Ölbeat 333 (BC17 #20): Lehe / Vasileostrovskaya Ravnodenstvie Barrel Aged

Brewery: Lehe Pruulikoda (Vasileostrovskaya Pivovarnya, in Russian)
Country: Estonia (Russia)
Style: Imperial Stout
Abv: 11 %
@RateBeer

What about the beer?

Colour is black with a large beige head. Aroma has chocolate, sweet bready roast and fruity booze. Taste starts with bittersweet roasted malts. Sweet roasted malts, dark chocolate and bitterish espresso take over with hints of alcohol. Towards the end sweet dark fruity-oaky liquor coats the chocolate, coffee and roast flavours. Aftertaste has dark chocolate, roasted malts and lasting warming bittersweet fruity alcohol.

Extremely enjoyable barrel-aged Imperial Stout. The Cuban rum barrel adds sweet dark fruits, oak and - of course - alcohol to the deep coffee-chocolate-roast Imp flavour. Another excellent presentation of Estonian skill in brewing and beer aging.

Ölbeat

Since I have a poor imagination, I skipped thinking in a new way and continued exactly from where I ended up last time.

Jean-Michel Jarre: Equinoxe, Pt. 5 (YouTube)

From the 1978 album Équinoxe, the track was written by Jean-Michel Jarre.

Ölbeat 323 (BC17 #10): Lehe Suur Paks Mastif

Brewery: Lehe Pruulikoda
Country: Estonia
Style: Barley Wine
Abv: 9,6 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is thick mahogany brown with a small tan head. Aroma has sweet caramel, chocolate and dark fruits. Taste begins with malty sweet caramel. Sweet caramel malts, chocolate and alcohol-soaked raisins take over with gentle bitterness. Towards the end biting fruity and boozy piny bitterness strikes through and pushes chocolate-caramel flavours to the background. Aftertaste has piny bitterness, fruity malty sweetness and spicy boozy dryness.

Sweet, malty and fruity Barley Wine. Caramel and chocolate flavours dominate in the start, fruits, booze and bitterness hit it in the end. This young vintage version has matured since brewing in 2014, but there's still some sharpness to be rounded. Gladly another bottle will be saved for later inspection.

Ölbeat

Suur Paks Mastif means Big Fat Mastiff. This kinda dog moves completely without any hurry, if at all. Since I decided to put another bottle to sleep for some time, this song was a natural choice.

Zakk Wylde (feat. Corey Taylor): Sleeping Dogs (YouTube)

From the 2016 album Book of Shadows II, the song was written by Zakk Wylde.

Ölbeat 286: Lehe / Vasileostrovskaya Ravnodenstvie

Brewery: Lehe Pruulikoda (Vasileostrovskaya - in Russian)
Country: Estonia
Style: Imperial Stout
Abv: 11 % 
@RateBeer

What about the beer?

Colour is black with a medium-sized beige head. Aroma has milk chocolate, strong vanilla and even some berry scent - slightly luring. Taste begins with vanillaish dark chocolate. Roasted malts, dark chocolate and delicious vanilla take over. Towards the end fruity bitterness and coffee get mixed to the sweet vanilla-chocolate liquid. Aftertaste has dark chocolate, vanilla spice and dry cocoa bitterness - and it lasts.

Sweetish chocolate-vanilla dominated Imperial Stout. Chocolate chips and Madagascar vanilla used in the brewing really stick out in the flavour. And it's liquid perfection. Thick, strong and smooth brew - only thing that's missing is booze. But I don't mind. The strong collabs seem to work fine with Lehe.

Ölbeat

Ravnodenstvie (in Russian) means equinox, the moment when day and night are approximately equal, which happens twice a year around 20 March and 23 September. So, choosing the album and the artist was easy. Since the brew is so complex and great, I probably should have chosen the whole album (Spotify, YouTube) here, but because it's one beer and one song, the choice between parts 4 and 5 turned to the victory of the former.

Jean-Michel Jarre: Equinoxe, Pt. 4 (YouTube)

From the 1978 album Equinoxe, the song was written by Jean-Michel Jarre.

Ölbeat 279: Lehe / St. Erhard Endspiel

Brewery: Lehe Pruulikoda (St. Erhard)
Country: Estonia (Germany)
Style: Barley Wine
Abv: 9,5 %
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What about the beer?
Colour is mahogany brown with a tiny natural white lace. Aroma has caramel, milk chocolate and raisins. Taste begins with sweet slightly boozy caramel. Sweet malty caramel takes over with boozy grapes. Towards the end soft milk chocolate and booze-soaked raisins with gentle fruity bitterness join the caramel flavour. Aftertaste has malty caramel, bittersweet fruits and alcohol bite.

Quite tasty sweet Barley Wine. The required qualities - caramel, fruits, chocolate and boozy bite - are nicely present. There's a bit of rawness in the taste that will probably be rounded by time. Fine Estonian brew.

Ölbeat

Endspiel, the German word, means endgame, the stage of a chess game when there are only few pieces left. If we escalate the meaning to the worldly scale, we're talking about the moment of reckoning, in Finnish: tilinteon hetki . To put things straight I've turned a German name of a beer to a Finnish name of a song, just with only one awkward transition. In the end, it's a great smooth beer paired with a great smooth song. 

Timo Rautiainen & Trio Niskalaukaus: Tilinteon hetki

From the 1997 EP Hävetkää!, the song was written by Timo Rautiainen and Esa Moilanen.