Saturday, February 23, 2008

Combo Beer???




Beer Log: February 22, 2008
State: slightly tipsy, smoking a cigar

Brothas are coming up these days. I'm hanging out with another cat, who also has a young daughter at the house. We got out to hit the golf course, got some sushi and sake, and hit Downing Street Pub for cigars and drinks later on. I think I even converted a couple other brothas to beer tasting. Oh yeah, this is a Barack Obama thang. Not that we don't like fried chicken, soul food, and hip hop or jazz clubs, but it's good to see what else is going on out there. While smoking a Monte Cristo and sipping on scotch, we noticed a combo beer of Guinness Stout and Maudit, called "The Damned".

I've had various combo beers before, no big deal, but I haven't had it since I've started connoisseuring. This one had Guiness on top, with Maudite on the bottom. I've never heard of this combo or of Mauudite, so I figured this would be a good opportunity to try and figure out what kind of beer it was. The waitress with the killer legs, tells us the beer is made by monks in Canada, and is a stouty beer. I've never heard of monks being in Canada, though I figure if it's anywhere, it's in Quebec.

The Damned
Black Guiness on top with white head, and a dark amber on the bottom. There's no Line of Demarcation like the Guiness-Blue Moon drinks, so it a very blurred line betwixt the two beers. I figured I'd try and evaluate it at certain points in the pilsner glass. First taste is straight up bitter Guiness, with a little citrusy flavor to it. I'm not a hardcore Guiness man, but I don't recall the citrus in there. We did a straw test: basically putting a straw to the bottom of the beer, holding the top, and pulling it out to try the beer on the bottom. It seemed like an aged Old Ale, with high alcohol type flavor. I'm thinking it's aged in Bourbon barrels. Regular drinking stays with basic Guiness (low carbo and some bitterness) about 1/4 of the way down, with a touch of the Maudite coming through. After this point, holding the beer up to the light shows it's a dark red color from top to bottom, so the beers are mixing as I keep drinking them. The Guiness is TOO COLD, but whatever. When we got to the bottom quarter of the beer, we're getting a citrusy and spicy old ale flavor.

All and all, it's a decent combo beer. I've alway thought these things were there to impress women in a bar, but this one has some mixing to it. Pretty good stuff, but I notice that they look to have a nice selection of beer overall, so I look forward to going back. Turns out, Maudite is a Strong Red Ale, pretty close.

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