Oh. My. God.

This is a great beer!

Goose Island’s Pere Jacques comes in a large 650 mL bottle with a plain white label. Knowing it was a Belgian-style ale not unlike a Dubbel, I poured it into a brandy snifter for a better drinking experience. The beer is a beautiful orange-red color with a small head. The aroma is subtle, as is the malt flavor. The hop flavor is definitely noticeable. At first sip, I thought perhaps the brewers at Goose Island overdid it slightly. But as I became accustomed to the Saaz in this beer, I came to appreciate it more and more. It’s not a very complex beer – at least, not when it’s only 8 months old. However, the label indicated that the beer can develop in the bottle for up to five years. I’m tempted to buy some more and try cellaring it to see how it turns out.

But nice. Very, very nice.

• Cherry Melomel – Gone!
• Brown Ale – Gone!
• English Bitter – ruined and discarded
• Spiced Christmas Ale – Nearly Gone…
• Lemon/Orange Melomel – Gone!
• Scottish 60 – Serving
• Cherry Melomel – in Primary
• Pomegranate Melomel – in Primary
• Pale Ale – Bottled
• Brown Ale – in Primary
• Hefeweizen – on Deck

In addition to the beers mentioned last time, I also want to brew a Belgian Blonde, and try to clone Boulevard’s Lunar Ale. And I mentioned trying to brew a Kolsch as a favor to someone. Thus far, I’ve brewed extract with specialty grains. I’m really itching to make the switch to all-grain.

• Cherry Melomel – Gone!
• Brown Ale – 1 bottle left
• English Bitter – ruined and discarded
• Spiced Christmas Ale – serving
• Lemon/Orange Melomel – serving
• Scottish 60 – in Secondary
• Cherry Melomel – in Primary
• Pomegranate Melomel – in Primary
• Pale Ale – in Primary
• Brown Ale – on deck

Beers I’d like to brew include:

• a Patersbier
• a Belgian Dubbel
• a Brown Porter
• a Dunkelweisse

And possibly others.

When I drink a hefe, I want to experience some serious yeast esters. Some aromas and flavors of bananas and cloves, perhaps, like in German Hefes. I didn’t notice anything like that.

It didn’t really seem too much like an American Wheat, either.

It was just… there. No stand out flavors or aromas. It was sort of in the background and didn’t draw any attention to itself.

It’s definitely not a bad beer, in fact, it was very well-crafted. And, I’ll bet, a good introduction to wheat beers for someone who is accustomed to American mega-brews.

But, for me, it was basically no big deal.