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I again find myself in Amsterdam; I spent some time waiting outside in the rain for the folks from the Cracked Kettle to return (they FINALLY made it back), sadly Gollem is still closed (it's been two months since I was last there), but all is not lost.

I wandered down to the Beer Temple (because I know where it is), and tried a great Norwegian beer: "Dark Force Double Extreme Imperial Wheat Stout" from Haand Bryggeriet (on tap).

Unfortunately I lost my tasting notes on my phone, but it was pitch black, had a great head that quickly dissapated to almost nothing, was velvety smooth and typical imperial stout with a few phenols at the end. (At 8.5%, almost anyone would end up with some phenols, I think.)

I'm pretty sure given the crazy "extreme-sounding" name, I was the target market for that beer, and they certainly suckered me in.

I picked up a few beers from the local brewery, Emelisse (well, they're from the Netherlands, anyway) since I loved their Imperial Stout that I had at T' Arendsnest last time I was here.

Tonight I opened the Barley Wine; it poured amber with plenty of carbonation and a good head. Not much in the way of hop aroma, but some caramel and a hint of burnt phenoly smell that I wasn't sure was really there. The taste is overwhelming with phenols; phenols, phenols everywhere. Not my favorite kind of phenol either, the "bandaid" type of phenol and lots of it. (It tastes like bandaids ("plasters") smell.)
-I get a LITTLE BIT of this in some other beers and find it quite nice; De Konik is the one beer that is right at the threshold where it's ok. It's very strong in this beer but luckily it SEEMS LESS on subsequent drinks.

I also noticed for the first time, it also tastes reminiscent of a taste from those zinc throat losenges that you're supposed to take to chase away a cold: and my tongue eventually gets that sort of burning/numbing feeling you get on the back of your tongue after having too many of those zinc cough drops from the beer too.

-I have to think they just let the temperatures run wild on this one.

If you want a beer to teach you what that bandaidy phenol flavor is, this is the one, otherwise I'd steer clear.

-Of additional interesting note, "malt extract" is listed as one of the extracts on the bottle.... -A comercial brewery using Malt Extract???? -Yup, I'd guess to boost ABV.

Norway wins round one.
(I'm hoping the Imperial Doppelbock and Imperial Stout from Emelisse fair better.)

Adam

Emelisse has redeemed themselves...

The Imperial Doppelbock from Emelisse is FANTASTIC.
Pours with a great head and initially smells really fruity and then like chocolate.

It's sweet, fruity, AND chocolaty and just has a fantasticly smooth mouthfeel.

Then I started to think "hey, why the heck is a lager fruity?!?!" I'm still not sure, but if I remember correctly there's a chemical that tastes like nail polish remover in higher concentration, but taste like fruit in lower concentrations and my best guess is that this is what's at work here.

It really taste like something halfway between Clotworthy Dobbin and Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock. I didn't notice the alcohol until I started getting a lot of higher fusol alcohol vapors half way through (this was drank at room temperature). It's 10.5% but it doesn't taste like it at all, I would've guessed 7-8%.

The bottle says that it included Munich Malt, Pilsner Malt, Caramel malt and roasted malt. Chinook & Saaz hops (I'm noticing that MANY Dutch breweries use Saaz almost exclusively as aroma hops...) -I'm planning a Bock after my NZ Pale Ale so I wrote down the ingredients; this thing is SOOOO tasty!


Adam