And the final part…
The first three beers are here:
https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2019/01/13/h-r-beer-report-part-one/
This is the final beer. The Unholy Ale.
A nice medium-light amber color. It has a citrus / grapefruit finish to it. Both in the nose and on the palate. Flavor is nice and with a mix of both deep notes and crisp top.
I didn’t believe H.R. when he said the alcohol % was not on the bottle, but a very detailed examination of the bottle yielded nothing. That’s a surprise.
It is very nice tasty brew. The sipping qualities are very nice. It does pack a bit of a punch ;-)
Their web site: https://coppertailbrewing.com/unholy says:
Blasphemy in a glass
Unholy. Our take on a traditional Belgian Style Trippel, but with American hops. Big, bold and dangerously drinkable.
I must agree with that!
ALC/VOL
9.2%
[…]
SOCIAL
#CoppertailUnholyFLAVOR PROFILE
Loads of hop, fruit esters
Yeah, that’s about right. The hops are there, but the citrus / fruit esters dominate. That 9.2% alcohol is a load, but it doesn’t taste at all like it. This would be another nice beer to slide to someone as you had the 3.2% beer and sent them under the table…
I’ve got one more of these left, and matched with the 2 x Belgians, that’s going to be the equivalent of 2 six packs of 3.2 “Near Beer” ;-) which mostly lets you know how much nothing is in 3.2 beer… At one time it was legal for quasi-underage kids to buy 3.2 in parts of the South. At 18 you could get 3.2 and at 21, real beer. Don’t know what 9.2% is or would be. I’ve had white wine with less…
The brewer call it a “Trippel” but a web search shows it as
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripel
Tripel is a term used by brewers or people mainly in the Low Countries, some other European countries, and the U.S. to describe a strong pale ale, loosely in the style of Westmalle Tripel. The origin of the term is unknown, though the main theory is that it indicates strength in some way. It was used in 1956 by the Trappist brewery, Westmalle, to rename the strongest beer in their range, though both the term Tripel and the style of beer associated with the name (strong pale ale), were in existence before 1956. The style of Westmalle’s Tripel and the name was widely copied by the breweries of Belgium, and in 1987 another Trappist brewery, the Koningshoeven in the Netherlands, expanded their range with a beer called La Trappe Tripel, though they also produced a stronger beer they termed La Trappe Quadrupel. The term spread to the U.S. and other countries, and is applied by a range of secular brewers to a strong pale ale in the style of Westmalle Tripel.
My guess would be that the 9.3% is a triple of a 3.1% minimal beer.
In any case, it’s a new word for me and a kind of beer I’d seek out in the future.
So this is good stuff. I’m now going for the “next one” and will be back tomorrow ;-)
Musings from the Chiefio 
E.M.: “Yeah, that’s about right. The hops are there, but the citrus / fruit esters dominate. That 9.2% alcohol is a load, but it doesn’t taste at all like it.“ (emphasis mine)
While I was looking up the alcohol content online, I ran across a lot of comments similar to that, and I have to agree with that assessment. However, if you want a 9% ale that’s really hoppy, my choice is Voodoo Ranger Imperial IPA. The hops in that are smash mouth, and a 6-pack of Voodoo Ranger in the fridge will last me a couple of weeks.
I’m glad you enjoyed those selections, E.M. I’m not the only one who would be pleased to buy you a beer at a meet up, as many others here have expressed that same sentiment. But the setup when you announced the Monday date and time took buying you a beer at the meet off the table.
I was determined to “buy you a beer” should we ever meet up, so the 6-pack was the solution to the dry meet-n-greet. I chose beers and ales I had tried and found interesting and hoped you would find them interesting, too. It seems you did.
But that “Unholy”… whew!
As you found out, it’s really surprising and a very memorable quaff. I’m guessing that you’ll occasionally throw a 6-pack of that in the grocery cart when you move to Florida. Buy local, and all that. I’m going to miss it when we migrate North in the Spring. It’s my new go-to beer (ale, really) while grilling.
Koningshoeven in the Netherlands, isn’t another Trappist brewery, they produce beer under license from a real monastery, supposedly the original recipes.
Their standard brew is La Trappe Blond and a very nice drop, quite strong on the malt side of flavour. Definitely NOT 3.1% more like 5%. Supposedly there is a Dubel brew around 7-9% and La Trappe Tripel was 10-12% (hearsay from advice (to avoid) in Belgium 1977).
Same source claimed that the Trappist monks, who aren’t supposed to talk, got 1.5 Litres of the Single per day, and on occasions this was ‘topped up’ with 0.75 Litre of Dubel, and on Saints Days they got 0.5L of the Tripel. I make that the equivalent of 9 regular bottles (0.75 L).
AFAIK the “double” and “triple” refer to the number of fermentations, and a triple has the last fermentation in the bottle so needs careful pouring to avoid the lees making the beer cloudy.
A beer recipe depends very much on the water used to brew it. Back in the UK something like Heineken lager was nothing special and, like Watney’s Red Barrel, more known for what it wasn’t than what it was. Basically piss-water…. However, passing through Holland at one point I had a Heineken that was extremely good, which surprised me. Guinness is supposed to be way different in Dublin than anywhere else, though I haven’t tried it there. In Belfast it tasted the same as expected. Still, this is likely why those home-brewed pubs produce better beer – they fiddle with the recipe using the local water until they think it tastes right. It also seems true that even with standardised keg beers that it tastes better in some pubs than others because the innkeeper has a bit more knowledge of how to store it. Bill at the “Hearts of Oak” in Drybrook was one of those innkeepers who served better beer than the other locals, even though he bought the same kegs in.
It remains that when sampling various beers that you should try to avoid the last pint, since that’s always the one that gives you the headache the morning after.
What you’re discussing is really more in the barley wine category. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barley_wine
Typically hard to find at your local brewery, but it can be really good.
Then there’s Olde Frothingslosh, “The Pale Stale Ale With The Foam On The Bottom.”
Issued only at Christmas. I used to collect beer cans and would always buy a 6-pack of Olde Frothingslosh when it came out each year.
The following link is to a delightful obituary (odd to call an obituary delightful, but there it is) for Miss Olde Frothingslosh, whose image was featured on the cans. It also gives a good history of the beer.
http://old.post-gazette.com/obituaries/20000529marsha2.asp
@H.R.:
Yah chose gud!
I can see these beers in my future ;-)
@Graeme No.3:
Always thought those monks had something other than books to keep them interested in the monkery…
@Simon:
Could well be. I have no idea on the actual term origin. And yes, avoiding the last pint is a good idea, yet no matter how many beers I have, I can never seem to stop before the last one…
@spetzer86:
Technically, yes, the subset of strong alcohol beers classed as Barley Wine. But most folk are unfamiliar with the term.
@H.R.:
Olde Frothingslosh? Oh God, YAThing to find and try ;-)
To H.R.,
God bless you sir. I grew up listening to Rege Cortic until he left for Los Angeles. What a wonderful trip down memory lane was the obituary.
Dan Kurt
@Dan: I threw in Olde Frothingslosh for a bit of humor, since we are on the topic of “anything BUT Bud, Miller, Coors.”
I looked for a link that would cover the story and had a picture of the can. Was I ever surprised by that writeup, and it was an obituary, no less.
I did not know that Rege Cortic started the whole thing. Actually, I learned a lot from that obit. I’m glad it brought up good memories for you.
My father told me about Olde Frothingslosh. I was showing him some old beer cans in my collection that brought back a few memories for him and he said it was too bad I didn’t have an Olde Frothingslosh can. He wondered if they were still putting it out every year and, by golly, they were. So I started collecting them each year. I wish I had the complete set. Each year they came up with something slightly different and always good for a laugh.
There is a beer in England known as Old Peculier. Nothing wrong with it –
“The Legend”. Theakston’s most famous ale takes its name from the seal of the Peculier Court of Masham, which was granted back in the 12th century. It was the custom at the time for the church to administer the law, but this proved too arduous a task for the then Archbishop, who was based in York. So, with due archiepiscopal aplomb, he set up the independent Peculier Court, headed up by the Peculier of Masham.
Filtered. Abv reduced from 5.7 to 5.6 in 2010. When I had it in 1977 it was 8.1% Abv. While in England there was a report from the law courts of a publican prosecuted for “watering his beer”.
The policeman reported that the sample taken had been analysed at 5.1% so publican was mixing 2 kegs with a keg of water.
https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/theakston-old-peculier-bottle/870/
Curiously, the boom in boutique beers in Australia has resulted in a lot of higher alcohol brews.
Incidentally if you have a chance to try Foster’s Lager – DON’T.
@Graeme No.3 – I bought one of those oil cans of Foster’s once. Not sure why it gets such a bad rap. I thought it was a very easy-to-drink motor oil.
😜
At one time it was legal for quasi-underage kids to buy 3.2 in parts of the South.
Since when did Ohio become part of the south? The only place I found 3.2 beer was back in the early 70s in Ohio when I went to UDayton (go Flyers and Don Donoher). And that was for the 18-20.99 group (of course everyone knew someone who was over 21 so we rarely were relegated to the weasel piss called Strohs 3.2).
“At one time it was legal for quasi-underage kids to buy 3.2 in parts of the South. “
Since when did Ohio become part of the south? The only place I found 3.2 beer was in the early 70s when I was going to UDayton. And it was for the 18-20.99 year olds. But everyone knew someone who was 21 – or a store that did not card or care. :-)