News items for tag beer - Koos van den Hout

Looking for some special beers for new year's eve I found this at the local supermarket. I know 'standard' Guinness since we used to drink that on holidays in England, but I had no idea what to expect from this beer. Time for the experiment.

In taste it's a reminder of Guinness, but not as 'creamy' as Guinness. A bit more nuance in taste.

The beer details

Company	Guinness
Beer name	Guinness West Indies Porter
Beer style	Porter
Alcohol by volume	6.0 %

Yet another import from our snowboard holiday in Austria.

The beer today is a Frastanzer s'dunkle. As the name suggests, a dark beer. With a good head of foam when poured correctly. The taste has a bit of a sweet note and has hops, but not as strong as other beers. A nice beer, good to bring from Austria or find at a store with lots of choice in beers.

The beer details

Company	Frastanz
Beer name	s'dunkle
Beer style	Pilsener
Alcohol by volume	5.8 %

Not imported from very far, just from the local supermarket.

Again an Indian Pale Ale. There is something about that taste that I like. This one doesn't have a very 'hoppy' taste like some other IPA beers. I would describe the color as a light amber. Almost blonde.

The beer details

Company	Brand
Beer name	IPA
Beer style	IPA - India Pale Ale
Alcohol by volume	7.0 %

Yet another import from our snowboard holiday in Austria.

This time I'm drinking Frastanzer Gold Spezial. When poured correctly it looks very German with a big foamy head. Not too pronounced taste, a good beer to drink.

The beer details

Company	Frastanz
Beer name	Gold Spezial
Beer style	Pilsener
Alcohol by volume	5.5 %

I bought a few Frastanzer beers on our snowboard holiday in Austria.

The first one to try is "Frastanzer s'honig" which is a beer made from biological ingredients with indeed a bit of added honey. Not too much, it's not too sweet for my taste. The honey gives the beer a soft side in taste without losing the strength from hops completely.

The beer details

Company	Frastanz
Beer name	s'honig
Beer style	Honey beer/spiced beer
Alcohol by volume	5.1 %

Sometimes the Dutch special beers need attention too. And there are other beers than IPA beers. Really.

This is a special beer from the Dutch Grolsch brewery. A blonde beer, with a somewhat bitter taste for a blonde. Not too hoppy, a nice tasty beer.

The beer details

Company	Grolsch
Beer name	Klassieke blond
Beer style	Blond
Alcohol by volume	6.7 %

I decided to look for some special beers while shopping and I found this one: Lagunitas India Pale Ale. Sounded good, so I bought it.

The first taste is mostly hoppy, as expected from an IPA. Stronger than I've seen in some other IPA beers. In general it has a strong hop influence in the tast and reminds me of English bitter beers.

Reading the label shows me Lagunitas is from Petaluma, California and Chicago, Illinois. I guess Chicago has a serious beer culture with multiple breweries.

The beer details

Company	Lagunitas
Beer name	India Pale Ale
Beer style	IPA - India Pale Ale
Alcohol by volume	6.2 %

Another random find in the 'special beers' rack in the local supermarket. I usually like IPA beers, so this one sounded good to me.

Not as strong a taste as I would expect from an IPA. The influence of hop is just a mere touch, not as strong as some other IPA beers. On the grand scale of beers it's a tasty but not too complex.

The beer details

Company	BrewDog
Beer name	Indie Pale Ale
Beer style	IPA - India Pale Ale
Alcohol by volume	4.2 %

Another find in the local supermarket. This time no complicated backstory, it just looked and sounded nice.

It's a blonde beer. The color is lighter than I expected from a blonde, it's almost like Belgian white beer (Belgisch witbier). It has a higher alcohol level for a beer, but it didn't taste/feel like a strong beer to me.

A nice taste, not too complicated.

The beer details

Company	De Hoorn Brouwerij
Beer name	Cornet Oaked
Beer style	Blond beer
Alcohol by volume	8.5 %

I had a look at the beer on display in our local supermarket and noticed Goose IPA from Goose Island Beer company and I got reminded of Goose Island, Oregon which is mentioned in the Wargames movie. So I bought a bottle of the beer and did some research when I got home.

And everything about that link turned out to be wrong.

The Goose Island Beer company has nothing to do with Oregon, they are from Chicago, Illinois.

And according to Anderson Island (Washington) - Wikipedia English the scene around entering "Goose Island, Oregon" in the movie WarGames was actually filmed on Anderson Island in the state of Washington. There is a small island named "Goose Island" in the state of Oregon, it's an island in the Columbia river. Goose island measures almost 1000 meters by 680 meters. Goose Island Oregon USA on google maps.

Having left me with nothing of the link(s) I suspected when I saw the bottle there is only one thing to do: try the beer.

I would describe the colour as amber / dark amber. The smell and taste have a strong hop influence. I personally like IPA beers, but this one is a bit too bitter for me.

The beer details

Company	Goose Island Beer company
Beer name	Goose IPA
Beer style	IPA - India Pale Ale
Alcohol by volume	5.9 %