As we conclude our 24 Days of Beer 2.0 tasting adventure, I want to thank all of you that participated and blogged this year. I hope we were able to provide a good selection of beers and everyone enjoyed the experience. Hopefully everyone was able to find a couple of beers to add to their regular rotation of beers. Merry Christmas and Happy New Years to all of you. Tony & Mark
Why we picked it: Need a big ass beer for Christmas Eve...check. Need something we've never had...check. Need something affordable...check. Need high ABV...check plus!
About Trader Joe's 2012 Vintage Ale: Unique and limited edition, this Belgian style ale is crafted once a year as a special treat for those of you who appreciate flavorful bottle conditioned ales with character.
Our Vintage Ale is a rich, dark and full-bodied ale with a fine and generous coffee-colored, beige foam. It's ready to enjoy right away and you may also wish to cellar a few bottles. It will evolve interestingly well, developing more complex flavors as the years go by. Keep the bottle upright in storage.
Brewed with delicate balance of noble hops, roasted malts and spices, this is a remarkably smooth ale with a wonderfully complex finish. It is best served slightly chilled, around 53 degrees Fahrenheit and pairs exceptionally well with grilled salmon steaks, curried lamb, beef or tuna au poivre. Crafted and bottled exclusively for Trader Joe's. Brewed by Unibroue.
ABV: 9.0%
Case cost: $120 ($5 a bottle)
Save yourself some trouble and just use a corkscrew to open this one.
ReplyDeleteTo my friends Tony and Mark...thank you once again for organizing yet another brilliant beer journey! I can't tell you how much I appreciate all the work you put in to make all this happen.
This beer was big...strong...dark...and got me very drunk! I don't think that Canada can compete with the craft brewerys in America but I appreciate te effort. I think the beer was a little thin on flavor and the high ABV was not well balanced as a result.
I would gladly have one of these once a year.
I was just about to post and ask if anyone else was unable to open the bottle. I lost feeling in my hand. Getting the corkscrew now. Just realized it's Unibroue as I was fighting with the cork. Had some good beers from there at the Flour City Beer Festival in scenic Rochester, NY a few years back. Mighty powerful stuff. Kind of like the Canadian Ommegang. Back with comments shortly once I crack into this one.
ReplyDeleteProbably the first beer where I got cork in it.... Anyway, I think Tommy sums it up nicely. Quite pleasant, but seems light and so you can definitely tell you are drinking a 9% ABV beer. Overall though I find this to be a nice change of pace from the thicker winter beers. And I'll give you more of an update in 25 ounces. Is it wrong to knock over the tree when putting out stockings for your children? I'll let you know the answer to that one as well.
ReplyDeleteRo says it's too spicy. Seems intimidated by the high alcohol content and size of the bottle. Says she "doesn't think she likes it." Does say it pairs well with the Italian spice cookie she is eating. Uh-oh, I see 51.5 ounces of 9% ABV in my future. Back of the envelope calculation says that is 10 Miller Lites. Merry Christmas!
ReplyDeleteI just got back from the ER. The cork flew across the room and struck my father square in the temple. The doctors say he should stop seeing double sometime this Spring.
ReplyDeleteIn all seriousness, I enjoyed this beer, and thanks to Mark and Tony for organizing this event. I thoroughly enjoyed participating.
Even with the biggest beer mug I own, this one took a mug and a half to finish it all. I was expecting a heavy beer, but it was light and smooth and I could hear the bubbles as if it was champaign which might have been the idea given the top. I could taste the coffee taste as advertised and I think it suited the weather outside. As I sit here and enjoy "It's a Wonderful Life" before 24 hours of Ralphie, I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. I want to thank to Tony and Mark for organizing this again and looking forward to 24 days of beer Summer 2.0.
ReplyDelete'Cuz Phil took the biggest mug we own, I was relegated to one of the pint glasses. It took me 3 pints to finish this beer. Pint 1) didn't like it. Pint 2) getting better but still unsure. Pint 3) ok, it's not that bad and I actually like it. Maybe it was the 9%ABV but by the end I enjoyed this beer. Thanks, Tony and Mark.
ReplyDeleteI'm hesitant to publish my rankings since this beer is now just awesome, but I'll go ahead and do it anyway. Thanks to Tony and Mark for organizing. In all seriousness, I could do this every month. Without further adieu:
ReplyDeleteRogue Special Santa A
Kostritzer A
Schlafly's Winter ESB A-
LAH-GOO-NEET-US Brown Sugar A-
Bell's Winter B+
Trader Joe's Unibrou B+ (get me drunk to improve your grade, so typical)
Allagash Black B
Half Nelson B
Edmund Fitzgerald B
Founder's B
Ellie's Brown B-
Boegs B-
Southern Tier B-
Heavy Seas B-
Goose Island XMAS B-
Goose Island Mild Winter B-
Schlafly XMAS C+
Avery XMAS C+
Schlossen Eggenbergen Hopfenkirchenbrauhauskonig C
Victory Prima Pils C
Nectar Red C
Brekenridge Vanilla Porter D
Anchor Christmas D-
Abita XMAS F-------------
Only 3 out of 24 below average. Well done boys, well done. I love the Rogue. Glad I discovered a new beer through this.
Regarding getting drunk and grade inflation - may I introduce you to vade tepers (see what I did there).
DeleteGreat times in the contest. I didn't enjoy this one at all. Thought it was too bitter. Maybe its because I was half in the bag when I got to this one, but I went straight to the corkscrew. I was hoping it wasn't a champagne effect and destroyed me. Definitely not my favorite, but in the top 50% of the beers we did.
ReplyDeleteThanks tony and mark for organizing. Fun times as always. Where are Katy's comments? Is she even participating?
Grade: Better than egg nog
Merry Xmas bitches
Let's recap the night, Abita xmas ale, 1.5 trader joe's, an Edmund Fitzgerald...yep that's me picking up some of Katy's slack. Feeling pretty good right now. As for the trader joe's beer, for $5 you get that big ass beer that's 9.0% alcohol, um love that. The taste is good but not great. It gets better as you drink it and by the time you're done with one of these, it tastes good. Grade 7.0 for price and ABV, B
ReplyDeleteMerry Xmas! I used a samaruai (sp?) sword to open mine. Corkscrew? Bunch of amateurs. Just finished the 5th episode of Downton Abbey season 3. With all this beer in me I have proclaimed that I will speak British all christmas day (or normal speak at uva). Quite right.
ReplyDeleteReally ? Only 8 of 36 posted on the final day/final beer? Santa's will be checking his list twice next year, right Katy?
ReplyDeleteSorry I'm late on this one. Xmas eve was a blur of various beers and red wine. It was almost impossible to ascertainthe quality of the beer. Today, I can say this was a fine finish to an amazing 24 days of beer. This was full of flavor but not heavy at all. I think I disliked 3 or 4 at most and even those probably seemed worse then they really were due to comparison. I'll try to post a list soon.
ReplyDeleteYep, Santa will be checking his list twice next year and the faithful bloggers will get first dibs. I know I missed a couple of days, but that is because those beers were just nasty and I didn't have any interest in blogging about them. That meant 2 for Tony! I'm definitely more of a 24 Beers of Summer girl, but I did enjoy a handful of the Christmas ones. Thanks to everyone who participated. Tony, Megan, Joe and I enjoyed this Trader Joe's beer over a game of Cards Against Humanity on Christmas Eve and it came out a winner. It's an awesome Belgian beer and the high ABV made everything about the game funnier.
ReplyDeleteI am late to post and I apologize. Wow what a finish! and I am feelin it. Didn't like it at first 37 sips but by sip 50, I could care less. Can't describe it other than its a lot of heavy dark beer so its more like a long drawn out process (just like my with the women). anyway, thanks safeway Tony your beatiful and fabolous wife and I heard Mark had input into this thing, so thaks to him. Wow, if you dont ate fod with this thing, you get all f'd up. Need that IBM dislaimer at the botttttom of the emails to say I cant spell check so firgive me
ReplyDeleteRating 38D (just like my womwen!)
So sorry for posting late! We had such fun tasting all the beers and more fun reading the very entertaining comments on all of them. We liked more than we didn't like, and we really liked tasting some new and unique beers. And having an excuse to drink beer every night of December. The last one wasn't our favorite, except in that it was huge(That's what she said!). Merry Christmas, all! We hope we get invited back next time.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Joe's drunk.
ReplyDelete