My parent's annual Island Party was this weekend; I was in the front yard directing traffic at the start of the party, so to pass the time I sipped a Chapeau Pêche from Brouwerij De Troch. I offered my mom a glass (I thought it'd be just her sort of beer) and after pouring yet another glass for other people, I ended up with only a third of the bottle for myself. Luckily this beer is easy to find.

It was very good, not as good as the Apricot methinks, maybe better than the Chapeau Exotic (i.e. pineapple), but certainly better than the Lindemans peach lambic. When I bought this some liquor store clerk tried to convince me that I should get Lindemans instead because it's made with real fruit, but the Chapeau website says, "The beer is made up with real fruit and natural fruit juices," so I'm not sure he knew what he was talking about.

Also, I just listened to the Fruit Beers episode of Beer School, so I don't think extract would be a huge deal in any case. Incidentally, that same episode completely validated my low opinion of the Longshot Grape Ale.

I'll have to seek out some of the other fruit beers they mentioned: New Glarus is just next door, after all, and apparently their raspberry and cherry beers are a Very Big Deal. They also mentioned an intriguing Coconut Porter that I thought was from "Miami Brewing," but which is in fact from "Maui Brewing." (Sorry Ben, but the search for great Florida beers continues.)

I'd only parked a few cars before I was out of lambic, so I moved onto a Boulder Beer Hazed & Infused, another beer that didn't make the cut for Josh's mix-pack but that I'd brought up north that weekend anyways. It was mediocre, meh with some hops in it. One of Matt's friends is a big fan of the brewery, but I've yet to have anything from Boulder that impressed me. The problem is that I never realize that something is from Boulder until I'm taking off that black bottlecap of theirs.

After that beer was done, I walked down to the lake and spent the rest of the night drinking from my dad's keg of Michelob Golden Light. I think maybe 10 cups all told? Fairly tasteless compared to a lot of stuff I drink, but I'm not about to pretend that it was disgusting. Or that I didn't wake up hungover: after all that, I stupidly decided not to drink any water before I went to bed.

I also made another stop at Spirits of Nisswa while I was up north. I'm sure I'm making this place out to be a bigger deal than it actually is, but it's better than any of my usual liquor stores down here in the Cities. I got a Rogue XS Imperial Stout from their Rogue display stand and a bunch of delicious Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier Dunkels to replace the ones we drank on Thursday. It turns out that dunkelweizen pairs quite well with Army of Two.

Labels: APA, Boulder Beer, Brauerei Weihenstephan, Brouwerij De Troch, Chapeau Peche, Dunkelweizen, Fruit Lambic, Hazed and Infused, Spirits of Nisswa