bruin) was terrific; a nicely balanced and very smooth brew.

Rodenbach Grand Cru is a very nice sour beer. I was under the impression that the Grand Cru was not blended and contained only old beer but I noticed lately that on the label it says it's two thirds old, one third young. Anyone know when this happened, or was it always the case?

There's nothing on my label about any on third/two thirds mix, only about ageing in oak vats for two years.

"100 Belgian Beers to try before you die" says;
To make Grand Cru, the contents of several tuns are blended and the beer is sweetened slightly with glucose (which has happened since before the current brewer arrived in the early '80s). To keep the pH just the right side of meltdown, it is then filtered so finely that it may as well have been pasteurised.

It's a favourite of mine, but only in small doses. I think one bottle is amazing, but I wouldn't be too inclined to have 2 or 3!

"DrJohn":2bdb1je7 wrote: It's a favourite of mine, but only in small doses. I think one bottle is amazing, but I wouldn't be too inclined to have 2 or 3![/quote:2bdb1je7]Yeah, I'm with you on that one.

"DrJohn":2bdb1je7 wrote: There's nothing on my label about any on third/two thirds mix, only about ageing in oak vats for two years.[/quote:2bdb1je7]This is the back of my bottle. I don't really understand either of these languages but it looks like it says something about the 1/3 to 2/3 young to old mix.

[img:2bdb1je7]http://frink.nuigalway.ie/~stephen/misc/rodenbach.jpg[/img:2bdb1je7]

I'm a very big fan of Erdinger Dunkel, although my local Molloy's down in Nutgrove normally has a gaping hole on the shelf where it's meant to be. The Erdinger Schneeweise I'm not quite so fond of - it's very drinkable, and I do buy it now and then, but not something I'd go out of my way for. Sam Adams is pretty nice, haven't tried the black lager.

The other ones I haven't tried, let us know how you get on with them.

yep that says 1/3 young beer and 2/3 beer aged for 2 years, sounds intriguing