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The Ides of April

2009 April 16
by Shawn Horton

On Tuesday, Tommy and I went for a drive to Saint Louis Park. Neither of us had ever been to The Four Firkins, and what a better time than meeting the owner of a well-known Belgian abbey brewery at a tasting of her beers? Jason Alvey, proprietor of The Four Firkins, arranged for Dominique to visit his store, and debut a new Saison beer to be offered, along with the Dubbel and Tripel. I caught wind of the event from a blog post on MN Beer and the Heavy Table.

We were able to sample the Saison, the Dubbel, and the Tripel. However, due to the limited quantity of bottles available, Tommy and I purchased a few other hard-to-find craft brews. I left with two bottles of Kiuchi Brewery’s Hitachino Nest XH Ale, two bottles of Well’s Banana Bread Beer, and a bottle of Brauerei Heller’s Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier (Märzen). Tommy picked up a bottle of Private Weissbier-Brauerei’s Aventinus Wheat Doppelbock, a bottle of Ommegang’s Ommegeddon, and a few other Belgian brews (I shall update the post later to name them).

We left The Four Firkins very pleased with the selection, and having finally met Alvey, I was able to put another face to a name (and his Twitter presence @fourfirkins). I received an email from Jeff Williamson of Flat Earth Brewing Company earlier this week, where he mentioned that growler sales would happen twice a week now, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 3:30 to 6:30. With nearly an hour left, we jetted back to Saint Paul, and met up with Jeff at the brewery. We sampled a few beers there, including the Belgian Pale Ale, Sunburst Ale (apricot-infused Belgian Pale Ale), the Cygnus X-1 Porter, Northwest Passage IPA, Black Helicopter Coffee Stout, and a maple-infused Cygnus X-1.

After an afternoon of sampling, we decided to have more than just an ounce of beer, here and there. Tommy wanted to enjoy the afternoon outside on a patio, so we made a few pizzas, and sat in my backyard, enjoying the spring weather. Later in the evening, we decided to actually review a few beers. I opened my November 2006 vintage of Avery’s Mephistophele’s Stout, and Tommy chose to finish the evening with a sour / farmstyle from Ommegang — the 2008 Ommegeddon. Here is the video (please sound off in the comments if you have had any of the beers I mentioned in this post):

The Ides of April from Shawn Horton on Vimeo.

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  • Tommy Werner

    So I thought I’d post my tasting notes here for the Ommegeddon since I had one tonight. I had a bottle from batch #3 (April 2008) that I bought for $12.50. The beer pours a slightly hazy golden color with a huge white head. Straight off, I can smell subtle funkiness from the Brett and a whole lot of Belgian yeast character. There are also some pronounced citrus notes on the nose. For a farmhouse ale, this is an extremely drinkable example due to the balanced sourness. It is by no means overwhelming. Towards the end, there is a refreshing wave of clean, hoppy flavor. It finishes very dry. In all, this is an interesting take on a Belgian farmhouse ale with more hoppiness than traditional examples. I would rate this beer 3.75/5.

    -Tommy