Quelque Chose

This week we're taking a look at Quelque Chose by the renown Unibroue Brewery



Unibroue's Quelque Chose is a mixed ale at 8% A.B.V. and approximately 1 pint, 9 ounces for $12.99.

History

If you have ever stumbled out of the dark world of Bud, Miller, and other travesties and into the world of fine craft brews, you will sooner or later run into Unibroue, and for good reason. Unibroue is based out of Quebec, Canada and has an impressive pedigree comprised of a few solid beers. No doubt you've seen them in your corner liquor store, what with impressive art on the bottles of their beers such as Tres Pistoleres, Fin Du Monde, and one of my favorites by them, Ephemere. If you have never tried any of their beers, I suggest you leave the computer now and go buy a six-pack. Quite frankly, Unibroue is the heir to legacies of fantastic breweries such as Guinness.

What is interesting about the Quelque Chose is that like another offering of theirs (the "Terrible", which is anything but) it is only available in this single bottle size and not available as a smaller six pack. Quelque Chose is done with a magnificent presentation on the bottle. The corked bottle lists it's contents as a red ale, consisting of half dark ale and half brown ale. The bottle says it includes vanilla, cinnamon, clove, and honey in the taste. It also notes that the cherries that are included in the brew make it necessary for the beer to require only light carbonation.

Taste

As usual, it is time to kick off the taste section with color, scent, and mouthfeel. The color has a dark brownish-red color clouded by the fruit. The smell is most certainly familiar. The cherry smell and lack of carbonation led me to a scent that was similar in lambics such as Lindeman's. The fact that there is very little carbonation also lead to no head at all upon pouring. I even fumbled the pour just a little, and still zero head.

The mouthfeel also suffers greatly from the carbonation approach Unibroue decided to take. The second I had the Quelque Chose in my mouth, it seemed flat. Only the very last of the beer seemed to have any carbonation at all. I understand that this is part of a decision made by the brewers in order to preserve the cherry flavor of the beer, however this flat taste causes the flavors of the beer to suffer greatly.

To the credit of this beer, the flavors are delivered as promised by the beer. Cherry is most certainly there, as are the faint traces of cinnamon, vanilla, and honey in order of strongest to faintest flavor. All of this flavor appears with a not-too-strong brown ale presence in the background.

Food

This beer is clearly not for full meals. That is not to say that it is through any certain fault. This beer is just clearly more well-suited for after a meal. As a result, the dessert that I would pair with this beer is Apple Pie A La Mode. It would seem obvious to pair this beer with a cherry pie, but the tartness of the pie would overwhelm the (sadly) lacking carbonation. The sweetness of the apple pie would pair well with the cherry flavor, and the scoop of vanilla ice cream would match well with the understated cinnamon, vanilla, and honey.

Music

So clearly this beer does not feel that it needs to impress anyone, and that's fine. Many beers do it big on the mouthfeel portion, and sometimes it plays to their strengths and sometimes it is just for show. Seeing as how the Quelque Chose does neither, it does not seem to exist for anyone but itself. I appreciate that honesty. "Highschool Lover" by Air seems to function in a similar style. The song is smooth, simple and exists for itself. The first time I heard it, I wished it was longer than the three and a half minutes it plays for. But everytime I played it, I had to be satisfied with the length, even though each time I was not.

"Playground Love" by Air (Offsite)

I am not going to say that this beer is bad. I can only say that the beer is disappointing. I really feel like Unibroue knew that conceptually, this beer was going to be dynamite. As a result, I think that Unibroue decided to play not to lose instead of playing to win with this beer. The idea of low carbonation being used to "preserve" the beer instead resulted in the low carbonation betraying everything this beer could have been. But the flavor itself is fantastic, so instead of a 5 out of 10, Unibroue does manage to redeem itself a little with a 7.1 out of a possible 10.

Until next time, make sure that the only flat notes are in your music, and not your beer.

All images are copyright of their respective owners.

Hitachino Nest Beer White Ale

Today's review will be on the Hitachino White Ale by Kiuchi Brewery


Kiuchi offers a line of Hitachino beers, but the White Ale is available at around $10.99 for a 1 pint 8 ounce bottle. It is an easy drink at 5 percent A.B.V.

History

Starting out in 1823, the Kiuchi brewery was founded by Kiuchi Gihei, a man whose family collected the rice tax of his village. Kiuchi utilized the left-over rice for brewing. Initially brewing sake, the Kiuchi brewery then continued to produce small, perfected batches while all other sake breweries in 1950's Japan started to mass produce cheaper sake (sorta like the Miller and Budweiser beers over here.)

Kiuchi brewing did not try creating beer until 1996, which brings us to the Nest beer. It should be noted that the transition of sake to beer should be difficult as the products are supposed to have completely different qualities due to their very different brewing processes (such as the dregs of the rice in sake as opposed to the lack thereof in beer). Apparently, the next goal for the Kiuchi brewery is to produce wine. But who cares about that. You're here for the beer, dammit.

Taste

Alright, now to the main attraction. Starting with the color, the White Ale is a light and slightly cloudy amber-yellow. The ale pours with very little head. I tried to get some kind of scent off the beer, but all I could get was an underwhelming slightly floral and "clean" smell. I would have to admit so far that the presentation of the beer is falling quite short. But there is still the mouthfeel and taste to cover.

In terms of mouthfeel, this beer evenly coats the tongue and dances a little on the mouth before quickly fading to the actual taste of the beer. Although the mouthfeel fades, it does seem to float on the tongue while it is there.

The beer itself (once you get past all of the presentation and mouthfeel) is understated, but almost in a way where it means to be as such. Immediately, it is easy to notice the hops in the distant background, but once you take in the beer, you immediately get notes of ginger and a kind of floral taste. In addition to some floral notes, you can also pick up on some orange as well. If anything, I would have to say that this clean-drinking beer is the Japanese equivalent of Wittekerke, another belgian white ale.

Food

For those of you in major cities such as my lovely Chicago, you should be familiar with tamales being sold on the corner. No, I am not talking about those crappy little plastic-wrapped tamales you can get in the freezer of Jewel-Osco. I am talking about hand-made tamales. If you want to pair this beer perfectly with a food, go and get yourself some home-made chicken tamales and cook up some eggs to go with it. Hell, if you want, throw some sriracha on there too. It would all go perfect together. The fact that this lighter tasting beer is being paired with chicken as opposed to beef makes the pairing work. The eggs just round out the flavor and complete the taste.

Music

The beer is somewhat flowery and ... erm... floaty, but it seems to mean what it is saying and says it in a pleasant manner. This combination of a heart-felt flavor and floral sense make this beer an appropriate representation of the song "River Sea Ocean" by Badly Drawn Boy from the "About a Boy" soundtrack. The song is fairly simple, but that does not mean that it is well written.

"River Sea Ocean" by Badly Drawn Boy (Offsite)

Overall, I will not fault the Hitachino White Ale for the shortcomings in smell. Thinking about it again, the color was really quite pleasant when coupled with the subtle mouthfeel and taste. Still, I feel like much more could have been done. This leads me to give the Hitachino White Ale an 8.0 out of a possible 10.

Until next time, make sure that the only flat notes are in your music, and not your beer.

All images are copyright of their respective owners. Sources Cited: www.hitachinonest.com